A machine is in its essence an aggregation of many parts, so related to each other and to some external influence, that the parts can be made to operate together, to attain some desired end or object.  From this point of view, which the author believes to be correct, a baseball team is a machine, so is a political party, so is any organization.

Before the days of civilization, machines were few in type; but as civilization progressed, the necessity for organizations of many kinds grew up, and organizations of many kinds appeared.  Then the necessity for knowledge of how to operate those organizations brought about certain professions, first that of the military, second that of the priesthood, and later those of the law, medicine, engineering, etc.  As time has gone on, the preparation required for these professions, especially the progressive professions, has become increasingly difficult and increasingly demanded; and the members of the professions have become increasingly strict in their requirements of candidates for membership.

Now the profession that is the most strict of all, that demands the greatest variety of qualifications, and the earliest apprenticeship, is the military.  The military profession serves on both the land and the sea, in armies and navies; and while both the land and the sea branches are exacting in their demands, the sea or naval branch is the more exacting of the two; by reason of the fact that the naval profession is the more esoteric, the more apart from the others, the more peculiar.  In all the naval countries, suitable youths are taken in hand by their governments, and initiated into the “mysteries” of the naval profession—­mysteries that would always remain mysteries to them, if their initiation were begun too late in life.  Many instances are known of men who obtained great excellence in professions which they entered late in life; but not one instance in the case of a man who entered the naval profession late in life.  And though some civilian heads of navies have shown great mental capacity, and after—­say three years’—­incumbency have shown a comprehension of naval matters greater than might have been expected, none has made a record of performance like those of the naval ministers of Germany and Japan; or of Admiral Barham, as first lord of the admiralty, or Sir John Fisher as first sea lord, in England.

A navy is so evidently a machine that the expression “naval machine” has often been applied to it.  It is a machine that, both in peace and in war, must be handled by one man, no matter how many assistants he may have.  If a machine cannot be made to obey the will of one man, it is not one machine.  If two men are needed, at least two machines are to be operated; if three men are needed there are at least three machines, etc.  One fleet is handled by one man, called the commander-in-chief.  If there are two commanders-in-chief, there are two fleets; and these two fleets may act in conjunction, in opposition, or without reference to each other.