The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-11-11
I ROP PAGANDA
OF LES
Charleston Navy Yard Re
CURED For National
Defense


point. While Secretary DENLY was
in Japan, and while Roosevelt was
working out economies in the ad-
nainistration Of the navy depart
{ nent, he determined to close up
the purely political navy yard at
Charleston, South Carolina. That,
as the country will recall, is the
yard which ole. Ben Tillman forced
upon the country when he was
chairman of the senate committee
on naval affairs during the first
Wilson administration. To make
a Channel to the yard it was nee
essary 20 alter the landscape ma
terially. At great expense con-
sidera BILE area of land was elini-
mated. This was all to the good
from the Daniels standpoint, since
the more money spent in south,
better. Young Roosevelt's ro-
posal to shut up the Charleston
yard soon encountered negative
action on the part of the senators
from South Carolina. They in.
duced ten OF their associates
making an even dozen in ALTO
sign a round robin declaring that
they would oppose with their in
fuence and their votes the presi-
dents ship subsidy bill if the
Charleston yard was closed, unless
the government at the same time
should also close some. northern
navy yard. They took this threat
to Lasser chairman Of the ship
ping board Lasker is the field
agent of the ship subsidy proposal,
{ He carried the paper to the White
House, and very shortly thereafter
Roosevelt received formal and
written instructions from his COM
naand der-in-chief to cancel the plan
for dismantling the Charleston
yard OF course. Roosevelt was
Yeeved. Especially he resented
Lasker's part IN the affir. Orders
s being orders, he~obeyed- tech
nscaIIy rather than IN spirit. For
Immediately he exercised the pow
er Of the department and with
drew all ships from Charleston,
leaving the yard with nothing;to do.
A. few days thereafter Secretary
DENLY came hoTne, and beng more
subservient, reversed his young as
sistant.s policy, but not in an Of
sensiye way. Adroitly he brought
about the creation Of q board of
naval officers TO make a new study
Of navy yard needs, preserving. the.
existing status.-San Francisco
s Argonaut.
The foregoing is typical of the
propaganda of lies disseminated in
relation TO the Charleston Navy
yard.
Did young Teddy Roosevelt ex-
hibit flashes of the paternal
form ?'' His father established the
yard.
Is It the yard which old Ben
Tillman forced upon the country
when he was chirnaan Of the sen-
ate committee on naval affairs dur
ing the first Wilson administra-
.tion?''
The yard was authorized in 1901.
Theodore Roosevelt being president
of the United States, Senator Hale.
of Maine, was chairman of the
senate committee on naval affairs;
Mr. Long, Of Massachusetts,, was
secretary of the navy and both
houses OF congress were Republi-
can. It was established on the
recommendation of the Rogers
board. composed of some of the
abIest officers in the navy after ex-
hanstive study. It would be strange
ifsthe Republican party had put a
: $40. 100000 navy yard in Charles
ten. S. c., for political reasons.
TO make channel to the yard
II was necessary to alter the land
scape materially" The yard is on
the west bank OF a broad river
There is a clear channel Of 80 feet
Of water to the open sea and the to-
tai sum ever spent on the river was
$4,000.
SO much for the facts. They
show that the Argonaut's misin-
formation was complete.
For years the British believed in
centralizauon of navy yards. About
1905 this policy was changed, and
one result was the construction Of
the base at Rosslyn.. There, in the
north of Scotland. the Great Fleet
was maintained during the world
war and it is not too much to say
that Rossiyn was mighty factor in
the final victory of the allies. Be
tween Hatteras and Panama, the
United States has but one yard
that AT Charleston. There are six
north of Hatteras, a distance of less
than thousand miles. Would it be
craftsmanship Or recklessness to
abandon that one yard, the eff
ciency of which has never been
challenged?
There have been some naval Of
ncers who verbally criticised the
Charleston yard, but very few, if
any. have never dared to put such
opinions in writing and stake their
professional regulations on YER
dict that the yard is unnecessary.
No, indeed, for to do so would be
10 combat the opinion Of the master
strategist and naval writer. Admir-
al Mahan, and the best authorities
the naval profession has produced.
of the various navy yards in the