Washington, its sights and insights [1909]

by Harriet Earhart Monroe

Secretary of State from July 1, 1905, until March 4, 1909; born in Clinton, N. Y., February 15, 1845; son of Oren and Nancy Whitney (Buttrick) Root; graduated from Hamilton College in 1864, where his father was for many years professor of mathematics; taught at Rome Academy in 1865; graduated from the University Law School of New York in 1867; (LL.D., Hamilton, 1896; Yale, 1900; Columbia, 1904; New York University, 1904; Williams, 1905; Princeton, 1906; University of Buenos Ayres, 1906; University of San Marcos of Lima, 1906; Harvard, 1907); married January 8, 1878, Clara, daughter of Salem H. Wales, of New York; U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, 1883-85; delegate-at-large to the State Constitutional Convention in 1894, and chairman judiciary committee; appointed Secretary of War, August 1, 1899, by President McKinley; reappointed March 5, 1901; resigned February 1, 1904; became Secretary of State, U. S., July 1, 1905. Member Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903; temporary chairman Republican National Convention in 1904. Trustee of Hamilton College, Carnegie Institution, Washington; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; President Union League Club (New York), 1898-99; president New York City Bar Association, 1904-05; president American Society of International Law, 1906.

XXVI
STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS (Continued)

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT

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 urged 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. Since then have come John Faxon, Adolph E. Bane, Geo. M. Robeson, Watson Goff, Jr.; N. H. Hunt, Wm. E. Chandler, Wm. C. Whitney, Benj. F. Tracy, H. A. Hobart, John D. Long, M. H. Moody, Paul Morton, Chas. J. Bonaparte, S. H. Newberry and George von L. Meyer. Mr. Long resigned in 1902, and was succeeded by Mr. Moody, who later was transferred to the Supreme Court. Of Mr. Meyer the Directory says:

George von Lengerke Meyer, of Hamilton, Mass., Secretary of the Navy, is trustee Provident Institution for Savings, Boston; director Old Colony Trust Company, Boston, Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, Manchester, N. H., and United Electric Securities Company, Boston; was a member of the city government of Boston, 1890-1892; member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1892-1896; Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1894-1896; Republican national committeeman, 1898 to 1905; confirmed as ambassador to Italy December 14, 1900; transferred as ambassador to Russia March 8, 1905; recalled in February, 1907, to enter the Cabinet as Postmaster-General, and took oath of office March 4, 1907, holding that post until March 6, 1909, when he took oath of office as Secretary of the Navy.

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 with devoted care 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.