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

SSN11SG0o 6AAs
Special Dispatch to The BnH.
sENAEE PROCEEDINGS
The only understanding reaohrd
morning was that the anti bigamy
bill which was taken up yesterday af.
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 appropriation
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
repair. of any wooden ships, when the
estimated cost Of such repairs shall
exceed % per cent of the estimated
cost Of new ships of the same siz, aud
like material, gave rise to long de-
bate. The provision was amended so
as to fix the limit at 20 per cent Of the
cost of new Of the same sizs and like
material. Agreed tc--33 to IL. {
When the paragraph appropriatipl
81, ,OOO,O 900 for the completion of the
Iron clad Knoxville, In accordance with
the recommendations of the naval ad.
viscry board, was reached, Senate,
| Mcpherson reviewed the history oi
Iron clads, and argued that no appro.
priation should be 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 exoepted 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
tion OF ths vessels aad called special
attention to the fact that the pre- sent
secretary was not in favor of COM
pleting the work uuder the permissory y
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 as
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 were 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 Asseasments.
Why else had they been left 80 long
unfinished. Voorhees, understood
that $8. 900, 600 had been spent ire
building" those vessels, which cost
about 90. 600, 900. There was not q
senator on the h ,or Who could make
an estimate Il the amount to be re
quired to complete them. This whole
business was q aoandal, an outrage
and crime. II 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 $5,69l ,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 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 tn,
senate adjourned.
HOUSE PROCEEDINGS. g.
! WAsHIkoToN, February 22.-Th,
army and forti6cation appropriation