Page 194 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

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PREPAREDNESS FOR NAVAL WAR.

December, 1896,

HE problem of preparation for war in
A modern times is both extensive and

complicated. As in the construction of the
individual ship, where the attempt to reconcile
conflicting requirements has resulted, accord-
ing to a common expression, in a compromise,
the most dubious of all military solutions,
giving something to all, and all to none, — so
preparation for war involves many conditions,
often contradictory one to another, at times
almost irreconcilable. To satisfy all of these
passes the ingenuity of the national Treasury,
powerless to give the whole of what is de-
manded by the representatives of the different
elements, which, in duly ordered proportion,
constitute a complete scheme of national mili-
tary policy, whether for offence or defence.
Unable to satisfy all, and too often equally un-