In 1999 our American patriots did not propose to get caught in the trap of January, 1898, in which America found herself. In the year first named America was able to meet in war any combination of European nations that might hazard themselves in the field against her. The unfortunate spectacle of a great nation like America, on the eve of war, rushing around as we certainly did in March, 1898, buying up odds and ends of war vessels and fairly begging to buy smokeless powder at any price, will never again be repeated in this great country. The lesson of 1898 was yet fresh in the minds of all in 1999. Americans of the twentieth century were too shrewd to get caught napping again in that manner.
In 1999 the United States of the Americas embraced eighty-five states. Canada The New American Navy. had been divided into two American States, namely, East and West Canada. The original territory of the United States in that year consisted of sixty-two sovereign states; Texas alone had been divided into three separate states. To these were added the six states of Central America, namely, the newly created American States of Mexico, Nicaragua, Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. Next came the newly admitted American States of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Patagonia, making a grand total of eighty-five states, which formed in 1999 the United States of the Americas.
By enactment of Congress provision had been made that every State in the Union must build, equip and maintain at its own cost at least one battleship of the most modern type and unrivalled power; one armored cruiser of the highest speed, (35 knots per hour,) and three submarine destroyers of the most approved pattern and of the most enterprising character.
As a result of this wise policy the navy of the Americas in 1999 consisted of eighty-five (85) first grade battleships; one hundred and seventy (170) of the swiftest and most powerful cruisers; two hundred and Five hundred and Ten Warships. fifty-five (255) submarine destroyers, popularly called in that year, “uplifters.” Such was the numerical strength of the American Navy during the closing period of the twentieth century, on a peace footing. In the remote possibility of a war, provision had been made to mobilize the American fleet upon a far more formidable standard of efficiency. The total number of our war craft of all classes aggregated in that year, five hundred and ten (510) vessels.
When one reflects that the coast-line of the great Republic, along the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the Americas, embraces fully 34,000 miles, every mile of which was entitled to our national defence, it will be recognized that the American Navy in 1999 was barely in keeping with the vast proportions of the Republic it had been created to defend. Indeed, it was regarded as being a modest establishment of its kind, judged by the standards of that period.
The question very properly offers itself, “If the United States of the Americas in 1999 represented such a powerful nation, wealthy and prosperous, potent in enterprise and industry, what use had it for a navy of five hundred and ten warships?” This question is easily answered by quoting an old and sterling axiom: “In time of peace we must prepare for war.”
The folly of March 1898, when America, on the eve of war with Spain, rushed in Not to be Caught Again. breathless haste into every European navy-yard to purchase any thing that could float a gun, and offered haystacks of gold for smokeless powder, was not to be repeated in 1999. It was recognized in that year that the best guarantee for peace was to maintain an efficient army and powerful navy, to exact a proper respect for a flag that protected 531,000,000 American citizens.
The big American Republic in 1999 did not propose to place itself, with its vast population and interminable coast-line, in the humiliating condition of China, a people who, though mighty in population, remain helpless as infants in matters of national defence. America did not intend to suffer the fate of China. Although her territory was vast and her population reckoned by the half-billion, America did not propose to permit European cormorants to pounce upon her coasts, and, as in the case of China, steal a whole country under the guise of civilizing it. In 1999 the Americas maintained a formidable army and navy in order to impress the fact upon the world that we were not like lambs, wholly without means of self-defense.
The perilous American policy, inaugurated after the Civil War, of existing without any army or navy worthy of the name, was exposed through our war with Spain. Americans cheerfully acknowledged the fact that England’s friendliness tended to bring that war to an early close. Even Spain in 1898 professed to hold our army in exalted contempt, regarding Americans as a nation wholly unfit for war, at best, a nation of wheat raisers and pork-packers. Many Spaniards honestly imagined that Admiral Cervera could sail his squadron into New York harbor, land his marines at Coney Island and after bombarding the clams and battling with lager kegs, march his men over the Brooklyn Bridge and capture City Hall.
In 1999 Americans did not propose to again get caught napping, as in the “good old Eternal Vigilance in 1999. days” of 1898. They remained armed and ready for war on drop of the hat. No nation in the former year would venture unaided to combat the great American Republic. America in the twentieth century became invincible.