Evening star., 1921-05-05
BY JOSEPHUS DANIELS,
Former Secretary Of the Navy.
ARTICLE 81.

ARTICLE 81.
The naval force of the United
States has not been divided into two
fleets: it has been organized as two
fleets. capable of combination so
quickly and efficiently as to be ready
at any time to employ their united
strength in either ocean.
When the announcement was made
of the organization of the Pacific Meet
and Admiral Rodman was making
ready to take it through the Panand
Canal, a newspaper man-1r1enu u
! mine-came into the Navy Depart
ment to tell me that a retired au
miral was going to make violent
attack upon the policy; .,,ho
Let him go ahead" l replied: Inc
fleet is moving and nobody Will llve
long enough ever again to see Amer
lean interests, American policies ana
the American people unprotected III
the Pacific"
But" said my newspaper friend:
"he says you will ruin the Navy II
you create two fleets
That does not give me any con-
Germ" l answered.
For Strength md Unity.
So the plan went into effect. II IS
so perfectly elaborated and co-orul-
, mated that brief message from the
Secretary of the Navy would merge
the Atlantic and Pacific fleets into one
great American fleet. on eltner siue
Of the continent. long before any
foreign foe could apprGaeh !,;rion on, therefore.
makes for strength and unity as well
as for a full knowledge OF all tne
conditions in both oceans. MuSn
cruising in the Atlantic has mage ;ts
peculiarities. 1t is valuable ac-
quaintanceship with which to supple,
ment the chart. The Pacific should
be known equally well.
For many years the policy or IN
creased construction of naval craft
looked toward the time when stroils
fleet in the Pacific should give M the
same assurance on that coast as .ns
Atlantic feet gave to TO-; the ss%r.pce eas,pfe
could not be granted until the Pan
ANA canal was opened and the Navy
was big enough to organize two pow.
erful fleets so constituted that; ps
united in a few days.
Protects Both Coasts.
The large increase in the number OF
destroyers eve will soon have 3oo OF
the completion and commisslo oning OF
new dreadnaughts and other cIalt
have made possible what the protec
ton of our coasts has long demahaeo
the maintenance of powerful oi
visions Of the American fleet IN poth
the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Wis
dom Of this policy has been ques-
toned by those who have not taken
the pains to understand the plans and
organization and by some ofhcers VINO
frontier Of the United States.
If the Panama canal had not been
completed this new organization coulo
not have been adopted wisely. 1t was
mainly for the purpose of making
easy and quick passag ge OF our naval
force through the canal that the peo-
| pie were willing to invest so much
money in building the canal. In fact.
the real reason the canal was built
when it was can be traced to the
America in 1898. That long trip,
watched with almost feverish inter-
est, fixed the determination to con
struct an isthmian canal. Its build
ing had been thwarted time and again
by influential men interested in trans
continental railroads. They thought
it's construction would so decrease
their freight rates more and more
as big merchant marine is main
tained, but the business of our coun-
try expands so rapidly that there is
an abundance of freight for both rail
and water transportation companies.
No Toll ON Naval Vessels.
| largely for naval purposes that Presi-
dent Wilson upheld me in my conten-
tion with the Secretary Of War that
no toll should be charged for naval
| vessels going through the canal:
The creation of strong Pacific
feet was the result of long considera-
! ion and study. Long before the world
| war. when Rear Admiral Cameron
| McRae Winslow was made full ad-
! miral and placed in command of a
! d., 90 email tai n
| ing no modern dreadnaught, I di-
| rected him to make a study of the
needs Of the Pacific. Other officers
were likewise instructed to make
! similar studies.
! AS a result. in 1914-15 / had decid :
| ed to organize powerful Pacific
feet. which could be united with the
| Atlantic feet within a few days no
tice. The world war postponed it's
creation. When the time came the
| been SO great we were able to consti
| tute two fleets, each having 1855 ships:
Iaggregating for each $4,000 tons. or
| 100000 more tonnage in each fleet
than composed the whole feet which
"Fighting Bob" Evans took around
dered by President Roosevelt.
| Warning to the World.
With the completion OF the ships
authorized IN the three-year pro-
gram our Navy will have strength
, unequaled by any other nation; and
the fleet. when combined. will be an
armada which will compel respect.
| and. l trust. be a warning to any
| nation not to emulate Germany's
greed for world conquest.
The decision Of the Navy Depart
ment to organize and establish a new
Pacific fleet of strength equal to the
| Atlantic fleet is based on sound rea-