348 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



would have been a truer and more appropriate title. By whatever 

 name we may choose to call it, the subject is one of tremendous im- 

 portance — of such importance that, while I am glad to have the oppor- 

 tunity of presenting it, I hope and trust that it may be discussed in 

 many other forms; that my very imperfect presentation may be sup- 

 plemented and improved; and that these discussions may go on until 

 we reach a real and practical remedy for the present deplorable con- 

 ditions. One of the most notable of Sir Walter Ealeigh's many notable 

 aphorisms was his declaration, " Whosoever commands the sea commands 

 trade. Whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the 

 riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." That state- 

 ment is as true to-day as it was when he made it. The converse of the 

 proposition is equally true — that whosoever does not command the sea, 

 trades at the pleasure of others and contributes to the wealth of others, 

 who will in time command the world itself. Never has the world had 

 such an object lesson in the value of "command of the sea" as is af- 

 forded to-day, when the industries and commerce of England continue 

 in an almost normal way in the midst of a war for national existence, 

 while Germany's commerce has been banished from the seas and her 

 vessels are tied up in all the great ports of the world, her exporters are 

 idle, her looms are silent and her people must economize in their use 

 of foodstuffs to avoid the danger of ultimate starvation. You may 

 say that this is a question of a navy rather than of commerce, but I 

 would have you note that the two are inseparably related. An ade- 

 quate navy must include colliers, transports, supply and hospital ships 

 and scout cruisers, as well as battleships, torpedo boats and submarines. 

 There must be ship-yards for construction and repair work, and there 

 must be a reserve of men trained to the sea, to meet the added demands 

 and losses of war, and unless there is a merchant marine you can not 

 have these things. Ship-yards can not live on the construction of battle- 

 ships alone. Confine them to that, and war will find you without ship- 

 yards, without trained artisans, without an adequate supply of auxiliary 

 ships, and without facilities for manning such ships as you might other- 

 wise be able to put in commission. Leave out the question of national 

 defense, and look merely at what our position would be if, instead of an 

 undisputed mastery of the sea by England, there was an even distribu- 

 tion of sea-power and England, France, Germany and Austria were all 

 preying upon each other's commerce, and goods could not be shipped 

 with safety in the vessels of any of those nations. We produce about 

 43 per cent, of the world's pig iron, nearly 25 per cent, of its wheat, 

 over 40 per cent, of its coal, over 70 per cent, of its corn, and 60 per 

 cent, of its cotton. A great deal of our production of these articles we 

 export — two thirds of our cotton and nearly a quarter of our wheat, 

 not to speak of 32 million barrels of petroleum annually — and with 



