The North Platte semi-weekly tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922, November 17, 1911, Image 6

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    UNOE
$150
PLC
HOW muou am 1 ofterod for this
fine atool cruiser Dotroit built
in 1880, cost nio $1,233,039, al
most as good as now, only a bit
shop-worn, and I'm sacrltlclng
. I . I i I. M
my Oiu uavni biuck bu un iu
mako room for a couplo or 30,-000-ton
battleships 1'vo just
asked congross for, How much
for tho Dotroit? Do 1 hoar
$50,0007 Well, 125,000, tbon.
No? Why, gontlomon, yon
couldn't buy a tug-boat at tbat tlguro, $20,0007
Twenty I am ottered. Ib that all 7 Doing, go
ing gono at $20,000!"
Tho aucUonoor was Undo Ham, and tho occa
sion was one of hla llttlo naval rummago Haloa,
hold at tho navy yard laat January.
Undo Sam has from $140,000,000 to $100,000,000
worth of battlosblps, crulsorn, monitors, gun
bonta and other miscellaneous ex-flghtlng craft
tilled up In his naval Junk-shop. That Is to any,
tho discards, obHOloto or obsolescent typos, crip
ples, back numbers and total wrocks at present
on tils hands cost him tho tidy sum Indicated for
construction alono, not counting guns and equip
ment. Thcso latter rcproaont a moro or leas per
ishable valuo, too, but that's another story.
It was doubtless owing to Uncle Sam's reputa
tion for unsontimontnllty In regard to superannu
ated war vossols that goncral crcdcnco was given
to a recent rumor that Turkoy proposed to pur
chase from tho United States tho four armored
crulsora Olympic, Saratoga, Brooklyn and Kalolgh.
This rumor was promptly donlod from Washing
ton. Undo Sam has no authority In law to dis
pose of naval vessels to any forolgn government.
Otherwise tho Idea was not so vory far removed
from possibility,
Three of tho four crulsors named aro at navy
yards, or tho Naval Academy, tho fourth ono, the
New York (or tho Saratoga, as she Is called now),
being with the Asiatic squadron. Tho vessels aro
all of obsolete type, but each has contributed to
naval history. Tho Saratoga was Hear Admiral
Sampson's flagship at Santiago, tho Brooklyn was
Hear Admiral Schley's flagship in tho same bnt-
4 m-.nm wjpts7f wt . ssj -
tie, the Olympla was Admiral Dewey's flagship
at Manila Day, and the itnlelgh, also of the Ma
nila squadron, was undor command or Capt. Jo
seph 11. Coghlan ot "Hoch dor Kaiaor" fame. Tbo
Olympla 1b at th Naval Academy, tho Brooklyn
at the Philadelphia yard and the Kalolgh at
Mare Island.
The armored cruiser Brooklyn, built at Phil
adelphia in 1895-10, U the largest ot the vossels
named. She U of 0,215 tons displacement, and
was completed at a cost ot $3,007,916. Tho next
largest of the four vessels ts the Saratoga (ex
New York), an armored cruiser of 8,200 tons dis
placement, built at Philadelphia In 1891 and cost
ing almost as much as tho Brooklyn. Tho Olym
pla Is a second-class cruiser, built at Snn Pran
,clsoo in 18!)2-95. Tho Kalolgh la a third-class
cruiser, built at Norfolk at about the sumo time.
Doth are of the protected type.
Some of the big armorclada are but recently
out of commission, or "In reserve" that means
headed for Davy Jones's locker, though as yet
the marked-down price tag has not been attached.
Others for instance tho $20,000,000 Job lot or
monitors would probably bo unsnlahlo at uuy
prc as floatable or lighting vessels.
Admiral Jack Philip's old battleship Toxas,
which bore the brunt of the lighting at Santiago,
was rccbrlstened the San Marcos, so that her
stuto name might bo given to ono of tho now
dreadnoughts. Then, last nprlng, tho vonornblo
war-horse was towed out Into Chosnpoako liny
and set up as a target ror tho Now Hampshire's
big guns and dynamite shells to battor Into scrap
Iron. What a comedown from twenty-live years
ago, whan the Texas, constructed at a coat of
$4,202,121, waa a beauty ot tbo now squadron!
Sampso&'H old flagship is now tho Saratoga
having surrendered her namo to tho nowor Now
York. Sho has boon rebuilt at n cost ot moro
than half a. million dollars, and is now in tho
PhlllpptncBr-the only ono ot tho Santiago lighters
in actual commission today.
