The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-27

[he efficiency of the material of the fleet hes been greatly improved. Here again the extent of this improve ment can hardly be realized by the hayman. Perhaps one single exam pie is sufficiently free from technical entanglements to be readily under stood. Under the Republican sys- tenn of spending all of the money where 1t would provide the most spec tacular display for the voters eye, of ndorning as it were, the outside of the house with goldleaf and leaving the interior without carpets or kitch- on stove, what was known as e1emen- tary and short range target practice was abolished. It cost a few hum 1red thousand dollars for the powder conmmed.. There is nothing spec xacular about the routine grind of ele- mentaIy target practice and it was accordingly dropped. as being needless from vote-getting viewpoint. Now Selementary target practice is as ne- scessary, to good shooting in the time of ,hattfe for battleships as it would be necessary for the man going into Aa rifle competition ashore As re- znlt of this penny wise and pound- sfooIsh proposition, when our grand mailBnvers took place and our ships made their records, in spite of the lshart ranges employed, in spite of ev- lery favorable condition for good shooting being the rule, the marks manship of our fleet fell off to an ex- tent which was carefully concealed from the public, and one of the ways Hn which the efficiency of the fleet has been improved was the restoration InOt only of this elementary practice but the insistence upon shooting at Eanges hitherto unheard of and under .condffiyns more trying to the accuracy of the gnnners and more closely sim ulaffng those which would be encoun- ,txred in time of actual war. As a rysnM our last target practice scores Ahow that inferior marksmanship will Hever the cause of our defeat Tar !ret practice fell off between 1909 and 1913,- testifed Capt. Sims before the Naval Committee last spring and be- EEan to improve in f913, and he added that the last target practice "came up about 40 per cent" Since then the fan target practice improved 20 per cent. <more. The Pennsylvania re- .cent1y shot at distance of eleven miles and made five hits out of eleven shotz. Our target practice has "gone forward by leaps and bounds" testi- 6ed Capt Pfupkett. Admiral F1etch- CT and Admiral Mayo tell of the, high est srnres ever reached in the open geaz. And the best of it is the splendid spfrft of the service in tar get practice and maneuvers, which had declined Between 1909 and 19t 3. The scores of American ships are far better than made in any naval en- counter by any ships in the navies of 7the cu1ntatantA
 l Efghty-one now ships are now 1ufldfng and 157 were authorized by 4he 1azt session of Congress.
 Next tn nothing was done in air craft by the Republican admfnistra- fiDnA Under Tat $61-sss.os was provided for aviation, under Wilsn 35 217 ,27x57, and we have just be- gun in this new arm of the service
 When Wilson was fnauguIated there was no mining division and few mines For every 100 mines we had then we now have 400- Torpedoes have been increased 433 per cent Powder Is manufactured at decreased cost Re serve ammunition has been provided fn such quantities as never dreamed of before Wilson's day There has been increase and efficiency in every line
 Ashore, the increase in efficiency has been even more marked. Take the
 matter of provisions for the men. Un- fer reorganized and thoroughly effi- cient Bureau of Supplies and Ac- counts ,fnspite of the soaring prices of focdstuffs, the cost of the ration, Instead of going up, has actually gone down There has been no cnrtafling of the sailors food-rather an in crease in variety and bettering of quality But, the Department has saved in the last two years $Soo,- of the hee&- This has been done simply by careful buying, by the en- ccuragement of real competition, by Durchaxtng at favorable turns of the market, and by the cutting off of
 many little wastes and extravagances which had been increasing from year Ffo year unchecked under previous ad- mfnistratforfH Look over your own Hood bills during. the last two years and you will appreciate the gain in ef- tdcdency that would have enabled you Fto purchase just as much to eat at ,A lower cost than in previous years
 By retaining our own scrap metal fnstead Of selling it at bargain prices to the 3unkmep, we reduced. the pur- chase of copDer, for instance. two million pounds year, and copper Ehas been for the last two years at the highest point, ever known. Other metals have been, saved in propor- 41on, and in the retaining of our own tscrap alone the savings annually have run into the millions.
 Tho wages of our workmen, and at <he same time their efficiency, have been steadily increased. The cost of our repair work, of our new construc- Nion and of manufacture at our navy yards has been steadily decreased. So efficient indeed has been our manage 1nent of the yards and shore stations that in all their partisan attempts at criticism, in. all their searchings for this thing or that which they could twist or distort for political purposes, not one word of criticism has been made. of the shore establishment of if1e Navy Department under this lad- .ninfstratfon. This eloquent silence is in itself the best proof not only that tYiere was nothing to criticize, but that our Republican friends, after ,investi-