We do not profess to be able to judge whether
there is anything substantial in these allegations, but at any rate they are serious enough to demand the attention of the American public. If they are true, or only partially true, the sooner they are faced and a remedy found the better. Assuming the indictment to be well founded, we should attribute the evils disclosed in no small measure to the absence of outside criticism in the past. There is no section of the general public in America which is keenly alive to naval needs and able to make itself felt in political circles. Here we suffer, no doubt, also from want of adequate criticism; but at any rate the public is never indifferent to naval questions, and, though it may be per- plexed by the multitude of counsellors, it is always anxious as to the condition of the Navy. It knows that upon the Navy our national safety and welfare depend.
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