Show aln ahm race nace for naval supremacy the mount of naval construction now actually in progress in the chief nations of f europe is aitho without ut precedent Ell english glish supremacy upon tho the sea in not yet contested but it is threatened by possible combinations formerly it was a maxim of english englis R statesmanship tat 0 small that the english fleet must lie be as strong as all other fleets comb combined ined later it was held that the english fleet in must list at least be superior to the icom combined strength of 0 the two next strongest eight years ago a parliamentary paper required a superiority ot of thirty three rr cent over the combined french and russian battleships battle ships but both Fri pi mice itice and haie hae pushed tho the ot of ships so rapidly that this standard is not now reached during the last three years england has built seven battleships battle ships while france pod russia together have built eleven last summer france and russia had fourteen battleships battle ships building while england had but twelve germany another rival of 0 england is also pushing naval construction rapidly she Is spending now about twice as much money annually in this way as she did seven or eight years ago and the emperor recently astounded the reichstag by presenting through ills his secretary sec seti ot of state tor for the navy a plan which contemplated an outlay ot of about eighty million dollars tor for the next three years the reichstag dis approved the plan though it made provision tor for some new construction germany has haj now twenty one battleships battle ships and seven protected cruisers and in addition three battleships battle ships and seven armored or ili cruisers are building in case awse of war england must retain vessels to defend herself against possible invasion and she has scattered colonies and a worldwide world wide commerce to prot protect ert she cannot therefore rely upon all her ber fleet tor for active operations it Is of vital importance to all the material interests of england that she remain the mistress ot of the seas for that reason the heaviest burdens for naval construction and equipment are cheerfully borne this years estimates for now new construction for epame example amount to more than one hundred million dollars dol laru and the vessels to be finished or to be under construction thia year number ono one hundred and eight fourteen ot of which are battleships battle ships |