The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-09
FISHER PAYS HIGH
tribute TO SCHWAB
british Naval Authority Says
American SHOULD Have Been
Madc q Duke"
SCORES REACTI0NARIEs
neclares Admiralty Policy
From 1902 to 1910 Really
Achieved Victory.

mi, "a the second Of q series Of drti-
-, bv former First Sea Lord Of the
S.si,k admiralty, popularity knotcn IN
ZEALAND as "Hell Fire Jack" Fisher.
NJ pARoN FISHER of KiIverstone
tnSpoN. Sept 81 am only now asked
I'M order to satisfy what I think is
,.raopable Curiosity to explain thoughts
,h.t brought about my revolutionary
,n.nres. for instance. suchNas that which
o.ms into my mind when once looking
:, chart in my secluded room at the
Admiralty in 1905.
saw a large inland landlocked
,hsst Of water, unsurveyed and name
.ss II was the Scapa Flow. One hour
"nsr thus gazed on the chart an Ad-
a,ra,tv surveying vessel was en- route
,Aars 1t went secretly, for none but
..v.eH and my most excellent friend the
photographer knew.
,ook the German fleet as a centre
n, one leg of the compass and swept the
shsrt with the other leg to find place
scr our feet beyond the practicability OF
.rrrrise nv the Germans. The fleet was
mere at Scapa Flow before the war
broke out.
Many similar dramatic incidents mark
ma stems of the great reform, and then
same bends and bitches which prevented
a,rect road to our goal and obliged
,omnliance with that damned word
ssompromise," the beastliest word in
the British language, and then there
w,s the Observation-Disclosures" of the reac-
,,onades. l regret to add that their at
| tacks on me nightly pleased King Ed
ward. God bless him; but l am not 60
hr 10 name one OF them.
aNeyer fight a chimneysweep lest
sorne Of the SCOT come off on you," as
m great Archbishop Whately wrote.
Praises Lord Kelvin.
The battle cruisers, or New Tesla
rnent ships. as l called them on the
| spur of the moment because they full
! Allied the promise of the Old Testament
ships, were much derided by these reac-
tionaries. / think just at the very first
Lord Kelvin alone agreed with me. Lord
Kelvin ages before had come on many
cruises with me in various celebrated
ships which l communicative Bel
lerophon, the Northampton and the In
nexibe-so perhaps he caught a microbe
hopping from my brain.
The muddlers who dealt with these
New Testament ships-the Invincible,
The Inflexible, the Indomitable and the
Northumberland their magnificent
successors built during the late war
he Renown, the Repulse. the Furious
| the Glorious and the Courageous-did
| not use them for the purposes for which
| they were created. They were diverted
to lower uses, but so well conceived were
they that they proved their value under
| conditions for which they were never in
| tended.
Yes, amphibian monsters were def
nitely fixed in my thoughts-weathel
proof, shot proof. mine proof, torpedo
proof, each holding masses OF men anc
guns and horses and motors, ploughint
their way like huge hippopotami anC
then crowding up the shore like tanks
then unknown, each casting off 1t
marine covering and emerging like ;
war butterfly from storm proc
ehrysalis.
Dubbed "Old Maniac"
The oil engine would have done II
. hat engine which yet will revolutioniz
commerce and salter the whole art o
sea war. ! was dubbed an oil mania
when was at the Admiralty in 1885
4 Lord Ripon, First Lord. sent for me an
told me I was called a radical en-
| thusast and nicknamed. Gambetta. H
faid he meant to make me member
/ the Admiralty board. I told him that Il
that case all the rest of the boar
would leave. He saw me a week late
and confessed that 1t was so. Blu
thank God, was spared to be Directo
OF Navat Ordnance instead.
Let It not be thought that I am un
mindful Of the huge debt the courtrI
owes to four First Lords and two politi
cal administrators and various ADM
rally Boards from 1902 to 1910. Thei
unfinching support and determination
make the feet efficient and ever 1
standing ready for battle can never b
tainsaid. We're one to begin namin
individuals where would one end? VIII
It would take half the naval list. Yet
must be emphasized that II was tn
small even more than the great, 1t wa
dc young more than the old, who car
RED out the great revolution.
Cavlllings came from gasbags, VIII
made great show, as a balloon Away
does but who collapsed when pricked.
vas In fact the young ones of the nav!
cespised and rejected of the Mandarin
VINO were the chief expositors of the ne
regime. So all those patriots who's
work It really was will doubtless kind
accept this explanation of the omissio
Of their names.
With lnexpressible reluctance have
feentered the arena, but on all sides ths
which was meant for privacy and Il
ue future and which was written a.
eordingly has been demanded OF me fl
publicity and the present as helpf
~Ward the great economies now nece
sry to our very life as a nation.
Imagine $1O,000,O00 a day being spei
more than our income nine months aft
me utter disappearance of the Germs
meet and the vanishing of the Germs
army 1t is criminal folly. The Poop
are 50 inconsequent They cry Z