Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-03-01
BY Rear Admiral chadw

80 80 y - 49, 'tA'' '|7 ii"7 'N'
and. as far as we can now judge. ever will
be. q pre-"mlnent Instrument of govern
1ncnt. 1t was through her navy that
Greece destroyed the power of Persia
Itoine that of Carthage. the allies at lie
I'ahto that OF tll. Turks: England that OF
Holland and later that of France in
America; the navy of France. in turn,
caused the REIMBURSEMENT of Great Brit
ans sovereignty over The 10 colonies
which formed tho Cnited States. and Il
generation later ii was the British navy
winch made tho efforts OF the great Nj
potion the "haseless fabric of a vision
Coming 10 days within the ken Of many
sum living, the navy was the power
which made possible tho preservation Of
thc union IN our great civil war ny tho
cutting off Of the southern confederacy
from rs means Of support 10y sea and re-
ducing its forces thereby TO practical in
;inition. For had The confedcracy had free
access 70 the sea and control of the Mis-
sissIpii river. no armies of the north
could have conquered we'll supplied armies
Of the south.
Navy Won From Spain.
SO, too, the control of the sea decided
the outcome OF the Spanish war. When
SIMPSONS fleet destroyed Spain's only
battle squadron off Santiago de Cuba.
spain could no longer rc-enforce her army
IN Cuba. and surrender was a necessity.
Even as this is written. G~ermany's
svery sea outlet Is closed by the British
llect. so superior i'm number to the Ger
man, and German commerce ON the sea
IS FOR the time entirely swept away. leav-
ing Great Britain for the moment navally
and commercially supreme upon the
ocean.
AS one attempts to look into the future
the vastnes OF the possible changes
SItrtlcS tho jn1apinusinn lint i'm IN n11 ic
ever present the power that goes with the
ubiquitous warship, from whose threat no
port of the world is free. Military power
fades to insigniicance through it's mar
row limits of mobility, when compared
with the meaning of a great fleet.
Turning specifically to the lesson
Tor the United States to be drawn
for future. Admiral Chadwick
writes:
A Lesson For Uncle Sam.
We speak much of our development into
q world power through the war of 1895.
we were such "A power potentially az soon
as we had a navy of IA strength to enable
us To say to another power, II forbid"
And VIC can only remain a world power
through a navy which can safe
ty and peace.
i.lnked to such power there must he
p"iitical good sense and just dealing. Long
habit In obedience and in command, a life
iohs study of international relations. "a
knowledge OF the races of men such as no
other great profession can offer, an ideal
which puts duty as Its first law: these
enable the navy to furnish it's just quota
of both the high qualifications mentioned.
10 1t the country can securely trust Its
honor and safety. 1t will ever do it's
duty.
The Panama Canal.
The building Of the Panama canal
also adds to the necessity for a pow
crtul American fleet. in the admiral's
view. He points out that there may
be differences as to the extent to
which we are to maintain the Monroe
doctrine, but there should be no diff
ference of opinion among Americans
rs to the need of maintaining control
of the canal and for preventing for
cign powers obtaining foothold in the
areas near the canal. where naval
bases might %'endanger our control.
He writes:
The situation left us by the Spanish war |
is one which can be maintained only by |
Il powerful fleet, though our ACQUISITIONS
In themselves scarcely add to the neces-
sity of such a fleet. for meanwhile we i
have built the Panama canal.
And while the canal has lightened uur
strategic difficulties in that our battle
fleet can now reach San Francisco from
the Caribbean i'm a fourth of the time it
sopN III QIcSou W make ner celebrated
passage from San Francisco to Key West.
there is upon us the heavy burden of the
defense of the isthmus. its position being !!
in effect insular.
1t cay only remain in our hands by our
controlling the sea. Qualifications assist |
in Its defense Tor the time being. but |
should we go to war 1T must finally go
into the hands of the power with a Super
Tor navy. And being thus isolated and
having this insular character, the canal
and its Notifications should be in naval
control in order that there should be
complete. unanimity of effort in Its de-
Tense.
1t is safe to say that. however anti
imperialist ono may be. there is no Ameri-
can who would see the canal go into for
c'sa control with equanimity. The most
~ denounced would halt at u a danger.
Thus. whatever ones attitude may be
toward the Monroe doctrine, there are
few who would not uphold the contention
that we shall not permit any further ex-
A. u