The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-11-10
Our Rotten Navy.

that have been made in this arm OF the ma
tionnl defence under his direction. Here
b an extract from the sent official state
ment which WIS sent out from the Navy
Department TO all parts of the country:
18th policy Of the sectttsy q tne NV to keep
r,r "i sIs, .r, al " f. H'r,n Al.nn ,
kece,tary."
This policy is adopted by SEcoR Robson
because 1t gives him chance TO I'LL
RoACn's ship ynrd with old hulks, on
which an md finite amount of money can
be spent, and the way in which II has gone
be SO covered up that no investigating
committee can get ut IL without almost
mperhuman sngacity. Besides, IL affords
far more opportunities for tue free use OF
the lubricant known rs palm oil" which
makes everything in Navy Department
constructions move so smoothly and so
satisfactorily TO the Secretary and his
favorite contractors. The result IL that
the Navy Department work costs about
twice as much ms 1t ought to cost, and four
times ~ much money is spent as there is
any necessity of taking out of the peoples
treasury.
A favorite trick OF SEcoR RoDEsoN's Is
this: The law forbids his laying down
new keel without an express appropria-
zion. To get around this, he adopts the
principle whereby the jackknife is re-
participating III new handle and new
BLADE, ana keeping one OF the rivets TINT
fastens the horn TO the side of the haft.
He proceeds to repair and alter some old
hulk. keeping piece Of the Keel TO escape
the prohibition of the law, and spending
more than II would cost to build new
ship. This sort Of work is going on all the
time, and has been in operation ever since
SECoR robson went from comparative
poverty in New Jersey to luxury and ex-
trnvagancc at Washington. To say nothing
Of the old wooden hulks he has thus
altered and repaired At the cost OF
millions, and without results in the way OF
adding to the efficiency of the navy, he
two years ago went TO work on his patent
plan for throwing away the peoples
money, To tinker up "a lot of the old IRON
clads at the cost Of more than n million.
Even conceding the advantage of putting
these vessels In trim for the remote post
bihty OF their use, what RoBEsoS did was
e. spend all this money without increasing
the resisting power of their armor in any
degree whatever. They were essentially
~ good for fighting purposes before the
alterations rs they are after them. What
robson was after was To spend money.
not TO better the irouclads. He therefore
connivcd with the contractors TO give them
To do what they could make most profit
aSie to themselves and their friends
Think Of spending several hundred thou
sand dollars on "A 1,200-ton ironclad, aud
leaving its armor both on its sides and
turret So that II could he riddlcd by the
fceblest ironclad gun ahOat in Europe!
Yet this was what ROBSON did i'll the
cases OF the CatskIll Lehigh, Montauk, and
Others, turned over TO his contractors for
alterations.
The vital point was left untouched, no
Improvements being made in the charac-
ter of their nrmor. Yet II the armor Is
not equal TO the keeping out OF such shot
as they are likely to encounter in war,
vessels like these are better without anv
armor at all. But improvement of the
arinor did not offer so good chance for
dividends. So the money was spent III
Bpiking on old iron lying around the navy
yards, ana which was turned over to the
contra ctors at a small price. This was the
armor purchased at great expense by the
Government for the ironcads of the
Colossus class, begun but never finished.
The Navy Department despatch from
Which We have quoted says further
-TGc ironc aes Mon'auk, Manhcttin s.u.us Malo.
psc, Nantucket Aja,, Csnontus, tat'ki B. Ja- n, aud
requirc Iley could BE- poi IN service in I'VE Gays"
But what would be the use of putting
them in service? If they should be- used
against an ironclad belonging TO any re-
spectacle raval power, they would be
simply food for the enemy's chilled conf
cal shells. Their turrets would be- per-
foratcd Ike pastebnard, their side armor
Tiddied, ana their crews sent 70 the bot
tom. Yet these are the very vessels sEcoR
robson has spent more than a million on
within two years. Their armor is OF the
old-fas hioned lampated sort, the only at
tainable one during the eXigencies Of the
war, while every foreign ironclad ~ now
plated with solid iron, which is Of incom-
parably greater resisting power.
The condition Of the navy under SECoE
ROBEsON is simply disgraceful The cor
ruptlon AZ its head eats into the whole
OF the service. The national vessels ara
turned into yachts for the convenience
OF the officers families and on wash
days the diapers hanging in tho rigging
suggest floating nursery. The navy
yards are the seats OF Jobbery, and the pay
corps SURPRISES the old navy agents in the
point Of peculalion and rascality. The
best men in the navy are all disguised and
disheartcncd. Though we spend about
twenty millions year on our navy, yet
We have not one nrst-class ship. Compare
th,m class by class aud we have not a
solitary ship which bears comparison with
the European navies in the matter of en-
gines, guns, armor, or hull. The British
spend on their vast navy, numeI ically
more than ten times as large us ours, ana
In strength and efficiency II hundred times
a. great only about fifty millions; and yet
they add oven twenty thousand tons year
OF new ships to their fleet. We have built
nothing except about half a dozen miscl.
hhe little gunbOats since the end OF The
War'and yet our naval expenses have aver.
s"ed over twenty millions yearly. There II
nothing in the history OF American admin
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