Year: 1873

these things are the expedents of thieves.


The Navy or she United stafes-we
DO Not Nced = Navy ON Paper-We


Need One ON tho Seas.


The navy OF the United States numbers 17s ves-
sells, carrying 1878 guns exclusive OF howitzers.
6s steamers u sailing vessels, 81 iron.clads, 2S
tugs. y = There are 45 vessels In commission
for sea service. !.
OF the ships built during the war. including
ished since Its close, many were designed for
special service and are not OF a character adapted
economical and efficient distribution OF our small
peace force, and almost all built hastily OF unsea-
soned timber. have now fulfilled the measure OF
their useful life. :
II would be the wisest economy at once to afrord
the means and authority to build a number OF
small active cruisers OF live oak or OF iron, which,
adapted to the duties and means OF our navy In
economical machinery which has succeeded that In
use at the commencement or the decade could be
some years. with comparatively little expense for
repairs.-AnnuaI Report OF Secretary RooeSoh, NO
ue7a6er 26, 1872. 4r-


MY own opinion is that we should exhaust the
Treasury rather than M submit to TINS insisnity
think this good opportunity TO shell out for
the navy, and hope that when the hat is handed
round Tor naval appropriations the people will re-
member they can't have their nag respected on





something better than navy on paper. for this
navy certainly Is, as can easily be verined py
an Inspection OF the old rookeres that
when they hear that one OF our gunbOats has sailed
for Cuba with an eleven-inch gun and sealed or
that the Spaniards have ffty-one gunDoats in
Cuban waters, some OF them carrying fifty guns
each, and can almost count ten guns to our one.-
Admiral Porter in the HERALD, November 10.
Congress meets on Monday next. We have
done our utmost to impress upon its members
and upon the public at large the serious de-
ficiencies of our navy-a navy which, in the
language of its highest professional officer, is
"a navy on paper" We have also tried to be
emphatic, while strictly fair and impartial, in
presenting the kindred claims of our suffering
the time has come for our Legislators to per-
ceive the necessity Of generous treatment Of
that portion Of 99S citizens who in them
selves or in their interests dwell On the sea.
To our national shame and disgrace we have
allowed our fine natural qualities as seamen
and mechanics to be diverted to overcrowded
branches Of industry. Capital which was
wont to seek investment in ships and the car
rying trade now goes, by the mag
netic attraction of large dividends, to
the manufacturers Of the East, the
iron interest Of Pennsylvania and the
care to set out in pursuit which is impotent
to-day and may become Of the past after the
lapse Of few years 1t was not long ago
when the ambitious youth, fresh from college
or the public schools, made it his highest am
bition to begin life in some extensive house
down town into which shipping entered as the
largest element. Our great merchants-those
who grew rich by trading with the far East,
the West Indies and South America and
remote islands-were made Of this material.
But there is little scope for our youth to-day.
They no longer take to commerce, because it
is q dying institution The r6bust maritime
sports-yachting, boating and fishing-will
surely decline with the decline of our navy
and our commercial marine if the country be
insane enough to condemn us to the exist
ence Of an inland power Not day, then, is
to be lost after the assembling of
Congress; for, as Mr.. Robeson says,
our war ships, chastity built of un-
seasoned timber, have now fulfilled the
measure of their useful lives The same
in larger sense is true of the commercial
marine. Eight years of wear and tear leave
an American vessel, subjected, as it is, to the
rough elements of every ocean, dangerous,
unseaworthy hulk. In former times the Ger
mans used to buy our cast-of ships, repair
them and use them during their ante-modern
existence Now we keep them ourselves,
whether in commerce or in war, and they ore
the only vessels we have with which to meet
the Spanish iron-clads, and which latter, ac-
cording to Admiral Porter, number ffty-one
know, express great confidence in going into
war with Spain; but it is confidence
founded on courage and desire for active
service rather than on the utility Of the worth
less squadron they would fight to the death.
We allow that there might be hope
for the remnant of navy now
being patched into form in con-
hict with nation which produces such
martial specimens as Contreras and Burriel;
but even then we would have to rely on tor
pedoes the main source of our present
strength. We have tried to imagine the naval
situation as it would stand a month after the
declaration of war. Our feet-our entire
available navy-would be gathered in Cuban
waters, if, indeed, its wreck were not already
being washed upon the shores of the island
mid the Atlantic surf. The Spanish navy
would be there too, and, finding out the
puerility Of its enemy, would it not be the
next move to blockade our principal seaports-
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Savannah and New Orleans? If we accept
the views Of Admiral Porter this would not
only be possible contingency, but it would be
the most sensible conclusion Of naval con-
test between the two nations. Secretary