Show MAXIM AND THE NAVY Hiram Maxim fa dm delivered an address before the American Chemical society in New York the other night His theme was Warfare of the Future and he dwelt at length b on the lack of preparation of the United States for a great war He says we do not want a large army but we do want a great navy He in the face of says saY s We We are today marching achievement with a vast wealth of accomplishment behind us and still relatively ely speaking we are merely entering at the very threshold of invention r He says We as a people are today dominated by boundless egotistic obsession concerning our importance importance im im- and our power compared with the importance import import- ance anee of other nations and other races That hitherto hither hither- to our geographical isolation has relieved us of the burdens of armaments that other nations have had to bear but conditions have now changed and changes are taking place faster than we are working up to them A great increase in the speed of battleships and cruisers together with their enormously greater size and carrying capacity r has las brought the other war powers nearer home to us and their fleets are arenow arenow arenow now practically at our doors and their vast armies of veterans are almost within gunshot of us We are the greatest industrial people in the world and we do donot donot donot not want to be burdened with a large standing army And furthermore we are fearful that a large standing army would be a menace to our liberties liberties liberties liber liber- ties under the obedience of some favorite general or autocratic president but we do need something of an army and at present we have no army at all And he tells that a year ago last spring the Japanese purchased of the Crucible Steel company of Newark N. N J J. tons of rifle barrels rifles enough to arm men Today those rifles are in the hands of the Japanese troops The Japanese are arming themselves themselves themselves them them- selves to the teeth England and France and Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many are already armed to the teeth but we are the personal friends of all nations especially with Japan I They are very thankful for Perrys Perry's memorable adventure adventure adventure ad ad- venture and have doubtless forgotten that when h he saluted them he was looking down a gun barrel And he closed by declaring that we do not want a great army array but we do want a great navy And all that reminds us that Maxim l has just invented invented invented in in- vented a torpedo which can be driven at fi fifty ty miles an hour into an enemy's ship and exploded without injuring those who discharge it |