Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-10
Admiral Mayo Tells of Our Navy in the War

IO' T1Wc.-
lean Youth-Work of
Armed Guards" A
Message to Mothers
and Fathers at Home.
Morals of Macy. 80.
ranks to the comma nding admirals.
The war Will do us an immense
amount of good" Admiral Mayo con-
tinued. presently. Long before 1t
the melancholy thought that Ameri-
can patriotism was becoming DOR
mant: that our national feeling was
decreasing. II not disappearing.
had begun to fear that young
sters were considering. not what they
what the United States could do for
them. The war. I. canlsee from study
Ing our men. Is making vital the con-
viction that each owes a duty to the
nation as a whole. .AN Of this will
s sema 10 sno clean up some of TIP bad
lido not say this in a spirit OF
criticism Of our politicians. Sir Eric
Geddes said to me one day: There
are politicians and damned politicians
here in England Goodness knows
that that fs true in the United States
also! The war will give us In the fu-
ture more politicians whom we shall
find 1t possible to name without the
prefix.
Tits producing. now, among these
lads who serve the Navy with such
high intelligence, citizens of the right
sort who. If they enter politics at all.
will be- clean politicians, and who. IL
they do not. as citizens will help to
keep the politicians straight.
And may I add that the fighting
spirit in 1918 Is as fine as that Of '76
or 1912. Wherever armed guards walk
the decks of merchantmen, or our de-
the spirit is quite wonderful. The de-
cision and the courage our boys show
are not less than magnificent
There have been cases where all
but the American armed guards have
left threatened ship. and the armed
enemy. In other instances the armed
guards have forced all others to go
below SO that they might fight un-
I'm every episode Of submarine at
tack upon a ship with an American
chance Of fight. the submarine has
had the fight, although In many cases
the armed guards have been made up
Of men who have had very little train
Ing. .,..
will nh hA ontrit ~ thaAo q
American boys who are coming into
our naval service. During target prac-
tice on a certain battleship a lock
blew off, wounding eight of her gun
crew. Among the injured was one lad
who had been struck by sixteen rag
enteen years old. he was. He did not
leave his post!
1--WE are all very proud Of the way
in which the Navy has shown up so
far in active service.
at home an" have have been w: Worried With re-
gard to the condition Of their sons
who are with us In the Navy. My mes
sage to them Is that in the Navy those
beloved boys are quite as safe as they
could be at home. and that this war
never will be followed in America by
a general breakdown due to causes OF
this sort. Boys in the Navy are not
loosened, but are frightened in their
moral fiber by their patriotic service.
Most of the boys who now are
serving with us will go home in bet
ter health. with better education and
with better morals than they would
have had at the same time If they
never had served with us. We shall
haye our certain proportion of wars
wrecks, but we shall have no more
than we can help. The vast majority
Of those who come to serve with US
will 20 home and return benefited
and not deteriorated by their service
with us.
'The general tone Of the American
Navy Is one Of quiet self-respect and
it Is constantly improving. 1t no
longer is the fact that sailor lads
uses when they 60 back to land life.
Our Navy Is training school for true
democracy. One effect of the great
war will be that our men will 70 back
to the United States with the convic-
ton that liberty does not mean IL
cense. and with the knowledge that
discipline does not detract from, but
racy.
1T Is an interesting thing that most
boys after they have been with US a
little while cease to agree az. indeed,
they ever did) with those congress-
mon who wished to have tho practice
are learning daily that the interests
OF officers and men are quite the
same, for they see the true devotion
Of their officers to the common good.
The men know that discipline IL but
another name for teamwork and that
can succeed at anything worth while"
Copyright 1918. y the I Edward Marshall Syn