288 BANQUET. 



That was due to the soHd and substantial methods of shipbuilding which were adopted 

 by the American people. When they built the first American ships, the Pennsylvania, Illi- 

 nois, Indiana and Ohio, to ply in the Atlantic trade every shipbuilder in Great Britain, when 

 those ships arrived there, came to look at the boilers and learned boiler making to such, a de- 

 gree that it improved the whole standard of English construction, and many changes fol- 

 lowed in order that boiler-making methods should be in accordance with the improved methods 

 adopted by the American shipbuilders. 



In 1885 this coimtry was helpless, so far as an efficient navy was concerned. Up to 

 that time the ships in the U. S. Navy were largely made of wood, mournful relics, rotting 

 relics of the glorious past, a shame to the officers who had to serve on themi and a joke to 

 those who exchanged salutes with them. Responding to the compelling voice of the people 

 of the United States, we began the upbuilding of the U. S. Navy. At the time we began 

 it we were not able to make the forgings for our crankshafts or gun tubes; we could not make 

 the ordinary composition castings that were needed. Most came from abroad, and so weak- 

 kneed were many of the people of the United States that they absolutely advocated, after we 

 had even built such boats as the Chicago and Atlanta, that in the new vessels we could build 

 the hulls and buy the machinery from the British builders, Hawthorne & Leslie. That prop- 

 osition was put up to a patriotic Secretary of the Navy and he sa.id in answer : "If we have 

 a Navy under my administration the ships are going to be built, both hulls and engines, of 

 American material and by American labor." That Secretary of the Navy was William C. 

 Whitney. (Applause.) 



At the beginning of our new Navy we standardized in steel shapes and gave orders that 

 enabled us to build the most intricate forgings for both guns and machinery. That started us 

 on the right road until to-day we acknowledge noi superiors in the art of steel making, and I 

 believe this policy was the foundation of much that came afterwards, not only in the manu- 

 factures that contribute to shipbuilding but in respect to the steel industry itself, because 

 this policy warranted our shipbuilders and steel makers in starting and gathering the neces- 

 sary nucleus for an organization for shipbuilding on a large scale. 



One could talk, of course, about the merchant marine a^ long as the night lasts. I 

 notice the subject, as given to me, also says — "And its future." I think the future is most 

 promising, and I am always anxious to be an optimist. I do not know, however, that Ave can 

 make a jack-of-all-trades even of a shipbuilder. I think the people who have developed 

 shipbuilding, the men who have started out and organized fleets o^f ships and brought them 

 to successful operation, must know something about their needs. I do not know that all ships 

 can be alike and give a varied service. I think he would be a brave man who undertook to 

 standardize now, but what we need is to attain our rightful place on the ocean. We are 

 entitled to carry our own products, regardless of whether we get a larger share O'f the other 

 people's products or not, but whether we can standardize at this time, without a more ex- 

 tended operation, I doi not know, and I do not believe anybody else does. Every ship which 

 has been begun is to be finished, of course, and we hope they will all be finislied and get into 