Schley's famous Brooklyn, In her docllnlng days,
repoBoa poacofutly In tho Lcngua Island navy
yard, Philadelphia. The Iowa, "Fighting Bob"
tCvnnB1 whip, is In reserve, as uro also tho Mas
sachusetts, tbo Indiana and tho Oregon the gal
lant battleship that Captain Clark brought hair
ay around tho world In record time, without a
break,
These- and other good old-tlmors nro not yet
"all In" by any moans.,,. Still thoy couldn't hold
their own In the lighting lino with such husky
youngsters as, say, tho Connecticut or tho North
Dakota, today, muuh loas with tho super-dreadnoughts
of the Florida typo or tomorrow. There
fore, according to up-to-date standards thoy are
In tho obsojeto claas. Whon a vessel once gets
there, as a rule, the rest is silence.
Even the proud Atlantic fleet bnttlcshlpa of
1007, that In Do
comber of that yoar
sailed out of Hamp
ton IlondB on the
famous around-the-world
crulBo tho
Alabama, Illinois,
Maine, Missouri,
Ohio, Kenrsargo.
Kentucky, Wlacon
sin and New Jer
seyare out ot the front lino now. Some ot thorn
participated in the recont thoorotlcal coast ma
neuvers! against New York and Boston, but thoy
wore technically "sunk" by the submarines and
torpedo boats,
For an examplo of rapid tobogganing Into
doauotutlo, look at tho threo stately protected
cruisers St. Louis, Charleston and Milwaukee
which coat about $3,800,000 nploco when thoy
were built In 1002, Even then, certain Dick Dead
eyes of tho navy declared that tblB type was ob
solete before tho crulsor triplets wont Into com
mission. Bo that as It may, at tho prcsont day
these $11,000,000 worth of crulore are gonornlly
regarded as threo whlta elephants which tho navy
Is bothered to know what to'do with.
Tho monitors stnnd for a picturesque but ex
ponslvo fad, dating from the Infancy days ot Iron
clads In the Civil war ot fifty years ago, whon
Ericsson's small "cheesebox on n raft" In Hamp
ton noads put tho Confederate Merrlmao out ot
business and saved tho nation, If It wero not ror
"past performances" prestige there would not bo
ten million dollara' worth or monitors rusting In
the rlvera loduy. Four ot these eurioa, which
have boon within a decado rcomdelcd Into single
turret coast dofondors, are tho .Cheyenne, once
the Wyoming, tho Ozark, formerly tho Arkansas,
and tho Tallahasso and the Touopah, which used
to bo respectively tho Florida and tho Novnda.
Whon n. spoclal cIubb craft 1b tried out, such,
for oxumplo, as tho Vesuvius dyuamlto gunboat ot
nearly twenty years ago, she soon either goes to
tho lumber nttlo herself or else puts sotno other
typo In tho obsoleto class. In either case, Uncle
Sam's Bcrap-hcap grows larger and moro miscel
laneous. Such is the unlvarsnl law of naval evolution.
England, Franco and Germany aro In this samo
naval Junk business on a vast scalo, and Italy
and Austria In a smnllor way.
Tho excuse Is tho gonornl ono or modern mili
tarismthat compotltivo war preparation Is tho
price of pence. From the tlnnnclal viewpoint or
tho tnxpayor tho high cost ot peaco Is about tho
samo as that ot active hostilities.
At any rnto, tho most recent practical lessons
ot war aro applied with marvelous results or
progress to the world's nnvlea, and In no country
is thlB more strikingly exemplified than In tho
United Stales.
Walter S. Mcrlwethor, tho well-known naval
authority, has shown In Illustration or tho de
velopment ot gunnery slnco the Spanish war
tuat in th target practice of United States war
ships today tho peroentngo of mlssos Is actually
smaller than tho percentage of hits was at San
tiago. According to tho samo authority, tho Idea of
tbo modern dreadnought or nll-blg-gun battleship'
originated in our own navy. Years before the
FRISCO MAYOR HAS BIG TASK
It is a big Job that James Rolph, Jr.
tho now mayor of San Francisco, for
merly an errand boy, has before him!
In taking charge of tho city govern
ment for tho four-year term, during
"Which it must proparo for tho Panama
Pacific exposition, ho will bo largely
responsible for tho expenditure ot
$100,000,000 for public works.
