Show SHIPS AIm SEAMEN Major J M Carson the Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger Led-ger says that every one of the battleships battle-ships and cruisers is shorthanded and this arises from the fact that the enlist en-list fo te ot the navy has been recruited re-cruited to its full legal strength and the department cannot add another man without the authority of congress that the present force of the navy is 11000 men and 1500 apprentices and both classes are at maximum Reports received from all the recruiting stations show that n large number of desirable ablebodied Americans could be secured if the law would permit their enlistment enlist-ment When the vessels now in course of construction are completed the navy will require an additional foice of at least SjOOO men to properly man them and the vessels now afloat unless it is to be the policy of the government to build ships and place them in retire I ment at League Island and other naval I stations Secretary Long has asked for authority to enlist 2000 men to meet existing emergencies and it is to be hoped this authority will be granted early in the present session of congress con-gress No doubt a landsman located in the tops of the mountains has no business to have any opinion on naval matters but as all Americans have the right of free speech so it is their right to express ex-press their opinions on all subjects Now to a landsman up in the tops of the mountains it looks like supreme folly to build great and expensive battleships bat-tleships and then to refuse to supply them with crews adequate to man them as they should be As well have heavy ordnance and no ammunition as big battleships and not have them manned as they should be |