National Republican., 1883-01-22
THE HOUSE.

On motion of Mr.. Tucker, of Virginia, a
bill was passed removing the political disa-
bilities of Francis II. Smith, ST., of Virginia
Mr.. McLane presented a petition of William
II. Perot and Others of Baltimore, asking for
damages on account of the unlawful seizure
and detention of cargocs of sugar by the
Treasury department Referred.
Then house then lat 1145) went in to the
committee of the whole (Mr. Page of Cali
fornia, in the chair) on
THE NAVY APPROPRIATION BILL.
Mr.. Calkins said that he had objected to
many of the provisions of the bill of last
year, and, upon examination, he had come to
the conclusion that the present bill was worse
than its predecessor. He had always objected
to the committee on appropriations assuming
to control all the legislation of this body.
The practice was perniciOus one, and he
hoped to see the powers of the house dis
tributed among its committees, and
the responsibility of legislation rest
where it properly belonged. The present
bill began the reformation Of the navy at the
wrong end. The naval establishment was
composed of eight bureaus, which acted in a
disconnected and disiointed manner, without
any cooperation between them, and the re-
suit was that the different parts of the ship
did not fit. The ordnance was too heavy for
the vessel, or the engines were too small and
useless. The navy ought TO be reconstructed
on basis which would bring these bureaus to-
gether and would compel them to work in
conjunction with one another. That would
bring the navy out of the utter chaos in which
it had fallen and build up service which
would compare iavorably with the service of
any nation of the world. Another objection
he had to the bill was that il dpplied the knife
to the only real navy that eXistcd-the line
Il lly.1 H.. a.. 4
corps, consisting of Isl officers, many of whom
could not go to sea because they had too
much rank, and would outranl5 the COM
mander of the ship. lie would hustle down
this topheavy and toploltcal force to the
needs of the service. The gcntlcmen compos-
ing it had n good profession, and would not
be injured. He then paid his respects to the
pay corps, which he declared he would wipe
out from top TO bottom and detail line officers
TO perform its duties. This pay corps, in addi-
tion to being an incubus hanging around the
neck of the naval establishment, was ap-
pointed from civil life. He would stop that.
He expressed his opposition TO the provision in
the bill for the retirement of commOdOres,
captains, commanders, lieutenant command
ers, and lieutenants, when they shall have
reached the ages respectively Of Co. 80, 81, AZ
and 40 years. If gentlemen desired TO aim n
blow Mt the retired list, they could not do it
better than by adopting this provision. He
criticised tho clause making sea service pre-
requisite OF promotion and commented upon
the fact that the same did not apply TO cap
tains, queryng whether there was u captain
lurking around somewhere who had a
soft place and did not want TO be inter-
fered with. Tho provision for tho abolition
of the rank Of commodore he was opposed to,
because it would work an act of injustice to
gallant officers Passing on to a considera-
tion of the appropriation for the completion
of the double-turreted monitors, he said that
vessels of the class of the MiantonOmOh must
disappear from the fleets of the world, because
vessels owned by other countries were much
superior in speed and armament and in sea-
going qualities. They could, however, be
used in coast and harbor defense,
Mr.. Robson said that the monitors were
not constructed to cross the ocean, but were
intended for coast defense
Mr.. Callsins said that the United States
ought TO have ut least three as good sloops of
war as there were in the world. He had got
tired as an American Of seeing his country
snubbed and laughed ut and derided by other