And then, most difficult and most Im
portant of nil, perhaps, lie must "clean
up" San Francisco. That 1b, ho must
glvo tho city such a moral cleaning
that It 'will preaent a decent appear
nnco to the thousands ot visitors from
all over tho world.
By his election Rolph becomes m
international llguro with tho expendi
ture ot millions of dollars under liU
direction, with tho prosperity of a mil
lion people largely dependent upon his
policies, with tho buccoss of tho
world's fair linked to hla administra
tion and with the good name ot San
Francisco In his keeping.
Rolph plugged his way through tho grammar school and spont threo
and one-half years in completing tho high school courso, doing odd Jobs to
earn money to buy books and clothes. Rolph's motcorlo start in business
llfo begnn in January, 1900, when ho formed a partnership with Georgo U.
Hind, a high school claBsma'to. Tho two young men opened a llttlo offico
near tho wator front and started In the shipping and commission business..
Hind's father gavo tho hoys their start and within a fow months they wero
doing business on their own account, which trebled and quadrupled as tho
years went on.
1. I?!
PASTOR OF CHURCH 40 YEARS
first English dreadnought was put in commission
American-drawn plans for two such vessels, tenta
tively called tho Feasible and tho Possible, re
posed In dusty pigeonholes In tho navy depart
ment at Washington. They wero resurrocted
lator In tho light of dovelopmonts abroad.
Thlrty-flvo seagoing bnttloahlps and dread
noughtsbeginning with the Indiana, Massachu
setts and Oregon group, laid down In 1891, and in
eluding tho new $8,000,000 dreadnoughts Now
York and Texas, yet minora may be said to con
stitute tbo main line of Uncle Sam's Ben light
ors. Tho other battleship groups and types, In
chronological succession nro 2, Iowa; 3, Kear
aargo and Kentucky; 4, Alabama. Illinois, Wis
consin, Maine, Missouri and Ohio; C. Virginia,
Rhode Island, Now Jersey, Goo'rgla, Nebraska,
Kansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, New
Hampshire, Minnesota, Mississippi arid Idaho.
After these, beginning In 1905-Gwlth tho near
dreadnoughts South Carolina and 'Michigan, come
tho preBont dreadnought norlos: North Dakota,
Dolawure, Florida, Utah. Wyoming, Arkansas.
Texas and New York.
In tho meantime, as demonstrated In tho mimic
"Battle of Block Island" this summer, the sub
marines haye practically proved tho battleships
vulnerable, tboreforo outclassed and obsolescent.
These maneuvers may bo said to have borno out
tho prediction of a plank In tho "Proposed Plat
form fdr tho American Party, published in 1907:
"Wo desire that the Amorlcan navy shall be
tho most powerful and olllclont in tho world; but
wo couslder that new Inventions have displaced
or aro about to dlsplaco the battleship, cruiser,
torpedo-boat and monitor, and therefore hesitate
to mako further appropriations for tbeso types of
fighting crnft."
Con8orvatlvo Btatcsmon In the United States
Bennto have douounced the vast appropriations
ror armored Bhlps sums estimated In tho aggre
gate at moro than $10,000,000 as a bad Invest
ment Thoy hnvo stigmatized tho Unttod States
navy as "a lot of old tubs, moro dnngorous to
thoBo on the Inside than to those without."
Even In England the day ot tho dreadnought is
beginning to decline, whllo tho aubmarlno to say
nothing of tho wnr aeroplane Is yet In infancy.
At this rate, cro long, our congress may hear
the cry of the armed-pouce advocates changing
to "Millions for dtfvelonment of tho dlvlmr-boat:
not one cent moro for dreadnoughts!"
Tho naval men themselves nro not slow to read
tbo signs ot coming chango.
It may bo- only n question of a vory fow yoars
when tho general adoption of a 14-Inch gun enpn-
uin or snooting wun accuracy at u distance ot
flttoen mlloH will revolutionize naval warfare
Such a guu Is now In process ot trylng-out, and
If It proves a success It will mnko nil tho coast
defenses ot today practically useless.
"more Is no uouui," declares Roar Admiral
Francis T. BowIob, U. S. N., rotlrod, "that a floet
equipped with tho new 14-lnch gun ot the latest
typo could razo New York or any other seaport
In Iobs than an hour. It seems to mo that tho
answer to this probtom or coast deronso ts mndo
by the submarine 1 bellovo that tho submarine
is going to bo- taken moro seriously every year
by nuval experts. It Is tho most deadly enomy ot
tho battleship."
