The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-24
THE UNITED STATES NAVY
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
BY Frederic J. Haslkin. Director
Washington, ID. G.

Washington, D. c.. May 24.-Once
again the American navy looms up as
the most significant feature of a sit
uation fraught with infinite possibih-
ties. 1t is the fate of navies to be forgot
ten when they are not needed. Nine
teen years ago. in the Spanish-Amer1-
can war. the navy was the center of
attention.; no sooner was peace de-
clared than it began to slip into the
background, and even it's annual fight
for an adequate appropriation was
followed with a sympathy growing
less and less warm by the nation at
large Now, presto:-the kaleido-
scope of international politics has
turned again, and our navy is once
more our main safeguard, our strong
est weapon, the highest trump in our
hand, in this international card game
where we have decided to call a bluff.
1t is not too much to say that the
navy is the most important thing in
the nation at the moment. But as a
result or those nineteen years of peace
and much prosperity, many Ameri-
cans have ideas about the force and
makeup of the navy that are vague,
to say the least. Congress, in a burst
of last-minute realization, has appro-
priated the largest sum of money for
the navy that has ever been appro-
priated for a similar purpose in the
world. As result, our naval register
includes many battleships whose
names are followed by an asterisk. If
you trace that asterisk down to its
lair you will find it stands for the
significant little word, authorized"
we have battleships on paper, battle
ships on the stocks in the navy yards
In view of these facts, some alarmists
are talking as tho the battleships we
nave on salt water were hardly worth
mentioning.
Man for man, and ship for ship"
as Admiral Dewey put it, the American
navy is the equal of any navy on the
seas. At the beginning of the Euro
pean war, man for man and ship for
snip there were only two navies that
exceHed 1t in fighting power, the Brit
lsh and the German. The British navy
was even then away out of our class,
having double the tonnage and a bet
ter balance of the various types of
fighting craft. The German navy was
then not far ahead in point of ton
mage, while the French were 100000
tons behind our present strength. Since
August, 1914, no reliable information
is available as to the naval increases
OF these powers, but they have all been
building as fast as possible, and it is
generally conceded that we have been
outstripped by the French.
The $500 men of the navy, said
Admiral Dewey, are the equals of any
naval force, man for man It is a
striking fact that a very high per
centage OF these are native born
Americans. OF the enlisted men 90
per cent are native born. OF the for
eign-born per cent, the Philippine
Islands furnish the largest proportion.
After the Philippines comes the Ger
man empire. There are ass men of
German birth aboig THE $500. Ire
land and Sweden are the only two
countries except Germany who have
contributed more than 200 men born
| on their soil to the American navy
The preponderance of the native born
| Is overwhelming to a gratifying de-
! gree, especially in view of the high
/ efficiency of the force. Sixteen states
furnish 65 per cent of the enlisted
men New York. Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts, leading. California
and Texas in the west, Virginia.
Georgia and North Carolina in the
south are the heaviest contributors
In their respective sections
Beside the active enlisted person.
mel, the resources of the navy in
clude the naval militia. numbering
! 10000 officers and men, total which
shows ten per cent increase last
year. The naval act provides for a
/ force known as the national naval vol
unteers. men qualified physically and
| professionally, for use in emergency.
Practically the entire naval militia is
expected to volunteer in the naval