ledge of how to operate those organizations
brought about certain professions, first that of the military,
second that of the priesthood, and later those of the law, medicine,
engineering, etc. As time has gone on, the preparation required
for these professions, especially the progressive professions,
has become increasingly difficult and increasingly demanded; and
the members of the professions have become increasingly strict
in their requirements of candidates for membership.

Now the profession that is the most strict of all, that demands the
greatest variety of qualifications, and the earliest apprenticeship,
is the military. The military profession serves on both the land
and the sea, in armies and navies; and while both the land and
the sea branches are exacting in their demands, the sea or naval
branch is the more exacting of the two; by reason of the fact that
the naval profession is the more esoteric, the more apart from the
others, the more peculiar. In all the naval countries, suitable
youths are taken in hand by their governments, and initiated into
the "mysteries" of the naval profession--mysteries that would always
remain mysteries to them, if their initiation were begun too late in
life. Many instances are known of men who obtained great excellence in
professions which they entered late in life; but not one instance in
the case of a man who entered the naval profession late in life. And
though some civilian heads of navies have shown great mental capacity,
and after--say three years'--incumbency have shown a comprehension
of naval matters greater than might have been expected, none has
made a record of performance like those of the naval ministers
of Germany and Japan; or of Admiral Barham, as first lord of the
admiralty, or Sir John Fisher as first sea lord, in England.

A navy is so evidently a machine that the expression "naval machine"
has often been applied to it. It is a machine that, both in peace and
in war, must be handled by one man, no matter how many assistants
he may have. If a machine cannot be made to obey the will of one
man, it is not one machine. If two men are needed, at least two
machines are to be operated; if three men are needed there are at
least three machines, etc. One fleet is handled by one man, called
the commander-in-chief. If there are two commanders-in-chief, there
are two fleets; and these two fleets may act in conjunction, in
opposition, or without reference to each oth