The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-31
OUR BIG SHIPS NOT
BUILT FOR SPEED
xaTfON,s COMMERCE N CASE or
WAR WOULD BE ENTIRELY
DESTROYED.
COUNTRY UNPREPARED
WAR WITHOUT EFFICIENT NAVY
worID MEAN LOSS or ALI COLO
xIEs AND pESTRI CTIoN or
MONROE DOCTRINE.

New York. Jan. So.--"We do not
own a battleshlp that cogld Keep up
with r5e German waTsh.p Bluecher,
said George Won l. HlfyeI. tS-Setre~
tary ef eae Navy. speaking az The Re-
-uabiican Club today. Ans the b!le-
cher was lost in the recent North Sea
seton because she VAS t91 slow.
"Jspar could wipe out our whole
Pacific commerce continued Mr..
Meyer. In a most ira passjoned manner.
',Janan has bsttieslip cruisers, and
we hsve none Our fasiest cruiser
makes twenty-five knots The big
gun cruiser makes tweaty-n!ne or
shirty"
HIS remarksc were r1r. ~ sym
postum ur The Future IT OR Navy.
Franklin u. Roosevelt ASS stErt Sec
rotary under Joscphus Daniels. Her
bert Sasteriec, eN-Ass SIS n. SECRETARY
II the Navy. and Dr.. Frank Crane
were the other principal speakers. DR..
Crane was ,s1e- only one NOT in favor
of more ships with bigger guns.
Ex-Seevo'4ry Meyer satd al the out
sc. that the United states wants a
good navy. NOT 10 whip another coun-
iry. but 10 pr1teC; our coasts
Invasion Insurance
IF We have a sufficiently poweTfui
navy We need not fear INVASION he
said What would he the state OF
England did not her fleets have mas
terry Of tho seas7N And " hat Is thu
state of German commerce. In t'h| face
of Fnrland's fieets7 What would we
do If We could not meet an enemy :
fleet on the high seas and our coasts
were hlpckaded?
II do not think the trouble with our
navy If due to lack Of money Con-
e have
spent 81 soc, 600 090 on cor navy since
1909. That is s400. 0pe, Q00 more than
Germany spent In the same period
yet the German navy Is the world
second best, and We stand fourth
WHY Is that so?
Il believe the trouble lies In a lack
Of organization We lack orEaniza =
ton in our naval Expenditures, lack 1t
even today. We lack efficient meth
DDS We must adopt them.
we lack council Of rational de-
Tense, established In England In 1900.
Tn Germany and Russia IN 1905 or
Whereabouts and in France in 1913.
II think the chief responsibility Is
on Congress. and back Of that on us,
the people, who have been Indifferent
in these things"
War without Navy Fatal.
Mr.. Roosevelt said:
War Cor us without an efficlen'
navy will mean *ne instant 1883, WIN
out a blow . save them, of the phil
ippines, Hawaii, Guam. samoa, ths
Panama Canal and canal zone aht
Porto Rico. IL will also mean th'
death OF the Monroe Doctrine
will end our present relations WIFI
Cuba
las TO submarines. II ought to sur
fee to say that they are not sea COINS
ships They are valuable only IN re-
stricted waters They can't take th'
sea and keep IT,
Building the canal mas helped II
cur naval defense hut we cannot guar
antee that 1t Will be disable In wal
time. Accidents will happen there az
they happen elsew here"
Mr. Roosevelt further said that th'
.TapaTese navy ts growing faster thai
aur own. He declared American
should face the facts and not get OK
c!ted.
Mr.. Satteriee said:
preparedness Is necessary AS Ao
,nirai Mahan showed us, sea power u
indispensable TO a nation lik" our
selves with comm rec, coast nm
and a snare in the world S counseis-
Or. Crane wanted no armaments eA
rent an international one 20 police tn'
world. II any nation refuses 10 leu
crate said he. why, then, all mat 4
left to do Is 10 thrash them witt
this world police force.