New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-03
SAYS NAVAL POLICY
LEADS NOWHERE
Ex-Secretary Meyer Declares
Building Plan Doesn't Replace
Obsolete Ships.

Boston, May George Won L.
Meyer, ex-Secretary of the Navy, made
public tonight statement reviewing
the open letter from Secretary OF the
Navy Daniels to President Garfield Of
Williams College concerning the pres
ent status of the United States Navy.
Mr.. Meyer says:
THE Secretary neglects 70 state,
when he refers 10 the last two years Of
the Taft administration. that the House
Of Representatives, which originates
appropriations, was in control of the
Democrats on account of the by-elec-
tons; that they went into caucus and
voted mo bsttleships." II was on the
issue that no party could afford 20
caucus on patriotism, placed before the
people by some of the leading papers
at my request, that we broke the eau
Gus and obtained, very grudgingly,
from the Democrats one battleship for
each of the remaining two years.
"The war and the campaign Of edu-
cation on national defence have In
fuenced Congress in making more lib
oral appropriations, but the third bat
tleship Mr. Daniels obtained was made
possible by the sale Of the Idaho and
the Mississippi to Greece, using the
fund derived from this transaction for
an additional Dreadnought. But the
Idaho and the Mississippi were both
modern ships, built in 1904, and while
President Wilson'S sale was a good
business transaction, il will not, ap-
parently, increase our tonnage. II
should also be noted that the Indiana,
the Massachusetts, and the Oregon can
no longer be included in our tonnage
list; that the Iowa, the Kearsarge, the
Kentucky and the Alabama will reach
their age limit in 1916, while the Iii
nois, the Wisconsin, the Maine, the
Ohio and the Missouri are due for re-
placement by 1920. as battleships be-
come obsolete in twenty years.
ut is obvious. therefore, that a
policy pursued according to this years
programme, Of two battleships, with
certain aux;liaries, no scout cruisers
and no battle cruisers, will lead no
where, If il is the real purpose Of the
nation to have an adequate navy, for
we are not even following a programme
Of new construction intended 10 re-
place those vessels which have been, or
will soon be, condemned because unfit
for service on account Of age.
"While, as the Secretary has stated,
the navy is to-day recruited TO its
maximum strength (Which is due to
the decreased demand for labor in vari-
Gus lines Of trade throughout the
United States), yet the commander in
chief OF the feet, in a communication
TO the Naval Academy, gives the
opinion that the feet lacks in its com
plete equipment about five thousand
men and a number of officers. To put
all the ships in commission that could
be useful in time Of war would require
eighteen thousand additional men ard
many officers, according to Admiral
Badger.
"The difficulty in the administration
of the navy at the present moment is
due to the fact that the organization
in force for four years, founded on a
plan to a great extent the outcome Of
Admiral Mahan's ideas, has been dis
rupted and disorganized. without con-
sulting experts, and nothing has been
put in its place"