Show A PERTURBED CONTEMPORARY I The Welser Ida Signal Is In J bad i j way r Inconsolable I that The Trib I restoration ube does not harp upon the of day True Mr Dubo8 I 0 sllveripvery 1 has drOpped Jt Mr Townc has dropped I I Mrl liryan has dropped It The condition con-dition for which we Cough l for silver Iso I-so ions to Increase the volume of money remedied from another ey haa been frol for all I way There Is ample money al j I purposes a little too much in this country coun-try ns Ills causing unwonted speculation I specu-lation l und the formation of great combines com-bines of capital which are liable anytime any-time to become a menace to the country I coun-try But the Signal keeps up itsclat I ter an l because The Tribune advocates building a decent navy that Is putdown I put-down by the Signal us a direct proof that we have been purchased to ad j vortlsc the Interests of the steel trust We fear that a Journal that iso convinced J con-vinced that somebody has sold out is a llttlo bit anxious tobe corrupted Itself Honest men do not suspect other men ot wrongdoing until there Is some apparent I ap-parent proof battleships how 1 Speaking of the new te5hlp much is there In a battleship except labor la-bor The materials In the battleship I cos nothing originally They consist chiefly of iron ore in the hills They have to be dug from the ground they liave to t be transported to some place where they can be reduced Into Iron then into steel Then the steel has to lbe fashioned Into form Then the work of construction cornea on and before that is done the coal to smelt the Iron has to be dug from the ground It has to be converted Into coke It has to bo transported to the smctcrs and it Is nothing hut work ioric work from the beginning and fourfifths of a battleship bat-tleship when It Is completed represents nothing In the world except the labor wjilch has been performed upon some dull material to make the shining trl upiph that sits upon the water As for the utility ot battleships It is1 clear case that a great many million dollars and a great many magnificent lives hare been lost during the last three years simply because we did not possess pos-sess three or four more of those things called battleships I we had possessed a decent Heel Spain would have settled set-tled without any war Again we are anxious that the United States should become a great ocean commercecarry ing nation That has never been accomplished ac-complished yet by any nation except behind the merchant fleet there was n war fleet A nation like a man has to have stability before It can get contaIn con-tain things Our best future trade l Itcs In the halfclvllbed countries of the world If we cannot supplement our merchant ships among those nations with battleships that people may obtain ob-tain an Idea that behind the merchant fleet there Is another fleet that can compel Justice to Americans we shall not get the trade The victory of Manila Ma-nila bay opened for us markets In the Orient that had always been closed to us before that would have been closed ± I for years to come except for that magnificent mag-nificent triumph The Signal should lift Its eyes from so petty surroundings try to take In a larger vision of what a great nation has to possess before it can be rated as one of the firstclass powers of the earth I It will take that larger view It will prevent Its making ma-king some very great mistakes on petty pet-ty themes |