Build 3 New Ships Or We Fall In Rank.

New York Times 100 years ago today, December 6, 1912:
So Declares Secretary Meyer, Who Scouts at Peace and Indorses General Board's Plan.
FOR 41 BATTLESHIPS AT LEAST
He Contrasts Our Niggardly Policy Toward Aviation with the Liberal Appropriations Made In Europe.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.— "If the Congress authorizes only two capital ships every year, the United States will have dropped from second to fourth on the list," says George von L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, in his annual report to the President, made public to-day.
    In the argument leading to his recommendation for substantial increase in the battle strength of the fleet, Secretary Meyer maintains that "international efforts toward peace have accomplished nothing as to the elimination of armaments." He holds that if an efficient fleet of adequate size is maintained the country will be safe from attack and free to work out its destiny in peace and without hindrance.
    "History of all times, including the present," he says, "shows the futility and danger of trusting to the good will and fair dealing, or even to the most solemnly binding treaties, between nations for the protection of a nation's sovereign rights and interests, and without doubt the time is remote when a comparatively unarmed and helpless nation may be reasonably safe from attack by ambitious, well-armed powers, especially in a commercial age such as the present."
    Mr. Meyer urges that Congress provide for the construction of three battleships, a rather bold suggestion in view of Congress's action at its last session in providing for only one battleship. The present battleship strength is thirty-three. The General Board recommended that four battleships be built this year, and the Secretary, while submitting estimates for only three, endorses the programme of the board, which calls for the following new construction, in addition to battleships: Two battle cruisers, sixteen destroyers, one destroyer tender, two transports, one ammunition ship, six submarines, one submarine tender, one supply ship, two gunboats, and two sea-going tugs.
    Mr. Meyer endorses also the recommendation of the General Board that a drydock and a submarine testing-dock be provided for.
    The General Board argues that four battleships are needed in place of four vessels which will be twenty years old in 1914, and will then have to be withdrawn from the second line. The board holds that, the paramount need of the navy is battleships, and it does not recommend any modification of the building programme that will interfere with the ultimate battleship strength.
    In connection with the recommendation for transports, the General Board says the loss by collision at sea of the steamships Republic, Meridia, Marcellus and Titanic has emphasized the necessity for these new vessels.
    Secretary Meyer contends that the statement that the opening of the Panama Canal will double the strength of the fleet is erroneous, although he admits that it will increase the efficiency of the fleet because of the time saved in sending it from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. "A total of forty-one battleships," says Mr. Meyer, "with a proportional number of other fighting and auxiliary vessels, is, in the opinion of the Secretary, the least that will place this country on a safe basis in its relation with other world powers."
    Mr. Meyer asks for more money for naval aviation, and shows that the United States has provided less money for this work than any other nation, the amount appropriated being $140,000, as compared with $6,000,000 by France, $1,500,000 by Germany, $5,000,000 by Russia, $2,100,000 by Great Britain, $2,000,000 by Italy, and $600,000 by Japan.