Arizona republican., 1917-01-17

to rear admiral. and then congress by special act made him admiral of the navy, q grade that died with him.
 Sirce 900 he had been on duty at the navy department as president ol the general board. constantly in touch with all activities of the navy. advisor of secretaries and a mighty champion of a greater fleet. Year after year the general board urged the building of more ships than congress would agree to. until at the last session a great building program based upon its recommendations finally was adopted
 It was because of the admiral's keen aversion to any uggestions that his health and strength were failing that the aval physicians attending him agreed with the family to make no announcement Of his condition after the attack Thursday IL was given out that the admiral had a cold. and until Sunday even the doctors hoped that he might master the disease Yesterday his condition had become so serious that the facts no longer could be withheld.
 When news of the admiral's death was received at the White House. i President Wilson authorized the fol- lowing statement:
 Tn expressing his grief at the death of Admiral Dewey the president said he whole nation will mourn the loss of it's must distinguished naval officer man who has been as faithful as i intelligent and as successful in the performance of his responsible duties Tn time of peace as he was gallant and successful in time of war. It is just such men that gives the service distinction ana the nation just pride in those who serve it."
 Secretary Daniels paid his tribute
 Up to the very last. Admiral Dewey kept in touch with every movement Of pro gress not only in our navy. but throughout the wor'd. on Wednesday afternoon last just before l left the i department he paid me q call and l looked hale and hearty. l thought he would be spared to us for many | years. His death Is an irreparable 1 loss to our country but the American people will ever cherish his memory. 1 His counsel was more to me than ] words can express His advice to me since have been secretary of the navy was more like that of a father 1 10 d son than of a high ranking navy officer to a government official" i Despite the aged officers youthful 1 appearance It became known during the past few days that the first evi- dence of weakening Of his splendid constitution came aDout IS months ago ! when he suffered a slight paralytic
 stroke. At that time the physician who was called tc the house found him sitting m his easy chair in some distress. and showing a slight thick
 ness Of speech and dilated pupils
 which were at once diagnosed as
 symptoms of paralysis
 Admiral George Dewey. hero of
 Manila Bay fought and won tbe first
 great American naval hsttle Sga. .nst a prcigr foe since the war of 1872. lis whole life was full of honorable
 achievement from tho days Of the
 civil war down to the time when, as
 the head of the general board he be.
 laying plans for the defense of hif
 country in tire of war. His life was
 striking exe.nplificatlon of the pos
 abilities of q career based upon the exact and intelligent performance oi
 every routine iuty which nolds q man
 on infiexihle lines of duty and honor
 One os the curious freaks of fort gnC in Dewey's case was that for perhaps
 the first and onlv time in his naval
 career he was disposed to protest , against inc edict of the navy depart.
 ment which carried him into the fai
 east. where he was destined to per
 form the greatest feat of his life and
 to win imperishble renown. That was
 lack in 1898 when the war clouds
 were gathering and Dewey felt that
 he was being ''shelvcd." that the war
 with Spain was to be fought out in tn
 Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean
 Sea and that he. distant by half the
 circumference Of. the glohe. would
 stand no chance of winning glory. foi
 at that moment no thought whatever
 had been given to the Philippines. But
 he took his orders and like :. true
 sailor obeyed them The result is a
 page of history under date or May
 i. 1898.
 Contrary to Spanish expect itions.
 Dewey sailed into Manila Bay on tho night of April 20 and in the morning Of the next day he annihilated Admira. 1, Montojo's squadron. destroying eleven : warships and capturing all other ves- seis and all the land batteries with ! out tine loss of q man on the American
 sile.
 i Upcn his triumphant return to the ) United States he was feted by the { nation. Ills admirers presented him
 with beautiful home in the national capital. Congress gave him m en- graved sword and raised him from , he'rank of commodore to rear-admiral and then io the full rank of admiral
 of the navy
 Admiral Dewey was the third Amer
 ican to reach that pinnacle of naval
 rank. Farragut was the first and Porter the second. It was under Far
 ragut that Dewey received his first
 baptism in war Valuable as the training of An
 naDolis was, it was poor schooling beside that of serving under Farragut Tn time of war" Admiral Dewey once
 iaid. Whenever 1 have been in q diffucut situation or in the midst oi
 such q confusion of details that the simple and right thing to do scene
 hazy have often asked myself
 what would Farragpt do.' In the
 course of preparations for Manila Bay.
 often asked myself this question, and | confeas 1 was thinking of him
 the night we entered the bay and with
 the conviction that I was doing pre- cisely what he would have done.' !, George Dewey was born in the shadow of Vermont's state capitol at [ Montpelier, 1n the day following
 Christmas m 1887. At the age of IT.
 he reached the cross roads Of his car
 ger: one road led to West Point. the other to Annapolis Young Dewey favored the former. but
 l There was no 1acancy for West Point from Vermont explained the
 admiral in reviewing his life. Other l wise I might have gone into Manila } Bay on an army transport instead or . on the Olympia. But it happened that | there was a vacancy at Annapolis, so ! entered the navy"
 At the outbreak of the Civil Wal,
 Dewey was g years old He was | comm iSeioued a lipufenant and priIid L.