The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-06-08
BY GOUvERNEUR MORRIS.

NiSlt II lic1l VI lIilei States NaISIiIS,
was told where to find it, how to reach
it, and that until Thursday, the 9th
OF May, | must not convey to the news
papers which \ represent any Of the
Impressions that it should make upon
me, nor all of the impressions until
the end of the war.
1t may be of interest to the public
to know that the fleet which I visited
Is somewhere in American waters, and
that, backed by the proper authority,
it may be reached in several ways.
More than this | am not permitted to
say, nor may / give the composition of
the fleet, nor the names of the ships
composing it, nor Of any of the officers
governing those ships.
must deal in impositives. If I saw
faults or virtues l must not particular
ize. In short, | must tell about the
fleet without telling about it, and give
4 general impression with most of the
impressions left out.
Battieship a Man.
l shall deal, then rather With the
llliiIdllltltS VI Illc lItcl lillH VIII lls
mechanics; VIII it's aspects rather
than its potentialities. And with one
particular ship rather than with
many.
1t has been said that q modern bat
tleship is Il machine. 1t is not. 1t is
q mar His eyes may no longer have
the vision Of youth, but he G G
through Il hundred pairs, whose Wis
ion is twenty-twenty magnitied many
diameters by lenses eNquisitely adj
justed; his hands may not be large or
strong. but they have within them
almost a gods power to destroy.
1t is as if his brain had multiplied
his eyes and made telescopes Of them,
had increased his body to an ominous
and beautiful abomination, d~isplacing
10000 tons, and had heightened his
arms and strengthened his hands I'M
til they could reach out clear away
oyer the rim of the world, and there
smash and crush and teal and kill.
1t was twenty years since / had set
foot on a battleship. There was some
lIllI1S luIlllIlll dluoul AhHA LIZ 'ohIS
thing strange. 1t was like meeting a
promising friend Of your boyhood af
ter ne had grown into q Il q will
not bessie warships, nor be-her them
They are menu He had grown older
wiser, grayer, stronger, broader, tall
er and swifter. And though neither
of us had forgotten the best, nor the
worst of those things which we ha(
once had in common, he eyed me
askance, and l felt embarrassed and
shy.
Warship Now More Kind.
The officer Of the deck spoke to q
ANA And by the tone of the voice
I knew that friend battleship had not
only crown stronger n greater, but
so sure Of himself that he could at
ford to be more courteous and more
kind. Things happened. A meal came
and went. One threw dice for the CT
CARS. One lost. One listened and one
talked, and II began to associate in
the back Of ones head this face with
the rightful name of its owner ant
that insignia with the office Of its
wearer.
No two faces of the uniformed mer
around the long, narrow table of the
ward room mess were alike. Blu
they were all fine, %clean-cut faces OF
vigorously educated men in the pink
of physical condition. Like all tfav'
elers, they were broad-minded, and
like all men WHO have been brought
up among true values, they were
without affectation of any kind.
I have said that a battleship Is q
man. 1t is not. 1t is a city.
That it is a walled city, defended
by terrible cannon, every man knows
So I shall not here and now speaE
of the magic eyes with which 1t sees
the approach of the enemy, the thick
armor with which it repels his blows
nor of the terrible cannon with which
1t returns them.
The government Is the flagship
The admirals are the governors OF
states and the captains and com
manders are the mayors Of cities and
towns. It is q complete civilization
a floating country, to which the de-
yotion of it's seamen and firemen is
as necessary as that Of its admirals
captains and commanders.
But to return to our city. 1t diff
fers from land cities in that 1t recog
uizes neither night o day. There
are more people awake In the day
time than ut night but the city's eyes
are never closed. And during eacl
minute OF his waking hours each citi
zen knows what he must do, or wha
he may do.
Our Ships At Sea.
One day I learned that on the fol
lowing morning we were "going out.
Close to my room was n of tn
steel tubes through which the anchor
chains slide, and very early ] wa!
wakened by a sound that vas as IL, OF
a dozen adjoining alleys, giants wer'
bowling and making ten-strikes. 4
little later / felt the first revolution!
of the engines. / did not need t
look at my watch. The captain hat