The offices of the Navy Department are situated in the same building as those of the War Department. The Secretary of the Navy occupies some of these handsome rooms. On their walls are the pictures of eighteen Secretaries, more than half the number of those who have occupied the high place being yet unrepresented. Secretary Long urges that the pictures of those yet waiting should be secured and given a place among these worthies. Down to Lincoln’s day the following persons occupied the place of Secretary of the Navy:
During Washington’s administration the Secretaries of the Navy were also Secretaries of War. Three men occupied the double position: Gen. Henry Knox, of Massachusetts; Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts; and James McHenry, of Maryland. In John Adams’s administration the Navy was made a separate department. The Secretaries of the Navy since 1798 have been as follows: Benjamin Stoddert, of Maryland; Robert Smith, of Maryland; Jacob Crowninshield, of Massachusetts; Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina; William Jones, of Pennsylvania; Benjamin W. Crowninshield, of Massachusetts; Smith Thompson, of New York; Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey; John Branch, of North Carolina; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire; Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey; James K. Paulding, of New York; George E. Badger, of North Carolina; Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia; David Henshaw, of Massachusetts; Thomas W. Gilmer, of Virginia; John Y. Mason, of Virginia; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts; William B. Preston, of Virginia; William A. Graham, of North Carolina; John P. Kennedy, of Maryland; James C. Dobbin, of North Carolina; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut.
Those later are well known. John D. Long, of Massachusetts, late Secretary, who ably administered the department during the war with Spain, has the following record in the Congressional Directory:
John Davis Long, of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Navy, was born in Buckfield, Oxford County, Me., October 27, 1838; received his preparatory education in the common school of his native town and the Hebron Academy, Maine; was graduated from Harvard in 1857; taught school two years in Westford Academy, Massachusetts; studied law at Harvard Law School and in private offices; was admitted to the bar, and has since practised; was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878; was Speaker of the House during the last three years; was Lieutenant-Governor of his State in 1879, and Governor in 1880, 1881 and 1882; was elected to the Forty-eighth and reelected to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses; was for several years on the Statehouse Construction Commission of his state; is senior member of the law firm of Long & Hemenway; was appointed and confirmed Secretary of the Navy March 5, 1897.
Secretary Long resigned in 1902. He was succeeded by William H. Moody, also of Massachusetts.
Now that the United States has become a world power, the navy is the right arm of the government in taking needed supplies to our distant colonies, and in protecting the property of America the world over.
The last annual report of the Secretary of the Navy showed that the United States has 252 regular naval vessels, 55 of special classes, besides as many more of inferior classes called standard vessels, such as steam-cutters, launches, cutters, etc. The Secretary’s report shows that $84,181,863.89 was appropriated for naval expenses, of which about seventeen millions yet remain unused. A large part of this has gone for new vessels. No part of the government is increasing so rapidly as the naval service. When all men are enlisted for which legal provision has been made, the naval and marine force will reach 34,810 men, or nearly 8,000 more than were in the army prior to the war with Spain. By the Congressional acts of 1864, 1868, and 1876 the navy was fixed not to exceed 7,000 men; the act of March 3, 1901, fixes the number at 25,000, but the necessities of the country have increased it beyond this.
The average citizen knows far less about the navy than about the army. Yet in time of war the army would be of little use without an efficient navy. In the Civil War no great progress was made in conquering the South till the blockade shut in the Southern States, preventing the export of cotton and the bringing in of the necessities of life.
In the late war with Spain, brilliant as was the service of the army, yet our navy carried away the greater laurels.
Secretary Long (since succeeded by Mr. Moody) says that the North Atlantic Squadron during the last fiscal year has been engaged in severe training in markmanship and evolutions, gaining facility in landing large guns, etc. The vessels of this squadron have extended their operations from Maine to Central America, particularly among the West Indies. The South Atlantic Squadron has assisted in commercial interests along the coast of South America. The European Squadron is now mostly in the Mediterranean Sea. The Pacific Squadron is scattered over such a great length of coast from Alaska to South America that the ships can not drill as a squadron, but are obliged to maneuver singly. The apprentice and training squadrons have been along the coast of Europe, but are now in the West Indies. These are afloat continually, except when stopped for repairs or supplies.