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Show The Fleet and Its Lesson jfl THE FLEET Is in touch with native land by I wireless, nnd if all goes well, before the H present week is over the big ahlps will be in port or close off the coast, H When they pulled away from Gibraltar, the cor- H respondents said that the ships -were in better ,H order than when they left Hampton Roads, and H that the discipline, or at least the efficiency, of jH the crews was correspondingly greatly Improved. ,H If anything was needed they were ready at the lfl j sound of a gong to spring to their places and to .H promptly and swiftly perform any duty. In! that H respect the navy of the United States is a model jH for the schools and for business men in the con- jH duct of their affairs, to imitate. It is good for the :H people generally to imitate for it has behind it jH simply the idea that every man should do his very 'H best that followed by the people for a genera- H tlon, would make of the American people the H foremost among the races of men. There is so jH much time lost in idleness; so many men are sat- H isfled with indifferent work; so many thousands H of men do not try to bring out the best that is H in them. Boys shirk in school, men shirk at their M work; thousands assume that they can shirk lM and still obtain the reward which is only honestly H due to perfect performance, and when there is j shirking then there is a resort to a pretense that H the thing Is well done, which is a cheat. lM More than half the people live their lives M through and pass on, when half of what was M good in them and which by honest work they might M have brought forth, dies with them. The work of jH the navy is good for such men to imitate. M Admiral Evans, who took the fleet around JH South America to San Francisco, in a speech at IJ the annual banquet of the Geographic society, jfl his theme being the navy, among other things H said: H "My education in life has been along the lines I'M of doing what I am told to do without answering jH back. Therefore, when the Preslden ordered the 9 Atlantic fleet to go to California, I did not ask him jH why he wanted it to go. I doubt if he would have JH given me a satisfactory answer if I had." In that sentence the key of tlio navy's effi- (S clency can be found. Continuing the admiral fl after saying the ships were In perfect order, said: H "Now, about your men. The men we are get- jJ ting now from the middle western states are the SH best' material that ever put on a blue shirt, and jH the best material that ever put on a blue shirt H -H ft anywhere in the world. I know these boys and . know them well. I have lived with them for W years. I have rubbed elbows with, them for years. I know what they are thinking about. B j , We started out with about one-third of our B 1 I crews green, farmer boys from the west, B 1 I and when we began our target practice iu Mag-B Mag-B j dalena Bay, two days after we entered that bay, B we broko every record ever made in gun firing." B ; Those few words show the spirit that keeps B tho navy on the alert and makes the men ready B , for any emergency that calls for men to risk for-1 for-1 I tune, honor and life for native land. Some plan m should be adopted to make all American boys m I that way, and prizes for excellence in any needed B 1 line would make most of them all that Is needed. |