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Driving Liquor From The Navy
SECRETARY DANIELS TELLS WHY THE DRASTIC STEP WAS TAKEN—SHOWS HOW THE OTHER GREAT NAVIES OF
E
EVERY time we think of the moral heroism
and stalwart statesmanship which is being
displayed by Josephus Daniels as Secretary
of the Navy it gives us a thrill of patriotic
* X"" - ——- -
passlion and special ecstatics.
When he starts a movement to raise the standard
of education among the sailors he can give his
critics an avalanche of reasons which no man can
answer; and when another brand of critics “jump
on” him for driving liquor-drinking from the Navy
he comes back with a speech of withering dignity
that “peels the bark” and leaves not an inch of
ground on which his loose and “liberal” opponents
can stand.
“The Navy.” a superb magazine devoted to a re
flection and discussion of naval affairs, gives the
heart of an address recently made by Secretary Dan
iels before the Naval Academy at Annapolis, which
ought to be read by every boy in America, even if
he has never dreamed of entering the naval service,
Mr. W. S. Witham, the multi bank President who
is deeply interested in saving young men, sends this
address to The Golden Age. It is the message of a
statesman and the clarion call of a fearless and
effective “preacher of righteousness.” Hats off to
Secretary Daniels while you read:
Logic That Makes His Critics Dumb.
I have recently issued an order abolishing the
wine mess. With singular lack of logic critics who
see fit to represent me as a foe to discipline on the
one hand, twist this into a case of discipline run
mad on the other. Far greater questions than that
of discipline lie back of this. There is no body
of more temperate, clear-headed men in the world
than our officers, but let me for a moment put the
shoe on the other foot and bring the question home
in another form to you gentlemen to-night. Os all
trades, there is probably no finer or more sober, or
more intelligent, more self-controlled men than our
railroad engineers. Upon their sobriety, upon their
clearheadedness, upon their capacity to govern them
selves, depend daily the lives of millions of our citi
zens. Your life today, to-morrow, whenever you
leave this city, will for a greater or less time lie in
the hollow of the engineer’s hand. Many of the
railroads have established club houses for these en
gineers, where they may read, meet, and pass away
time between their runs. What say you, gentlemen,
you with your railroad tickets in your pockets, to a
proposition that the railroads should issue an order
(Editor’s Note: The following breezy verses
were written some time ago and declined by
one of the Atlanta dailies. Through the cour
tesy of the author, Hon. Ernest Neal, legis
lator from Gordon county, The Golden Age is
permitted to give them to the public).
The devil returned to Hell one day
From a visit to Georgia by night;
He chuckled, he laughed in Hell’s blue ray,
And danced with fiendish delight,
His legion of imps gathered ’round him to
know
What scene on earth had enraptured him so.
“I left you,” quoth he “dejected and sad,
Prohibition in Georgia’s a law;
Bar rooms are few, but you will not think it
bad
When I tell you one thing that I saw.”
Then loudly and wildly and long he laughed,
As hell’s favored cup of brimestone he
quaffed.
Th a Davil’q Vicit To be Sung tothe . Tune .
1 lIC L-rCVII S V 101 l “Hell Broke Loose in Georgia”
READ ABOUT “LAWLESS SAVANNAH” IN THIS ISSUE AND PASS IT ON TO A FRIEND.
THE GOLDEN AGE FOR WEEK OF JUNE 11, 1914
THE WORLD ARE DEMANDING SOBER SEAMEN.
that the engineers off duty at these club houses
should be allowed to establish a wine mess of their
own. Would the fact that 99 per cent, or 999-1,000
of these men would take no advantage of such an
order and would go to their work the next moraing
with eyes just as clear and hands just as steady as
they were the night before, would that fact do away
with the possibility of the one hundredth man or
the one thousandth man moving the wrong lever at a
critical moment, or sleepily overlooking the danger
signal? Would you not demand an order abolish
ing such an arrangement? Yet this is precisely a
fair comparison. The wreck of a great battleship,
the loss of a critical battle and the honor of our
country may easily hinge upon one of many men in
the varied and complex duties which these great
masses of intricate machinery, called battleships,
have created. Would you take any chances with the
engineer of your train ? Why, then, should you
seriously ask me to take chances with those who di
rect the movements of our ships?
