East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-02-10
PEOPLE Do
NOT APPRECIATE THE
GREATNESS OF NAVY
THIS COUNTRY HAS BEST FIGHT,
ING FLEET IN WORLD EN-
CEPT ENGI.AND'S.
Leader of Little Navy" Men in the
House Declares We DO Not Need
Addition of $5O,OOO,OO Worth of
ships TO Make Our Navy Efficient
Submarines Valuable.
BY BURTON X. sTANDIsH.

! ANiltAeH loT the Nulte0 ITeSS.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-"The
American people haven't any more
of an idea Of what a great navy they
havethan a lot of monkeys. don't
believe they know that the highest
naval officers OF the United States
who appeared before the house naval
affairs. committee, declared that We
have the greatest navy in the world,
excepting that Of England, and that
we do not need the addition OF fifty
million dollars worth OF ships this
year 10 make 1t efficient. Instead OF
listening to these authorities the peo-
PIE read this bunk the naval aglta.
tors spread around"
That Is what the leader Of the 'lit-
tie navy" men in the house declared
today. People mistake the idea OF
little navy" said Judge Wither-
spoon, of Mississippi, the leader. I'VE
don't believe in little navy; we be-
! lieve the navy the United States now
has Is adequate for defense purposes
and We are opposed to building new
ships every year just to give the big
corporations more chance to graft"
Discussing the naval appropriation
bill now before the house, with its
building program OF two battleships,
| II submarines and other war vessels,
Representative Witherspoon declared
that whole program lis a piece OF
inexcusable extravaganza"
According to the testimony OF the
best naval authorities in the United
States" said Wltherspoon, ''subma
rines are the best insurance against
hostile attacks. But they also declare
that the United States already has an
abundance of submarines and all that
1re necessary for our fleet. We have
SO at present. Now most people do
rot know what submarines are for.
didn't until Captain Sterling, COM
mander of the submarine flotilla, told
me. II is not the idea OF naval STRAIT
egists TO have submarines at every
port. Captain Sterling said all the
United States needs is one for each
haltleship. Submarines, he said, must
be used in a fleet to go out and at
tack approaching vessels before the
dreadnaughts come up. 1t would be
useless to have a few submarines
scattered in all our harbors because
in time of war the harbors can be
mined against all hostile attacks"
Witherspoon does not believe the
European war has demonstrated any
necessity for an increase in our navy.
He declared that the highest naval Of
ficers who appeared before, the house
naval affairs committee did not advo.
cate an increase in our forces. He
said the new ships are being "shov
ed" upon the navy department.
THE crowd OF naval propagandists
made such a howl through the newe-
papers about an inadequate navy
hat the house committe has mistak-
en- this for public sentiment" said
Witherspoon. What the house COM
mittee voted is entirely necessary"
Witherspoon said that he and his
little navy" followers would all vote
against the naval program but he add
Cd that anything the committee re-
ported would be carried in the house
II the European war lasts year
or two more, this southern congress
man pointed out, the Unied States
may have the largest navy in the
world. He said England has lost 81
war vessels so far, Germany AZ, while
the other belligerents have lost ships
too. "If the United States builds
more and more ships every year while
the European powers lose more
and more every year our navy will
soon be the largest in the world. Then
the world can point its finger of
scorn at the United States for being
mlitaristic."
Withefspoon said he firmly believ-
ed that the only reason two battle
ships a year are built in the United
States is that the work upon them is
$ efficient to keep the largest ship
bulldInk corporations and the arma-
ment plants at work all the year
| round.