n the Caribbean, add a value to our fleet that might make
the difference between defeat and victory. The effective work that
a fleet can do is a function of the material condition of the ships
themselves, and of the physical and mental condition of the personnel
that man them. Fighting is the most strenuous work that men can do;
it calls for the last ounce of strength, the last effort of the
intellect, the last struggle of the will; it searches out every
physical imperfection in men, in ships, in engines, in joints, in
valves. Surprise has sometimes been expressed at the quickness
with which the Japanese defeated the Russians at Tsushima; but would
any one express surprise if a pugilist, fresh from rest, quickly
defeated another pugilist who, exhausted from long travelling,
staggered hopelessly into the ring? And how would the betting be
before a football match, if it were known that one of the teams
would enjoy a rest of twenty-four hours before the game, whereas
the other team would walk from the railroad to the ball grounds
after a trip across the continent?

These analogies may seem forced--but are they? A living animal
requires hours of rest and refreshment, in order that the tissues
expended in action may be repaired by the internal mechanism of
the body, and the food consumed be supplied from some external
source. A fleet is in exactly the same category, even when operating
in times of peace: and in time of war it needs, in addition, a
station in which injuries may be repaired--a station analogous to
that of the hospital for wounded men.

In the Caribbean it would seem necessary to successful operations,
therefore, to have two bases, one say at Guantanamo and one at
Culebra; the one at Culebra to be the principal base, and the one
at Guantanamo the auxiliary. Culebra, by reason of the great work to
be accomplished, and the engineering difficulties to be encountered,
cannot be gotten ready for several years. Reliance, meanwhile,
will have to be placed on Guantanamo; and as the coming of any
war is not usually very long foretold, the urgency of fortifying
Guantanamo stands out in clear relief.

The mutual relations of Guantanamo and Culebra are much like the
mutual relations of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Guam--and so are
the joint relations of each pair to the mother country. Culebra
and Guam are the potential bases of the United States farthest away
from the coast in the Atlantic and the Pacific respectively;