Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-06
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. GLIMPSES OF THE NAVY Furnished By The Sec
 retary's Report. FAT FEES FOR ATTORNEYS. Startling Exposures By
 Clerk Barker. A JEALOUS LOVERS FURY. He Kills Five People And
 Himself.
A JEALOUS LOVERS FURY
OUR NAVY AND COAST DEFENsEs.

l A considerable portion of it is devoted to the | question of strengthening our navy. The new cruisers Atlanta and Boston have been | launched and the Chicago is nearly eomplet- l ed. The department is confirmed in the | opinion that the criticisms advanced last ! year against the new ships were of little mo- | ment, but based upon theories at variance with the progress of modern shipbuilding. AS to the want of full sail power and the ab- sence of sheathing it appears that the British l admiralty is now building steel cruisers of the Leander and Mersey classes absolutely without masts or sails and unsheathed The objections to the machinery of the Chicago are met by the satisfactory performances of the Louisiana, 8 vessel with machinery gene I rally similar. The armor of the Amphitrite and Terror is about one-half completed, while that of the Puritan is finished. No work has been done upon the huIls of the monitors. Common prudence, the Secretary says demands that immediate steps be t2ken to remedy the defenceless condition of our coasts and harbors, and the most rapid and economical measure which can be adopted at the present time is to push the partially constructed monitors to completion. The report states the conclusions of the advisory board recommending the construction of one cruiser of 800 tons, one cruiser of 5000 tons, one despatch vessel of 1 ,600 tons, two l heavily armed gunboats of 400 tons each, one light gunboat of 750 tons, one steel ram, one cruising torpedo boat, 1 two harbor torpedo boats and one armored vessel not exceeding seven thousand tons. | The department in adopting the recommend ation calls especial attention to the necessity of torpedo boats. In general the Secretary | recommends the construction of seven mod | ern cruisers annually for a period of ten years Such plan, while conforming to the | conservative demands of our policy and at- 1 fording ample time for adopting every new device in construction, would give the coun- | try at moderate cost a navy adequate to | train it's officers and maintain it's safety and l honor The Secretary says that at the end of | seYenty-fve years the only cruising vessels of the present list remaining will be three small iron vessels, the Monocacy, Alert and ! Ranger He renews his former recommend ation that the limitation of repairs to wooden vessels should continue at twenty per cent of their cost The real explanation of the disproportion between the expenditures and the results accomplished in naval administra- ton is to be found, Secretary Chandler says, l in the policy of attempting, at great cost, to rehabilitate workout structures under the name of repairs. Repair and reconstruction in the absence of fixed limit are terms easi- l ly interchanged and the published I statements of expense under the first | name during May show that it is 1 only too apt to mean that. The \ practice of reconstructing vessels under the name of repair is the only pretext upon 1 which our overgrown navy yard establish ments could be justified, and it appears that | instead of maintaining our yards for the ad- vantage and benefit of our ships, the ships
 have dragged out protracted existence fo1 | the benefit of the yards. Only two naval | workshops, the Secretary thinks, should | be maintained on the Atlantic coast and one 1 at the Pacific. The New London yard should ! be restored to Connecticut and the League Island yard to Philadelphia. The Boston | yard should be sold or reduced in size. The | Pensacola and Portsmouth yards may be kept 1 for naval stations The workshops would l then be at New York, Norfolk and Mare
 Island These need certain improvements III organization.
 All politics should be excluded from theil l management Responsibility for the work ! must be more definitely fixed and there l should be at each yard supervising maya l constructor appointed by the President and l confirmed by the Senate from civil life or from the navy, Whc
 should have direct charge ot all work. The
 pun foundry board, the Secretary says, has Obtained information that there are responsi
 bIe steel manufacturers in this country who
 although not provided at present with the
 necessary plant, are willing to construct the
 same and make bids for contracts with the
 government for the supply of material fol
 the heaviest guns, if guaranteed order o
 sufficient magnitude with PosltlVe apPlo @ ! priation covering ser1es or year
 shall be made by Congress; The re l port comments severely upon the existing 1 practice of securing the solicitation of per
 sons possessed of political or social Influence in behalf of officers, whether for the purpos'
 of obtaining agreeable duty or of effectinE
 the restoration by legislation of those wh'
 have been dismissed for drunkenness O
 other misconduct or incapacity. Suci l restorations demoralize the service. Publ1 ! opinion should sternly condemn al
 who have been guilty of mlsconduc
 as well as those who lend teemselve l to efforts for the restoration of officer l removed He refers to the PFesldent ! veto message on the Fitzjohn Porte 1 hill. pointine out the gncopstituti O
 such leeislation and showing that the con , stitution has provided an efectual barrier tt
 any restoration by legislation ot particular of l Hcers. The report dwells upon tn l close connection between the improvement ] the navy and the development of the mer l chant marine and shows that to make tn latter commensurate with our trade, ou l coast line and the number and wealth of ou commercial cities, we must have great nne 1 of ocean steamships of high speed and larg
 capacity carving our flag to the most dis
 tant lands and saving to our people the vas
 profits of the carrying trade. The oni
 way to accomplish this Fesul
 is through direct encouragement given by tn l government either in the form of bount1e l upon construction or of payment for carryin
 1 tbe mails so that American capitalists vii i h6 indueed to embark in the business. Tn l recent enactment repeating the laws requi1 I ;ne af1 American vessels aEbitTaF14y to carr foraion mails should be supplemented by
 nrovision that contracts for carrying sue
 l mails in American lines ot steamers ever a
 principal ocean highways snoulq pe lee 5c 5o
 term of years to the lowest bidder. ade
 one+e oompensation therefor to be paid b
 ! fbeS <Gro17slJf5oent upen ths same principle a
 that sdonted in establishing euf great ns = e The ss Secretary recommends that ther
 sbonid he an assistant secretary and solit !. itor in the department and that the bureau
 nf eonstrnction and of steam engineering |
 united as 9 single bureau to have for ii il
 fbsf 5at dan the ba 9sg found. i9 @hsher in the navy
 ,e civil civil lie lie, He presents and advocates th
 s adoption of a new plan to hasten promoti99
 the navy and eliminate ,s officers Sssentia; di5qqsl fa
 fled for active service The essentla ae Ie 1es
 ture of the plan is the retirement ot tN
 captains reVary oaptaln pToMosea ana g one eommapdeF for every four eoinnat.4e
 promoted.
 Siberia of the bodies of Lieutenant Comma
 der DeLong of the Jeannette and his compa
 Iii of fhe fIraalV