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October, 1909 the Connecticut, builtinthe New York navy yard, which, begun under the same appropriation as the Louisiana, built in a private yard, and with the whole resources: of the yard and of the department employed in tthe ef- fort to excell the contractor who had much other work to carry along at the same time, was almost two years later going upon her official trials and then did not equal the Louisiana. Difficult to Get Men for the Navy. We have read time and time again of the difficulty of getting men for the navy. We have spent enormous sums in advertising and in recruiting and in telling the public how well treated the men iare and what a pleas- ant life they lead "on shore. duty, at sea, and in our island possessions." We are told that no abusive language and no profanity is allowed to be used 'by officers to enlisted men. That is a deliberate and unqualified mis- statement of the 'facts. The writer has stood and watched a drill ser- geant drilling a squad of raw _ re- cruits at League Island, in the hear- ing of a superior officer, and heard him use the foulest and most abusive epithets to the men I ever listened to from one man to another; such lan- guage as he, unprotected by his uni- form, would not have dared to whis- per to any man in the squad. This is the hardest thing to have to say, but it is the truth, ard it is right and proper that the people of the United States should know it. Before we pour another hundred millions into the gaping maw of our navy lec us know the whole story. Only a part of it has been told and the surface has not been scratched. The Navy's Needs. The author yields to no one in his belief in and advocacy of a navy, and the best, not judged by Russian stand- ards, but he does not believe in the policy of appropriating year after year whatever the navy asks for. It is time a halt was called and the brakes ap- plied. There is not a statement made herein for which the departmental re- ports and records do not furnish con- firmation or which will not be borne out by investigation at the hands of competent practical shipbuilders, not a board detailed from the ranks of the defendant department. It is said that 65 per cent of our total revenues are appropriated to the army and navy and pensions. As to the army the author disclaims much actual knowledge and as to pensions has nothing to say, but if the expenditures are all as well advised as those for the navy it is time 'TAE Marine REVIEW the whole business was and aft and athwartship. . As to the navy's needs, that' da 4 question to which there are as many answers as there are points of view. The designing of fighting ships can best be done by those who are special- ists and those who have to use them, it is mostly guesswork anyway, and that there will be differences of opinion raked fore goes without saying, but the unseemly squabbling over the designs and _ the responsibility for them, as disclosed by the departmental reports, should not be tolerated. Thus it appears, for in- stance, that the designs for the Tennes- see were not completely decided upon when her construction was begun, and were changed four times, and_ each of the bureaus involved accusés the others of being responsible for it. But there is one point of view upon which all can agree, efficiency, and that in- volves administration as well as de- sign, and the getting the utmost pos- sible value for the money provided. It has always seemed to the author that what the navy needs more than any- thing else is a little of the horse-sense and practical business knowledge, in a word, execution, which can only be acquired outside the sanctified pre- cincts of the department and amongst concerns where the spur of competi- tion is continually felt and to fail is to fall. BE 8 SER ES RO RR ERO aR re aR The foregoing was written in Feb- ruary last (1908), but the author after- wards decided not to make it public. Since that time developments have led him to alter his decision. The Pacific cruise, as first planned, has come to an end; the reports of commanding officers have borne out in great part the criticisms so vehemently denied at the time; the unreliability of a_ fleet of foreign colliers has been forcibly exemplified; the spectacle of a great fleet of warships on the Pacific whence almost the last American steamer has disappeared has been pre- sented; the usual amount of fulsome gush over the "magnificent perform- ance" has filled the daily press; the usual months of refitting at navy yards has followed the leisurely excursion; and Admiral Evans has informed . us that what we need is two complete fleets of 24 first class battleships each. As it was shown at the last session of congress that in view of recent devel- opments in battleship design we now had scarcely one entitled to rank as such, we may prepare for the an- nouncement of a program involving the expenditure of upwards of $300,000,000 on new construction. merchant: In April last (1908), 371 the author, in a contribution to a marine journal on the subject of navy super- vision for the merchant marine, called attention to the cost of naval colliers and the time required for their build- ing. Whether or not as a result, the - department almost immediately after- -wards asked for bids on three 7,200- ton colliers of 12 knots speed, and as these lines are being written a con- tract has just been awarded to the Maryland Steel Co. for the three ships at $490,000 each, or $1,470,000 for the three, $80,000 less than the navy asked for to build one, or than the author claimed herein they could be built for. As totime; the first ship is for delivery in ten months, all three in 12 months. The Vestal and Prometheus have now been building over four and a half years and are not anywhere near completed yet. Such prompt confirmation of the -- author's charges seemed to justify the publication of the entire article. MANILA HARBOR. According to Lieut. A. B. Wyckoff, of the United States hydrographic office at Port Townsend, Wash., the artificial harbor behind the 'breakwater at Manila thas a depth of about 30 ft.; the anchorage is fair, 'but all the reg- ular liners have mooring buoys. The chart used is the U. S. Coast and' Geodetic Survey, published in 1909, which is perfectly reliable. Pilots are not necessary. At present there are no harbor im- provements under way and none are contemplated in' the immediate future. Ships, upon arriving at Manila, are assigned berths by the custom house berthing master. The harbor regula- tions are issued tby the collector of customs; the quarantine rules are the same as those in force in the United States; there are no port charges for foreign going vessels. Manila has two small marine rail- ways and no drydocks. At Olongapo, however, is the U. S. naval drydock Dewey capable of taking on a large battleship and at Cavite is a marine! railway 240 ft. long having a capacity' of 2,500 tons. The facilities for the repair of wood. - or steel vessels are fair, but the prices are high. Iron and brass castings up to eight tons can be delivered by the local foundries, but there are no plants producing steel castings. - The wrecking outfit and appliances are, fair. - There are three government wharves. in the harbor, each 600 ft. in length, and 30 ft. in width. Most of the freight is transferred by lighters at a charge of $1.00 per ton, Philippine currency.