Bisbee daily review., 1921-02-27
DEMbY PLEDGES NAVY READY, TO
 DEFEND NATION
 AT ANY NOTICE
Young Roosevelt Will Be Assistant; Construction
 Will Be Continued
TALKS WITH HARDING
Appointment Confirms Be lief That Next Presi-
 dent For Big Navy

L. Edwin Denby. gunner's mate in Sampson's fleet and sergeant of marines in the war, accepted the port folio of navy today. with a pledge to maintain the naval fighting machine "at the highest peak of power ready for battle at any notice"
 As his assistant he will have Theo. dore Roosevelt, son of the former president. and he will begin his ad ministration under ploicy that calls for adherence to the present naval building program until the nations may be brought into definite agree ment to reduce armaments-
 Continuation of the capital con- struction program was announced as an administration policy by President elect Harding when he made known the final designation of Denby as. sec retary and of Roosevelt as assistant.
 Harding will leave tomorrow night for Marion, where his neiChbors will give him farewell celebration Tues cay. He expects to reach Washing ton Thursday. the day before inau- guration
 Confirmation of ,enby's selection followed a conference in which he laid before the president-elect his opinion of what the next administration should do. atr
 Silent On Details
 Afterward he would not discuss de tailed policies.
 Although he came into the cabinet at the last minute as a dark horse. Denby bringsfto the secretaryship an ~f ence. Besides having been an enlist ed man in war time in~both the navy and the marine corps, he has served as a member of the house naval com mittee and has gained through close contact and knowledae of conditions beyond the insular possessions in the Pacific.
 In declining to sneak of specific naval policies, Denby reminded his ouestioners that he never had been in close contact with the larger policies Of the department and SO might find himself stranger to some imDortant questions of policy But he added in absence of preconceived opinions might not be entirely a detriment.
 In response to questions about the naval policy of the present adminis- tration the secretary-to-be only smiled and shook his head He did take oc- casion. however. to declare his un- qualified approval of the anti-wine or der of Secretary Daniels.
 For Daniels, he expressed highest regard and one of his first acts as secretary-designate was to send a telegram to the navy department head thanking him for past courte- sies. Going to a telegraph stand in the hotel he scrubbed the following in lead pencil:
 'Have read with great pleasure your kind reference to me in the press. Please accept my cordial thanks. I shall see YOU in Washington in a day or two. hope"
 The meeting will be the first be- tween the retiring secretary and his successor. During the war when Denby was serving at the age of 4s as a marine sergeant, he sbroke a regulation and went to Daniels in an effort 10 smooth sorre troubles of the men serving with him.
 ~The secretary mieht have court martiaIed me" he said, "but. he did not"
 Has Interesting Record
 Most of the prospective secretary's service with the marines was in the mobile department. though he was sent abroad for brief period as ob- server and was under fire on the American front Before the war end ed he had risen from private to sec. ond lieutenant. serving with the lat ter rank as morale officer at the Paris Island training station. A Denby who Is a lawyer by profes sion. comes of fighting stock, an uncle and a grandfather having serv. cd as officers in the American navy His father. a Democrat until he re fused to support ". J. Bryan in 1888 was American minister to China un der Cleveland. Young Denby accom- panied him and spent nine years in the Far East He was i1 the navy throughout the Spanish-Amerfcan war and as a gunner's mate. participated in the blockade of Havana.
 Roosevelt's appointment as sssis'