hat a battleship of 30,000 tons, such as the navies
are building now, with, say, twelve 14-inch guns is a greater example
of power, under the absolute direction and control than anything
else existing; and that the main reason is the concentration of
a tremendous amount of mechanical energy in a very small space,
all made available by certain properties of water. Nothing like
a ship can be made to run on shore; but if an automobile could
be constructed, carrying twelve 14-inch guns, twenty-two 5-inch
guns, and four torpedo-tubes, of the size of the _Pennsylvania_,
and with her armor, able to run over the land in any direction at
20 knots, propelled by engines of 31,000 horse-power, it could
whip an army of a million men just as quickly as it could get hold
of its component parts. Such a machine could start at one end of
an army and go through to the other like a mowing-machine through
a field of wheat; and knock down all the buildings in New York
afterward, smash all the cars, break down all the bridges, and sink
all the shipping.

_Inherent Power of a Fleet_.--An idea of the power exertable by a
fleet of modern ships may be derived from the following comparison.

When Sherman made his wonderful march to the sea from Atlanta to
Savannah, he made a march whose details are historically known,
which was unopposed, which was over a flat country, in good weather,
and without the aid of railroad-trains. It was a march, pure and
simple; and inasmuch as men are the same now as they were then, it
gives excellent data of the way in which purely military or army
power can move from one place to another, _while still preserving
its character and exercising its functions_. Similarly, when Admiral
Schroeder, in November, 1910, went from the east coast of the United
States to the English Channel, his march was unopposed, its details
are known, and it gave an excellent illustration of how naval power
can move from one place to another, _while still preserving its
character and exercising its functions_.

Now General Sherman was a man of world-wide fame, and so were some
of his generals, and Sherman's fame will last for centuries. Compared
with Sherman, Admiral Schroeder was obscure; and compared with
Sherman's officers, Admiral Schroeder's were obscure. Sherman's
soldiers, privates and all, were made glorious for the rest of
their lives by having been in Sherman's march to the sea, while
Admiral Schroeder's sailors achieved no glor