remained fixed according to the establishment between the periods of each enactment, and at the same time they have been in a position to follow an active shipbuilding policy, while raising from year to year the necessary personnel for manning the new vessels. This in another notable feature of Admiral von Tirpitz's policy. The legislation has been so elastic as to enable him to raise the necessary number of officers and men to suit the requirements of the Fleet. When a Dreadnought, requiring 1,106 officers and men, has been completed for sea to take the place of a ship of the Hagen class, with a crew of only 306, the additional personnel has been instantly ready. The same process has been adopted in increasing the cruiser squadrons of the German Navy. The Law has specified that a certain number of "large cruisers" shall be built, and it has been left to the discretion of the naval authorities to interpret this elastic term in tons, guns, armour, knots of speed, and personnel. In accordance with the Law, Admiral von Tirpitz has thus been able to replace cruisers of negligible fighting value and of small size by Dreadnought battle cruisers mounting guns of immense power and attaining speeds hitherto without precedent. Similarly, small torpedo-boats have given way in the establishment of the Navy to torpedo-boat destroyers of large size, and step by step the naval strength of Germany has been increased by a process, the cleverness and ingenuity of which even the German people themselves have not realized. Germany has immensely increased her resources of ships and men, but she has done more than that: she has forced other Powers to organize and train their squadrons on a standard of efficiency never attempted in the past. She has increased the strain and stress of peace until it resembles closely the actual conditions of war, and having determined year in and year out to keep nearly four-fifths of her fleet always on a war footing, always instantly ready for action, she has compelled other countries, in accordance with the dictates of ordinary foresight, to take similar action, however onerous the financial burden. It is on Great Britain and the United States that the weight of this burden has borne most heavily, for in those States alone is reliance placed on a voluntary system of manning, which is necessarily very costly. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 8: It is interesting to note, however, that even at this early date the German Admiralty made provision for the storage of oil in order to supplement the coal supply.] [Footnote 9: _Cf._ Appendix I.] [Footnote 10: The five later ships were given a belt with a thickness of 9·4 inches amidships, but otherwise their protection and armament closely resembled those laid down at an earlier date.] [Footnote 11: See Appendix II.] [Footnote 12: One of these "armoured cruisers" was not built.]