Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy
consisted of a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as
out of place against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades
and Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that
time did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise
legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a
succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both
political parties, the work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships
equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and what
was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly and in
squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the best possible
service out of them. The result was seen in the short war with Spain,
which was decided with such rapidity because of the infinitely greater
preparedness of our Navy than of the Spanish Navy.

While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded
and manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the
Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of praise
belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been struck. The
Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to lay down the ships,
to build the guns, to buy the armor-plate; the Department officials and
the business men and wage-workers who furnished what the Congress had
authorized; the Secretaries of the Navy who asked for and expended the
appropriations; and finally the officers who, in fair weather and foul,
on actual sea service, trained and disciplined the crews of the ships
when there was no war in sight--all are entitled to a full share in the
glory of Manila and Santiago, and the respect accorded by every true
American to those who wrought such signal triumph for our country.
It was forethought and preparation which secured us the overwhelming