New-York tribune., 1917-04-10
A Great Democracy's Navy


backs. On day when the sun was very
hot pacifst protested. The AssyrlanS
might never come; wherefore all this tolI
would be worse than wasted. He proposed
TO consult the Oracle and it was agreed to
co so. A committee was sent on that er-
rand. Meanwhile the weary and backsore
Law down their tools and rested. Presently
the committee returned with great news.
The Oracle had said the Assyrians need
not be feared. At this there was deep
relief. The intrcnchments were abandoned.
Later the enemy came, and the Greeks,
unprepared. were overwhelmed.
Nothing happened to the Oracle-noth-
ing then. People had not learned that 1t
was the business Of the Oracle's priest
hood to tell them what they wanted to
hear. They had been told in this case that
the enemy would not come. That was
what they wished to believe, and they
wished to believe it because their bodies
were sore from digging and the sun was
very hot. Preparedness requires lot of
unpleasant work.
II would have been unfair to denounce
even mythical Oracle for echoing through
its priests the wishes Of the people. 1t
is unfair for a democracy in 1917 to de-
nounce its Josephus Daniels. priest Of the
Modern Oracle. who in his unlimited dcyo-
tion to the multitude has tried to give 1t
the kind Of navy it wanted.
Il was not the Oracle's fault that the
Assyrians came. or that the intrenchmentS
were not there when needed, or that a
state of preparedness could not be brought
into being instantly by magic. This was
all the lazy Greeks own fault. No more
is it the fault Of Mr.. Daniels that war
has touched this country which people
wished to believe would stay in Europe, or
that the navy is unprepared to meet 1t
properly. or that a regular navy cannot
be produced at once by letting contracts
rapidly. communicating shipyards and
suspendng democracy's feud with those
who employ their capital for gain-name-
ly. the private shipbuiders.
There is one important difference, chiefly
Of interest to Mr.. Daniels. The Oracle's
priesthood was irremovablc. The people
might denounce the Oracle and conceal
from themselves the fact of their own re-
sponsibility. but they were still too super
,titious to remove its priests. The Oracle
itself could not say, Only voice was your
own wish made vocal" The priests dared
not. The people had to learn that truth
for themselves.
Public Sentiment is the Modern Oracle,
but democracy has no reverence for It's
priesthood. Public Sentiment will deter
mine the conditions of preparedness, the
shape of the army and the size Of the
navy. but if it has been wrong democracy
will revenge itself upon the priestcraft.
So far have we progressed, at least.
If YOU ask Mr.. Daniels the pointed ques-
ton he will truthfully say: "The country
has just as big navy as it wants. The
East has wanted a bigger one; kokomo
has wanted a smaller one. 1t represents
an average" \ just and democratic
mean. That is what the navy Is.
If you remind him that he himself did
not believe in a big navy at the beginning
of his term. he will say: "No. Nobody
did. You didn't. l didn't If we had
known then as much as we know now -
If YOU ask him when he began to believe
ir a much bigger navy the answer IS
prompt and full. 1t was not when the
lessons of the war began TO be apparent
1t was not when the LuSitania was sunk.
It was when the people began to want
bigger navy. and that was not until after
Mr.. Wilson's famous preparedness cam
raign early in 1916. when he talked at the
Oracle's prairie shrine of "incomparably
the greatest navy" Then kokomo was
rcconciled to a somewhat larger establish
ment, and the East wanted as much more
as before, and the just and democratic
mean was lifted bit The famous three
year programme" followed.
If YOU suggest to Mr.. Daniels that IN
this traffic with the Modern Oracle great
deal of precious time has been lost he will
tell YOU what he has done for the navy
what democracy wanted done with it
apart from ships He has made it the
most democratic navy in the world. When
lie began. Congress told him he was wrong.
A sailor was a sailor and an officer was an
officer. He succeeded nevertheless, IN
casting out the baneful tradition of caste.
He wanted a better class of boys. He
wanted the American navy to be esteemed
by American parents with boys TO bring
up. 1t should become, in his hands, an
institution offering American boys moral.
spiritual, educational and material ad-
vantages.
And in all of this he has so well sue
ceeded that now, for the first time, the
American navy is open 10 any American