fleet should now and then be moved to the Pacific, just as at other times it should be kept in the Atlantic.  When the Isthmian Canal is built the transit of the battle fleet from one ocean to the other will be comparatively easy.  Until it is built I earnestly hope that the battle fleet will be thus shifted between the two oceans every year or two.  The marksmanship on all our ships has improved phenomenally during the last five years.  Until within the last two or three years it was not possible to train a battle fleet in squadron maneuvers under service conditions, and it is only during these last two or three years that the training under these conditions has become really effective.  Another and most necessary stride in advance is now being taken.  The battle fleet is about starting by the Straits of Magellan to visit the Pacific coast..  Sixteen battleships are going under the command of Rear-Admiral Evans, while eight armored cruisers and two other battleships will meet him at San Francisco, whither certain torpedo destroyers are also going.  No fleet of such size has ever made such a voyage, and it will be of very great educational use to all engaged in it.  The only way by which to teach officers and men how to handle the fleet so as to meet every possible strain and emergency in time of war is to have them practice under similar conditions in time of peace.  Moreover, the only way to find out our actual needs is to perform in time of peace whatever maneuvers might be necessary in time of war.  After war is declared it is too late to find out the needs; that means to invite disaster.  This trip to the Pacific will show what some of our needs are and will enable us to provide for them.  The proper place for an officer to learn his duty is at sea, and the only way in which a navy can ever be made efficient is by practice at sea, under all the conditions which would have to be met if war existed.

I bespeak the most liberal treatment for the officers and enlisted men of the Navy.  It is true of them, as likewise of the officers and enlisted men of the Army, that they form a body whose interests should be close to the heart of every good American.  In return the most rigid performance of duty should be exacted from them.  The reward should be ample when they do their best; and nothing less than their best should be tolerated.  It is idle to hope for the best results when the men in the senior grades come to those grades late in life and serve too short a time in them.  Up to the rank of lieutenant-commander promotion in the Navy should be as now, by seniority, subject, however, to such rigid tests as would eliminate the unfit.  After the grade of lieutenant-commander, that is, when we come to the grade of command rank, the unfit should be eliminated in such manner that only the conspicuously fit would remain, and sea service should be a principal test of fitness.  Those who are passed by should, after a certain length of service in their respective grades, be retired.