and Unpreparedness 149 



striving to secure an adequate support of large, high- 

 class torpedo-boats, the majority of the Senate fol 

 lowed the lead of Senator Gorman in opposition. 

 So in the future, if what we all most earnestly hope 

 will not happen does happen, and we are engaged 

 in war with some formidable sea power, any failure 

 of our arms resulting from an inadequate number 

 of battleships, or imperfectly prepared battleships, 

 will have to be credited to those members of Con 

 gress who opposed increasing the number of ships, 

 or opposed giving them proper armament, for no 

 matter what reason. On the other hand, the na 

 tional consciousness of capacity to vindicate na 

 tional honor must be due mainly, to the action of 

 those Congressmen who have in fact built up our 

 fleet. 



Secretary Chandler was succeeded by a line of 

 men, each of whom, however he might differ from 

 the others politically and personally, sincerely de 

 sired and strove hard for the upbuilding^ of the 

 navy. Under Messrs. Whitney, Tracy, Herbert, 

 and Long the work has gone steadily forward, 

 thanks, of course, to the fact that successive Con 

 gresses, Democratic and Republican alike, have per 

 mitted it to go forward. 



But the appropriation of money and the building 

 of ships were not enough. We must keep steadily 

 in mind that not only was it necessary to build the 



