Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1907 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capital. Special Correspondence to The Democrat. The trip of the battleship squadron from the Atlantic to the Pacific seems.likely to be „an excuse for more expenditures on behalf of the navy. Of course, no one begrudges the navy all reasonable facilities, and it is a good thing for the country to be fully prepared for emergencies at all points. But this thing of having two coast lines, each as long as the average continent to provide for promises lQ.be an expensive business. The complaint is now made that when the battleship squadron is transferred to the Pacific Coast there will not be enough docking facilities for it on the western edge of the country. There is an immense dock at Bremm'erton and another even at Mare Island, near San Francisco. Also there are several private docks that the warships can have the use of on the same terms with merchant vessels. But this is said to be inadequate, and the Navy Department is making plans for additional docks on the Pacific Coast to add another item of large expenditure to the next naval appropriation bill. A curious instance of the economy with which expenditures of this sort have been in the past is shown in connection with the Mare Island dock. This has been under construction for six years, and has been taken out of the hands of the original contractors because they were too slow with the work. It is now approaching completion, and is a very fine dock, but it appears that

it has been located so far from the deep water that the larger vessels cannot get at it. Therefore, there will either have to be another dock built or an expensive channel dredged to open the way to the existing dock. One might think that this feature of the situation would have been discovered sometime within the last six years. But apparently it has just come to light. Truly it is a glorious thing to have a big navy adequately provided for and a mighty expensive thing as well. t ft The navy is very much to the fore these days, and it is interesting to see ourselves through foreign eyes in respect to our national equipment. Admiral Sakamoto, one of the most distinguished of the Japanese navy, has been very widely quoted recently to the affecj that the United States had a fine navy and a poor lot officers to man it He said, according to the interview, that desertion was rife in the rank and file of the navy and that the officers were more fitted to hold down easy chairs in the Washington Department than they were to command warships. It was a very indiscreet interview, if accurately reported, and the Japanese government was careful to brand it a falsehood by directing the Japanese newspaper, the Hocbi, which printed it, to withdraw it and print a complimentary interview on the American Navy by an unnamed but “but high Japanese official.” Of course, the fact the complimentary interview was anonymous detracted a good deal from its weight. But there appears this week in the German papers a long article on the American navy from Count von Reventhlow, one of the foremost naval writers /of that country. He criticized the American navy from the viewpoint of a foreigner who knows nearly all about it, and bis conclusions agree closely with the observations of the Americans. He says that so far as ships and guns are concerned, Americans have one of the best navies afloat, but they are short by several thousand of men enough to man the ships they have, while fresh ships are continually being built. He says that the criticism that many American naval officers are too old for active commands is as a whole unjust. There are a good many American officers who would be eliminated f jom the active list if a real war was to start. But he says that in such a case the natural bent of the American people for mechanics and technical work would largely furnish the element needed to man modern ships and the question of officers is one that would adjust itself to emergency. He belteves that the American navy in a general way is on a thoroughly satisfactory peace -footing, but that the building program is outrunning the personnel. t t. t A bitter fight is being made by the Pennsylvania railroad against the new two cent a mile rate law that has been enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature. The stand of the railroad is more important since similar lawshave been enaca. ■

ted by several of the other states and there is being a railroad fight made against all of them, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and Virginia, are all in the throes of the two cent rate agitation. The railroads declare that the two cent law is confiscatory and therefore unjust. But the Pennsylvania went a little far in proving its case, for in explaining that the present rates of fare were not excessive, it presented tables to prove that the average rate of fare on state traffic now was only 1:9 cents a mile. The railroads have all shown that they are not going to submit to the statutes of the state legislatures without a fight that will be be carried to the highest court. It is a question of control that will have to be fought out between the several states and the railroads and it might as well be settled now as at any future time. t t t

The first instance on record where a woman was ever given a $2,000 clerkship under the government, developed in Washington last week. Miss Margaret Kelly, a special clerk to the director of the mint was recommended for promotion by Geo. Roberts, the retiring director of the mint, and the promotion was made by Secretary Cortelyou who raised her from the SI,OOO to the $2,000 grade. Such a jump for a woman was unheard of in the government service, but director Roberts when approached on the subject, said it was merely paying for efficiency, and perhaps not paying as much as the efficiency deserved. He said that Miss Kelly was in the director’s office as a clerk when he came there and that all he knew as director of the mint he had learned from her. This was a rather startling admission for a bureau chief to make, but it might be duplicated by many other chiefs if they would give their principal clerks the credit due them. He said Miss Kelly was just as competent of being director of the mint as anybody, and he was glad she was getting paid in proportion to her services. This ought to be encouraging news for a good m any women in the government service in Washington and elsewhere, for it at least indicates that there is nd tendency to side-track them on account of their sek, and that efficient work when seen is rewarded.