52 



The National Geographic Magazine 



multi-millionaires. I was in a great deal 

 of doubt on that subject myself until 

 I heard the speech to which we last 

 listened. Now the solution has been 

 cleared. We ma)' send the young ones 

 to the North Pole and the old ones can 

 pay for getting there. 



Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have been 

 asked to respond to the toast "The 

 American Navy." I hope that many of 

 you will often attend many of the ban- 

 quets of the National Geographic So- 

 ciety. It will be my very undeserved 

 good fortune if I am so happy as to be 

 with you at more than one of them, but 

 surely this is the only chance that I will 

 ever have to answer to this toast, for the 

 navy is about to get rid of the least 

 worthy element in it; and it is only by 

 taking advantage of the few hours of 

 very undeserved honor that remains to 

 me that I am qualified for answering, as 

 I am about to answer this evening.* 



The navy in rendering the service it 

 has always rendered to our coitntry has 

 aided in many things. Solving these 

 mysteries of the northern wilderness to 

 which our attention has already been 

 called, however important in itself, is 

 after all only a part of the duty which the 

 navy has to render, and only a part of 

 the claim which it has on the gratitude 

 and admiration of its countrymen; for I 

 may say with a good grace, since no one 

 will think that I am entitled to any of 

 the credit which I claim for it, that it 

 has always been ready under all circum- 

 stances and at all times to do its duty ; 

 and what more can any one claim? 



I am about to leave the navy, and I 

 therefore feel that I may take advantage 

 of your ill-judged kindness in calling 

 upon me to deliver a sort of funeral ora- 

 tion of the involuntary suicide which I 

 am about to make. I will endeavor to 

 praise only what is worthy of praise, and 

 to call your attention not to the unim- 

 portant matter of who signs the navy's 

 mail, but to the really important matter 

 of whether this country, of which you 



* The speaker became Attorney General of 

 the United States December 17, 1906. 



are the worthy representatives, gives to 

 that branch of its public service the sup- 

 port in sympathy, in appreciation, and 

 money which it deserves from any coun- 

 try which has sense enough to know 

 when it has a good thing and ought to 

 keep it. 



It is difficult for a Secretary of the 

 Navy who has not outgrown all desire 

 to have his country show itself worthy 

 of the good fortune that a kind Provi- 

 dence has given it — it is difficult for such 

 a Secretary to avoid feeling some un- 

 philosophic indignation at the want of 

 appreciation of the immense value of 

 this great factor of our nation's honor 

 and safety and the peace of the world 

 which I see every day in the exponents 

 of public opinion around us. I, however, 

 do not propose, in the funeral oration to 

 which I have already referred, to dwell 

 on the shortcomings of the world in gen- 

 eral and America in particular, in its 

 failure to fully appreciate the merits and 

 sacrifice of its seamen, but I wish to ask 

 of you all to use the legitimate influence 

 which each one of you has, and which all 

 of you have so much in this community, 

 to enable your fellow-citizens to under- 

 stand, as I feel sure you understand, how 

 important it is to the dignity, the use- 

 fulness to mankind, and the self-respect 

 of' the American people that it should 

 treat its navy as that navy deserves to be 

 treated and as the interests of the country 

 demand. 



In the first place, let us all understand 

 that by having this safeguard of our 

 peace and independence and needed na- 

 tional existence we are spared enormous 

 burdens borne by less favored nations, 

 and of which we cannot even appreciate 

 the weight, so little have we reason to 

 fear. In the next place, let us under- 

 stand that these men, who are ready to 

 serve us in all contingencies, and amid 

 all dangers, and at the cost of all sacri- 

 fice, deserve to be regarded by their fel- 

 low-countrymen as worthy at least of 

 gratitude and respect. 



I saw the other day in one of our news- 

 papers a comment, and I may say criti- 



