Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-10-28
MAHAN'S THEORY
IN SINGLE VOLUME
Timely Book Which Gives An In
teresting Sketch of AdmirarS
Life And Work
GBY DIR. ALLAN wESTCoTTl

The following from the Baltimore
Evening Sun, October 10. is not with
out local and Naval interest. The
author is Dr. ollan Westcott, instruc
tor at the Naval Academy, where this
book is used by the English Depart
ment. in teaching Naval history. and
has been placed in the ships libra
ries of the U. S. Navy. The book is on
sale at the Annapolis book stores.
The Sun says:
Sea power is the dominant in
fiuence in human history. The con-
troll of the seas is the decisive factor
in all great wars. 1t determines
whether nations shall stand or fall. 1t
is the bulwark of national safety and
prosperity. A strong navy is essen
tial to the self-respect and self-defense
of a nation. The United States, with
no aggressive purpose, needs a navy
both numerous and efficient to protect
her against aggression and to enable
her to uphold right and justice
throughout the world.
"This thesis has been demons rated
by Admiral Alfred T. Mahan in a SER
les of a dozen no able volumes which
contain the results of long lifetime
of profound study and practical ex-
perience. No writer of modern times
has more deeply and widely influenced
the thought and action of the world.
His books have become a kind of gos-
pei, constantly referred to as furnish
ing a sound basis of information
upon maritime and naval affairs. They
have been translated into many lam
guages British statesmen have been
swayed by them in their worldpolicy
They have been diligently studied by
officers of the Japanese Navy and have
had much to do in bringing it TO its
presen. high state of efficiency. The
development of Germany into a first
rate naval power is largely due to
them. The Kaiser read and re-read
1.-THE Influence of Sea Power upon
History" annotated its pages, and
placed copies of it upon every ship
of the German Navy. They have con-
tributed greatly to the effectiveness OF
our navy and have done much to pre-
pare us for this greatest crisis of
human history. Had we not needed
his wise counsels, we should have
been unprepared and could not have
won the war
1.-The writings of Admiral Mahan
are too numerous and some of them
are too technical for the general read
er, but it has long been felt that the
cream of them might well be given to
the world in a single volume and
would be widely read. This valuable
service has been rendered to the read
ing public by Dr. Allan Westcott, in
structor at the United States Naval
Academy at Annapolis, in his recently
published volume, "Mahan on Naval
Warfare" little, Brown & Coz The
book is timely, and Dr. Westcott has
done his editorial work judiciously
and has prefaced it with an interest
ing sketch of the AdmiraPs life an6
work, which makes one regret thai
his life was not prolonged Throughout
this war, which he clearly foresav
and in which his ripened wisdom
would have been of the utmost value
to us, as it was in the Spanish war.
Zone is struck, upon looking
through the book, by the prophetic in
sight with which the Admiral foresav
many of the developments which have
since come about, as witness the fol
lowing passage:
"'At the date of my first attempt Il
formulate certain principles of nava
strategy, there scarcely could be saiC
to exist any defined public conscious
ness of European and American in
lterest in sea power. The most strik
ing illustration of this. insensibility Il
the sea was to be found in Bismarck
the greatest European statesman o.
that day. After the war with France
and the acquisition OF Alsace and Lor
raine, he spoke of Germany as a state
satiated with territorial expansion
The contrast between the condition o.
/ Indifference to the sea which he ex
hibited and that which now exists i:
cll Lively cbdAC III l01OPC A
now awake to the fact that the. i'm
mediate coming interests Of the world
which are therefore its own nationa
interest, must be in the other CONT
nents.' The strident voice of Ger
many claiming her place in the sun
now rings throughout the world.
Zone of the things most urgently
insisted upon by Admiral Mahan il
the strategic importance of the Gul
of Mexico and the problem of the Car
ibbean Sea, to which he gave the mos
profound study While recognizing
the importance of Jamaica, he regard
ed Cuba as the key to the whole re
gion. AS a result of this study and 0
his experience in the Spanish Ameri
can war throughout which he was al
influential member of the Naval Wa
Board, which controlled the naya
strategy of the war; he had much u
do with the location of our naval basl
at Guantanamo. He insists mos
earnestly upon the development AM
1 fortifcation of the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi and argues that in case OF
struggle for supremacy in the Carib