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Show OUR FLEET GOING TO KIEL. ' Mention has been made that the United State H Atlantic squadron will be present at Kiel at the H celebration there, that one day will bo set aside H for boat racing, the sailors of the different fleets H to contest for the honors. Tho boys of the White H Squadron will have too look out, for there aro H sturdy men In both the German and the English fleets and it will be more than a friendly contest, H rather It will take on some proportions of a test H of nationalities. In one sense the Germans will H have an advantage. Germany does not take raw i H men from the shore and put them at once upon I H her ships. She has two or three training schools, jj apprentice schools it may be said, for her sailors, J so that when they finally go on shipboard they are M in fact undergraduate sailors. Through the fleet those most proficient are known and they will bo H selected to hold up the flag of Germany when the racing comes on. Our boys may be beaten but they will give a good account of themselves nev- ertheless. We have published before what Ad- mlral Schley said of the sailors of the Brooklyn when after three hours of fierce fighting and un- H paralleled excitement, signals for help came from H tho sinking Viscaya. The Admiral said he H watched the boats move away from the Brooklyn H and the strokes of the oars was as measured and I H steady as though the crews were merely out for ' H exercise. It will be certain that tho German Em- H peror will note the movements of all the men who I take part in the races, for through them the char- I acter of the men will bo gauged. When the Am- j I erica took the cup from the English, they com- I forted themselves with the thought that it was a j I mere sharp Yankee trick to secretly construct a I swift yacht to steal away the treasured cup, that j I from it no estimate of the sea prowess of the re- spective nations could be made. But since then i I H the great republic has become a great world H power, and that knowledge will make Its impres- H sion at Kiel. Then too, some of the ships that H were in that light and race off Santiago will be H there and that will deepen the impression. Of H course wo hope the United States boys will win H but if they do not we hope they will be able to H make it clear that they are of the stock of men H who are the elect. H That reminds us. Since Manila and Santiago M the world has not looked upon the United States B as it did before. The Old World was not impressed B by our great Civil war. The nations might, had B) they read carefully the descriptions of the bat- m ties and noted the proportion of dead and wound- H ed of the whole number, have taken on the B thought that no such fighting had been done in B modern times, but they did not, but all the time B nursed the belief that had either army been op- B posed by the disciplined troops of Europe it would B have beon a short war and a swift victory for B their own forces. But they all knew about M Cervera's lleet. Thoy Insisted that the United B States had no ships to compare with some of the B Spanish ships, but when they read that in three B 'aours all that splendid fleet had been destroyed B and with no loss of ships and with but the loss of B one life on the side of the United States, then B surely an impression was made upon them, and B through and beyond the ships the shadow of the B Great Republic was seon, the Great Republic with B eighty millions of people all speaking one tongue, B t all exultant with high hopes and containing with- H in themselves working forces equivalent to one- H fourth of the working forces of the whole world. H and then the vision of a new world power arose B ' before them, TMils recent history will give to the B j ""American fleet at Kiel especial Interest and make Hl sure its warm welcome. Germany's Emperor is H an Impulsive and incisive as our President and he will be delighted. It will be good, too, for every such meeting is a guarantee of continued peace and that is what the world needs more than all else. We suspect that this century will see the banishment of wars from among civilized nations, even as dueling has been abandoned in England. Mind is winning new triumphs over matter dally and we boliovo full enlightenment will soon come and nations will realize that war is merely such an appeal as the wild beast makes when angered, and that it is time that it should be put aside. |
