Page:An Adequate Navy - The Navy League of the United States (1916).pdf/3



The recent appropriations by Congress assure an adequate Navy, so far as material and personnel are concerned. When the present program is completed America will have a Navy sufficiently large to forever protect our shores from attack and our country from invasion. In the future if the Navy receives even one-half of the amounts it is now receiving our force will be sufficient and our commerce will develop unhampered by fear of foreign interference.

The American public will not quickly forget how the prices of our farm products fell during the first months of the war, when Germany was disputing the control of the seas. The effect upon most of the securities listed by the Stock Exchange will also be remembered. The public realizes how prices have gone up since the mastery of the ocean is no longer in dispute. The fall in prices and the subsequent rise were merely due to the question of the possibilities of uninterrupted carriage of goods to foreign markets.

The people are, therefore, fully awakened to our need for an adequate Navy. The preliminary work of the Navy League is done. In the future, however, the League must continue to keep alive interest in the Navy and inform each generation as to our naval requirements.

Few people realize what a vast number of merchant vessels are required to attend