gun barrel is the better. The man who 66 never set a squadron in the field" is at a disadvantage with the man who has practised setting it, even on the field of a chart. The most important effect of the attendance of officers upon the course at Newport has been to awaken them to the imperative necessity of keeping step with the rapidly increasing inventions of mechanical science and of familiarity with their use. Officers of the American navy are not selected to command fleets merely because of seniority in rank; and it therefore behooves the service to fit each officer to do his duty and to do it in time of emergency as an American naval officer should. The college furthermore has caused the study of various areas and possible campaigns, resulting in the preparation of plans contemplating the protection of the North Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Pacific slope, and of our Pacific dependencies. The preparation of these defensive plans has naturally familiarized officers with the strategical conditions of our own coasts, with the character of the waters along our shores, and with the facilities afforded by the various harbors. The war games of the college have taught them the wisest dispositions to make and the best methods of maneuvering ships and squadrons, and how most effectively to fight their machines when action comes. The international law problems they are called upon to solve in theory will confront them in reality as the American flag and the American citizen penetrate the most remote sections of the earth. Should war come, the country will find its honor safely guarded by a navy whose officers are not only inspired by its glorious and inciting memories, but who possess an intelligent understanding of the conditions that confront them, and who are prepared by their theoretical in |