ough not more
honorable); and as the harmony of operation of the whole increases,
as skill in each task increases, and as a perception of the strategic
_why_ for the performance of each task increases, the knowledge
will be borne in on all that in useful occupation is to be found
the truest happiness; that only uninterested work at any task is
drudgery; that interest in work brings skill, that skill brings
pleasure in exerting it; and that the greater the number of men
engaged together, and the more wise the system under which they
work, the greater will be the happiness of each man, and the higher
the efficiency of the whole.

CHAPTER X

RESERVES AND SHORE STATIONS

In the preceding chapter it was pointed out that the work of preparing
the naval machine for use could be divided into two parts: preparing
the existing fleet and preparing the rest of the navy.

The "rest of the navy" consists of the Navy Department itself,
the naval stations, the reserve ships and men, and also the ships
and men that must be brought in from civil life. As the department
is the agency for preparing the naval stations, the reserves, and
the men and ships brought in from civil life, it is clear that the
work of preparing the department will automatically prepare the
others. The work of preparing any Navy Department necessitates the
preparation and execution of plans, whereby the department itself
and all the rest of the navy will be able to pass instantly from a
peace footing to a war footing; will be able to pass instantly
from a status of leisurely handling and supplying the existing
fleet by means of the offices, bureaus, and naval stations, to
the status of handling with the greatest possible despatch a force
which will be not only much larger, but also much less disciplined
and coherent.

In time of peace a Navy Department which is properly administered
for times of peace, as most Navy Departments are, can, by means of
its bureaus, naval stations, offices, etc., handle the existing
fleet, and also these bureaus, naval stations, offices, etc., by
labors which for the most part are matters of routine. The department
opens for business at a certain time in the morning and closes at
a certain time in the afternoon. During office hours the various
officials and their clerks fill a few busy hours with not very
strenuous labor, and then depart, leaving their cares behind them.
The naval stations are conducted on similar principle