The Great Preparations for War
By Editor
It does not bode well for the ease of the world, the great preparations for war that are manifest on every side. The Anglo-Saxon nations may be foremost in arbitration; it would almost look sometimes as tho they were endeavoring to lull the other nations to sleep, while they prepare for war; but the same spirit is equally manifest among the other nations. England stands at the head of the world's naval strength, and presumably will keep there for a long time to come, as she feels is necessary; but the battle fleet which President Roosevelt reviewed the other day at Oyster Bay was with very few exceptions the most powerful that has ever been assembled at one place under one flag. Apart from the British, it has been well said that with the doubtful exception of France, no other nation has ever been able to gather a fleet that could cope with the forty-five vessels in Oyster Bay on Labor Day. The Springfield Republican pertinently remarks: "Thus far have we come since the day, scarcely a dozen years ago, when the advocates of a great navy charged that our fleet was the laughing stock of the world. To-day, counting ships soon to be commissioned and having a regard for actual fighting efficiency rather than for mere numbers of tonnage, the United States navy is second to that of Great Britain alone. We have come far enough."