Ono of the unlquo figures In tho ro
llglous world ot today is Rov. Dr.
Robort Stuart MacArthur, former pas
tor ot Calvary Baptist church, New
York city and newly elected prcsidont
of tho World Alliance of tho Baptist
Church.
Dr. MacArthur -was born in Can
ada of Scotch parentage. After grad
uating from Rochester Theological
seminary he began hla pastorate In
tho abovo church May 15, 1870. Slnco
his pastorate ho has increased tho
membership from 238 to 2,500. Ho has
laid on God's altar for church work,
city missions and homo and foreign
missions moro than $2,000,000. This
Is n rcmurkablc, record, especially
when it is borno in mind that not a
millionaire is to bo found in the mem
bership. His election calls to mind that Dr.
MacArthur, who scomB far from fitting
tho rolo of a seventy-year-old minister,
has retired from tho first and only pas
torate occupied by him during his four decades as a clergyman. Hla. retire:
mont from tho pastorate brings him to a wider activity. It Is intoros'tlng to
noto that Dr. MacArthur was unanimously elected In Philadelphia by' dele
gates representing every country on tho globe to tho presidency of tho Bap'-1
tlst World Alliance. This Is the highest honor possible in tho Baptist denom
ination, on either side ot tho ocean or In tho world. It Is really a world-wldo
bishopric.
mm
KITCHENER GOES TO EGYPT
Field Marshal Viscount Kitchener's
appointment as agent and consul gen
eral at Cairo was received at that city
with great satisfaction. As a matter
ot fact, Lord Kitchener will really,
though not in name, bo arbiter of
Egyptian policy, and will bo respon
sible undor tho British government
for tho administration ot Egypt and
tho Sudan. His full tltlo for tho po
sition la minister plenipotentiary and
consul general and his salary is
7,000 a year.
As regards his suitability for tho po
sition, it Is certain that there la no
man In Brltatn with whom could
be moro surely trusted tho affairs of
Egypt and Sudan. His very namo
proclaims him to bo tho man thnt 1b
wanted K. of K., Kitchener of Khar
tum. It Is a nlcknamo by which he
will always bo romembcred. And yet
It 1b only una of his many nicknames,
it has been said, "Tho great usually
talk too much; Kitchener never
talks." Tho Yankco boasts that ho makes good on talk, and without it suc
cess Is well nigh impossible. But hero wo havo a living contradiction to the
theory.
Kitchener was never at a public school, and commenced his career when
ho temporarily enlisted whllo In has teens as n private In tho French army
of tho Loire. At twenty ho blossomed Into a "sapper," Joining the engineers,'
nnd working, It enn be guessed, doggedly at his profession till four years
lator ho bocamo a member of tho Palestine survoy. Thus he became part ot
British history, for later ho passed to the command of tho Egyptian .cavalry,
In 1882.
LAURIER IS NOT TO QUIT
"I will remain in parliament as
leader ot tho opposition for somo time.
I should be a deserter of my party If
I ran nway now," said Sir Wilfrid Lau
rler in Ottawa, Ont Sir Wilfrid said
that he had Intended to retire nnd, no
doubt, would do bo alter, some time,
but not Immediately. Ho undoubted
ly will go through tho next session as
leader of tho opposition.
Sir Wilfrid Laurlcr, defeated, and
perhaps a llttlo dismayed, possibly
wishes now moro thnn over that ho
had remained unknlghtod, Ho did not
dcBlro the honor bestowed upon him
at tho diamond Jubilee. "I would havo
preferred to remain plain Wilfrid Lau
rlor," he haB said. "I began my po
litical career under plain Alexander
Mckenzie, who began llfo aB a stono
cutter, nnd who lived and died plain
Alexnndor McKcozlo."
An enemy charged him onco with
having received as a gift from a cor
rupt corporation a handsome, woll fur
nished dwelling. Ho told tho Dominion parliament wbnt the 4acta wero. Sir
Wilfrid explained that he had bought the houso himself, paying 1,100 cash
down and furnishing it, except for a fow gifts from personal friends to Lady
Laurler. raising tho money on his own personal note, and giving a mortgage
for tho balance, 800, on tho house Itself,