Sauk City High School - Sauk Log Yearbook (Sauk City, WI)

Page 25 text:

flmertta, Jflfltstress of tbe S ea EUGENE REIF tphe present status of society requires each nation to seek some means of protecting its citizens, its commerce, and its possessions. The growing need of a great and strong naval fleet is becoming a question of vast importance to the mighty maritime powers of to-day, and they are now improv- ing and building battle-ships, cruisers, and submarines, which will mould the destinies of those nations in the future. France is greatly interested in the tiny submarine boat. Altho not yet completely perfected, the work is being vigor- ously pushed forward, to get it in working condition in time of war. The future military powers of Russia and Japan are destined to be great, while the marked growth of the United States naval power is but small when compared to the vast naval power of Great Britain. The great sea struggle between Russia and Japan has aroused the world, which had lain idle, and neglected the building of ships of war, wherein lay the fate of a nation. The immense commerce which is being carried on by the United States amounts to $1,500,000,000 annually whose safe protection can only be secured thru the influence of a large sea fleet. In the United States, we find elements of power:—a vigorous population and material resources without parallel in history, together with conditions never yet equalled—maritime frontiers, vast material interests, which demand the growth of our power upon the sea. The population of the United States is increasing twice as rapidly as the population of Germany, and three times as rapidly as the population of Great Britain, while the richness of the soil could support a population equal to the present population of the earth, without taxing the soil beyond the degree now existing in Europe. In the United States, two and one-half times as much is spent for education as in Germany and England, who stand at the top of the list in Europe. Altho the Civil War involved but 16.000 men at its beginning the numbers of

Page 24 text:

ness of man and the perversity of the human heart. The breaking up of families is one of our great sources of national weakness. It tends to unfaithfulness, it is injurious to the care and education of children; it gives occasion to the break- ing up of domestic society; it lessens and degrades the dignity of woman; it springs from corrupt morals of nations. We are in an age of material progress. Great economic questions are to be settled, and must be settled right. Pro- gress along all lines to higher ideals is of divine ordering. Human stagnation provoked God’s anger is the lesson of the parable of the talents. In the solution of those problems, both economic and moral, woman has her place. She can not stand isolated from it. Her place is in the world as well as in the home. In the world when her love and refine- ment can render it a service. Let her embrace every oppor- tunity to work for further victories, for mind over matter, for virtue over immorality, for justice over injustice. To hold the world to truth woman must be in it. To do this woman realizes her birthright and gives to the world the influence of one. “So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good, So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure.” 'fi-

Page 26 text:

men involved at its close exceeded twice the hordes of Xerxes. Our campaigns have no parallel. There are five- hundred cases where the losses in single regiments in single engagements exceeded the losses of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and two-hundred and fifty cases where the record exceeded those of the German army, in the war with France. For vigor in naval warfare, no such record exists in the world as that of the American Navy. In the war of 1812, when the English Navy was at its zenith, and after having counted an unbroken record of two-hundred victories, with European foes, and a force exceeding the American forces seven times, eighteen battles were fought, and fifteen battles were won by the American ships, with only one-sixth of the English losses. In the Spanish American War the American Navy again broke the world’s record in the two great sea fights at Santiago, and Manila. The American Navy stands alone of all the navies of the earth. It has never known defeat. Besides the vigorous population that the United States possesses, the richness of the soil from the Atlantic to the Pacific produces one-eighth of the world’s food stuffs, eight- tenths of the world’s articles of clothing, and holds beneath the surface one-third of the world’s known mineral deposits. America is the store-house, and work-shop of the world. The United States has 17,000 miles of coast line upon which are built innumerable cities whose protection is secured by fortifications, and mines, which are but of little importance to a determined commander of a large fleet. The only means of protection of all this property, of all these many happy homes, which are but a trifle when compared to the inland prosperity, lies in a strong navy. Taking into consideration the naval requirements, and the length of coast line, the United States Navy should be the largest in the world. During a European war only a strong navy can insure the safety of American citizens, and keep ourselves independent of any European turmoil. With America’s vast, growing commerce, and great pro- duction of manufactured articles, more than England, Ger- many and France combined, our foreign markets are becom- ing a subject of supreme importance. The new markets of undeveloped lands, where all countries may have an equal opportunity, and competition always reigns between the larger nations, the security of a nation’s interest can only rest upon the nation’s fleet. China will be the new market of America, being situated midway between Europe and the