erge of starvation, we voted to send them
relief in the way of something to eat.

The action of the United States was viewed with suspicion by Spain. The
people of that country were certain we wanted to help Cuba only in order
to "gobble her up afterward," as the saying went. Such was not our
intention at all, and total Cuban liberty to-day testifies to that fact.

Not knowing how far matters might go, President McKinley and his
advisers deemed it wise to prepare for the worst. This meant to put the
army and navy on the best possible footing in the least possible time.

It was felt that should war come, it would be fought largely on the sea,
and nobody realized this more than did Theodore Roosevelt. He was active
day and night in the pursuit of his duty, seeing to it that this ship or
that was properly manned, and this fortification and that put in proper
order to resist attack. Our ships were in all parts of the world, on the
Atlantic and the Pacific, in the far north and the far south, in
European waters and Hong Kong Harbor. Each had to be supplied with coal
and ammunition and with provisions. Those that were "out of commission,"
that is, laid up, generally for repairs, were put into commission with
all speed. A thousand contracts had to be inspected, judged, and passed
upon. Outwardly the Navy Department at Washington was moving along as
peacefully as ever, internally it was more active than it had been at
any time since the great Civil War.

"War may come at any moment," said Mr. Roosevelt to his friends. "And if
it does come, there is nothing like being prepared for it."

About one thing Theodore Roosevelt was very particular. In the past,
gun practice on board of our war-ships had been largely a matter of
simply going through the motions of handling the guns.

"This will not do," said the Assistant Secretary. "Our gunners will
never make good marksmen in that way. They must practise with powder and
ball, shot and shell." And after that they did. Such practice cost a
round sum of money, and the department was criticised for its
wastefulness in this direction; but the worth of it was afterward proven
when Commodore Dewey sank the Spanish ships in Manila Bay, and the
Atlantic Squadron likewise destroyed the enemy's ships that were trying
to escape from Santiago Harbor.

In those days at Washington, Theodore Roosevelt made a warm, personal
friend of Dr. Leonard Wood. Dr. Wood was an army surgeon, who had seen