It seems impossible that those who criticise this
order are aware of what is going on in the other
navies of the world. Surely the action of the Ger
man Navy is not to be disregarded, nor the views
of German’s great War Lord. For the education
of such critics as speak from ignorance I can not
refrain from reading to you a few extracts from
Emperor William’s speech to the naval cadets at
Murwick. There the German Emperor said:
I know very well that the pleasure of drinking is
an old heritage of the Germans. We must hence
forth, however, through self-discipline, free our
selves from this evil in every connection.
In earlier times it passed for extraordinary clev
erness in the youth, for him to imbibe a large quan
tity of alcohol and bear it. I, as a young officer,
Ind occasion to see such examples, but never my
self to participate. These are views that suited the
Thirty Year War, but now, no more.
Entirely apart from the consequences which I
need not further portray, I desire to appraise you on
one point for your future career in the first line. As
you yourselves will observe the course of your term
of service on board, the service in my navy has
reached such a height of strenuousness as you can
hardly surpass.
To endure these enormous peace exertions without
exhaustion and to be fresh in the event of real ser
iousness depends upon you. The next war and the
next sea battle demand sound nerves of you. Nerves
At an old time church I lit down by chance
And planted my hoof in the pew;
The truth of the text pierced my soul like a
lance,
And out at the window I flew;
For I must flee, my arts must fail
Wherever the teachings of Christ prevail.
!
I
“Next to a home of virtue and love
I flew like a bat on night’s black air;
A girl as pure as an angel above
Was reading a newspaper there.
Behind her I stood and smiled when I saw
She was reading the life of Evelyn Thaw.
“I sandwiched a thought in her mind as she
read
And placed on her soul a stain;
Suggestion’s the thing! The life Evelyn led
Was pleasant tho’ mingled with pain.
And there in the limelight, her shame and dis
grace
To fame as an author had won her a place.
will decide. These become undermined through al
cohol and from youth up by the use of alcohol en
dangered.
You will later have opportunity to see the target
ships and the action of th©, modern projectiles upon
the ships and therefrom you can' picture the condi
tions during battle. You will see horrible destruc
tion when you are upon these.
Here it calls —
“Steady nerves and a cool head!”
That nation which consumes the least quantity of
alcohol wins. And that you should be, my gentle
men! And through you an example should be given
the crews.
And in consequence of this, I expect of you. that
even now at the Naval Academy, and on board ship,
in all comradeship and friendliness in no way dis
turbed. among yourselves you take heed thereto, and
provide that the indulgence in alcohol be not count
ed as belonging to your privileges.
Nor do we have to look to Germany alone for
support of this new policy. Surely no man will
criticise Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, C. 8.,
as being a man without knowledge or respect of
navy customs and traditions nor as one who has
not had opportunity to study carefully this question
as he has seen it presented in the greatest navy in
the world, Yet here is what Sir Charles Beresford
said in his speech at Gibraltar in 1904-5.
When I was a young man I • was an athlete. I
used to box a great deal, ride steeple-chases and
races, play football, and go through a number of
competitive sports and pastimes. When I put my
self into training, which was a continual occurrence,
I never drank any wine, spirits, or beer at all, for
the simple reason that I felt I could get fit quicker
without taking any stimulants. Now I am an older
man, and have a position of great responsibility, of
ten entailing quick thought and determination and
instant decision; I drink no wine, spirits, and beer,
not because they do me harm, not because I think
it wrong to drink, but simply because I am more
ready for any work imposed upon me day or night;
always fresh, always cheery, and in good temper.
Surely with this evidence of the attitude of the
German Emperor and the German Navy and the
great English Admiral and the 20,000 or more offi
cers and men of the English Navy, it can not be said
that my order is either revolutionary or out of line
with the spirit of the greatest navies of the world.
“Ensnared in a net of sensational stuff,
Young girls are my captives at will.
The bar-rooms may go, press-rot is enough
To drag tender souls down the hill.”
Then he danced, and he pranced as he chuck
led with glee,
“While this is in Georgia there’s no need
for me.”
“On my way back,” I neglected to say,
“I stopped at a gay locker club;
Everything there was coming my way
Hey diddle, de diddle, de rub a dub dub!”
And he sang as he pulled old Moluch’s ear
The locker up there locks ’em in down here.”
Then all hell joined in the turkey trot j
And danced the gay Tango
While Beelzebub played some rag time rot
On a maiden-skull banjo.
And Lucifer cried with devilish delight—
“ How oft on earth have I seen such a sight!”
—Ernest Neal.
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