Excerpt from The Vanishing Fleets This book makes no attempt to convey a lesson. It does, however, try to give a note of warning. National patriotism, national wealth, and national resources would all prove unavailing if the United States were suddenly confronted by a determined enemy with a preponderance of guns manned by veterans. The writer frankly admits he has no sympathy with those watchdogs of the treasury who decry naval expenditures and the persistent increase of the navy. He does not be lieve the navy adequate for the protection of the nation, nor does he think the army sufficient. He believes Governmental economies along other lines would enable the nation to bring its defense up to an invincible point without working any ma terial hardship on the gentlemen of the trusts who loudly claim' to pay nearly all the taxes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.