Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/199



NE of the curious and unexpected things which I have found since I assumed the duties of Secretary of the Navy has been the effect of a too near point of view in destroying the perspective of some of our ablest Naval Officers as to what the subordination of everything connected with the Navy to its military functions really means, and how far back military preparation must begin.

As each new civilian Secretary of the Navy assumes office, it has of ancient custom been regarded by the service as necessary for the Naval officers with whom he comes in immediate contact in the Department to impress upon him that the Navy is a fighting machine, that its sole purpose and reason for existence is to fight and fight effectively, and that everything that is done must be done with this foundation principle constantly in mind. This is an almost self-evident truth, and it would be indeed a dull mind that could not grasp it and agree, but in the carrying out of this principle there is, I find, a tendency to begin at the top, and, working down towards the foundation of things, to stop suddenly before the bottom is