Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-23
CONGRESSIONAL.
Special Dispatch to The BEE.

hAs
Special Dispatch to The BEE.
sENAEE PROCEEDINGS
The only understanding reaohrd
morning was that the anti bigamy
bill which was taken up yesterday at.
ternoon when comparatively faw sen.
ators was In attendance should
bs laid aside to-day In order to
take up the naval appropriation bill
and that during the remainder of the
session precedence shall Invariably
be given to the regular annual appro-
pristion bills, revenue bills and pen.
sion bills. The senate proceeded to
consider the naval appropriations.
The provision that no part of the
money appropriated for the general
care, increase and protection Of the
navy In the line of construction and
repairs of any wooden ships, when the
estimated cost Of such repairs shall
exceed 25 per cent of the estimated
cost Of new ships of the same siz, aud
like material, gave rise to q long de-.
bate. The provision was amended so
as to6x the limit at 20 per cent Of the
cost of o new Of the same sizs and like
material. Agreed tc--33 to IT, {
When the paragraph appropriatipl
$1,000 900 for the completion of the
Iron clad X nox vile, In accordance with
the recommendations of the naval ad.
viscry board, was, reached, Senate,
Mcpherson reviewed the history oil
Iron clads, and argued that no appro.
Ipriation should DO made at present
for the completion Of any of them,
and that even II the money were up.
propriated for the others, the Puritan
especially, ought to be exospted from
the appropriations, because several
boards, composed Of some of the best
officers of the navy, had pronounced
her an entire failure.
Senator Hale favored the compile
ton Of thu vessels and called special
attention to the fact that the present
secretary was not in favor of COM
pleting the work uuder the permissory
contract catered Into by Hon. GsU.
NJ. Robson as secretary Of the navy.
Those old contracts were dead No
body was seeking to revive them. Ths
whole question Of furnishing these
veSaels was In the hands Of congress.
We had grea. need of such vessels az
those designed for harb,r defence.
Senator Voorh ses said Hale's appeal
might have been quite impressive il
addressed to those who knew nothing
Of the history Of these vessels for the
past eight years. Eight years ago,
under the administration Of Grant,
these five ironclsds we're ordered to be
rebuilt. How many Of them were on
the wster2 Not one. Although the
government had several navy yards
these ironclads hal been order, d into
the hands Of privste contractors, kept
standing through all these years as the
means Ct paying political debts
and levying political assessments.
Why else had they been left 90 long
un6niahsd. Voorhees, understood
that %. 600, 600 had been spent ire
building" those vessels, which cost
about %. 000, 900. There was not q
senator on the a ,or Who could make
an estimate Il the amount to be re
quired to complete them. This whole
business wa q aoandal, an outrage
and q crime. It should be ended by
ordering the secretary Of the navy to
tske the vessels out Of the hands OF
John Roache and other private con-
tractors, and have them completed In
the government navy yards.
Senator Allison, In reply to In.
quiries, said the estimates to complete
the vessels footed up &c. 9l, 6O5
After further discussion Senator Mo.
Pherson's amendment, designed to
exclude the Puritan, was rejeoted-1f
to "a. The amendment Of the com
mittee, making an appropriation for
the engines and machinery for the
double turrettad ironolsdr, In accord.
ance with the recommendation Of The
naval advisory board, was agreed to
81 to IL.
Other amendments Of the commit.
toe to the bill were agreed to-. Sen.
ator Call offered as an additional sec.
tion an amendment providing for the
appointment Of o board to sorutinizs
the active list of the navy, select 9
certain number of each rank to be re-
tanned, the others to be treated al
supsrnumeraries, etc. The point Of
order was raised that this was new
Legislation. Pending discussion the
senate adjourned.
HOUSE PROCEEDINGS. q
WASHINGTON, February 9Th,
army and Notification appropriation