Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-03-27

BY the reserve navy Is meant the larg
fleet Of iron or steel, swift merchan
steamers, that will be armed ant
equipped as commerce-destroyers il
event Of war.
England In her list has nearly thret
hundred steamers which have passed
the inspection ofthe admiralty, and fol
which ornaments are being prepared
The ornaments of many transatlantic
are being stored at Halifax and the Ber
mudas, so in event of war large num-
Der of swift steamers would immediate.
ly repair to those ports, arm, and pro-
ceed to sea, as an extremely valuable
and dangerous auxiliary of the vessel.
of war.
France and almost all continental
powers are proceeding in the same way
and France has in one or two instances
assigned rlfled breech-loading guns g.:
inches caliher to new merchant steam
ers Of aspeed greater than fifteen knots
The United States has hut small re-
serve of this kind, and has neither the
guns, nor plant for making them, with
which To arm the few steamers she has
Comparing the United States with 9th.
er powers,i in point ofships, guns, steam
ers for reserve, merchant vessels for re-
serve, plant for constructing ships and
making guns, the defense of her coast
and prOperty-in all these we have new
er been in such an utterly weak, ineffi'
cient state as we are to-day.
In regard to the naval reserve of the
United States it may be urged that in
the last war the volunteers and mer.
chant sailors did their work with credit
This is undoubtedly so, but it must be
remembered that was twenty years ago
Since then the requirements of man.
Of-war's seaman is much greater than il
was then, owing to the rapid advance
in ships, guns, and tOrpedoes, which
every day are becoming more compli-
Gated and require special training for of
ficers and men.
Then again we had in 1850 an i'm
mense fleet of ofsea-going merchant ships,
which carried large crews of splendid
American seamen who had spent years
of their lives in deep water; to-day we
have comparatively few of such vessels,
and freight being so low a better class of
American seamen are fast disappearing,
composed of men who have never taken
the oath of allegiance to this country.
The decline of our merchant fleets
carries with it the decline of American
seamen.
The United States has ninety-one
ships; Of these ninety-One, thirty-eight
are wooden vessels, and totally unfit for
the service. Thirteen are serviceable
monitors. Five are unfinished moni-
tors requiring expensive additions. We
have some vessels of wood and one tor
pedo-boat. Of the thirty-eight men,
toned as serviceable, one, the Mohican,
is finished, one is on the lakes, and two
are dispatch and freight boats. The
personnel ofour Navy is but 5000, and
large number are officers.
Now regret very much, Mr.. Chair
man, that my Democratic friends in
this House, though distinguished gen.
tlemen, as the gentlemen from Penn
sylvania New York
The Chairman. The gentleman's
time has expired.
Mr.. Hiscock. 1 will take the floor
and yield nay time to the gentleman
from Ohio.
Mr.. Hill. l thank the gentleman
from New York for his courtesy.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, l regret the
course taken by my Democratic friends
in this House, especially the distin-
guished gentleman from Pennsylvania
and the gentleman from New York,
because I believe that this parsimonious
policy on the part of any party in a
great country like this is wrong. Ifthe
Democratic party of the United States
ever expect to get into power they must
pursue different line of policy. Any
party which is afraid to come up here
and provide for the defense of 1000
miles of the richest seacoast on the
globe will never get into power in this
country, and they never ought to.
l am opposed further, Mr.. Chairman,
to sending this money abroad to buy
these ships. There is a proposition to
spend fifteen million of money across the
ocean to pay British mechanics to build
our ships, while our mechanics are idle
on the streets. am against it, sir. l
will not vote for it. [Applause.
Why, sir, the history of the last thir-
teen years at your world fairs, the exhi-
bitions of Paris and London, and wher-
ever else they have been held, has
demonstrated that American skill,
American genus, and American
inventions have surpassed all 9TH
ers, and it is all insult to the intelli-
gence of the people of this country for
anybody to get up here and say we are
not able here, if we desire, to construct
not only our own ships but the arma-
ment and all the projectiles and ammu-
milton which they may need. We can,
in my judgment,D build just as good ships
and lit them out just as well here as any
where else on the globe. Just look at
the premiums and gold medals we have
taken whenever we have come into
competition with other countries.
My distinguished friend from New
York Mr.. Cox, who is right on almost
everything but the wool question, and
who yesterday tried to pull it over the
eyes of the country laughter and ap-
pluse] -
MIR. Cox, of New York. We went to-
gether, my friend.
Mr.. Hill. Yes, we went together in
Ohio last fall when my friend and ]
made speeches against the reduction on
wool. Laughter and applause. Will
nv friend from New York vote to re-
store the duty on wool? That will an.
swer all my objections, if it is an an
swer in the affirmative. Laughter
Mr.. Cox, of New York. The gentle
man makes an assertion
Mr.. Hill. l made the assertion be-
cause l asked the gentleman yesterday
to vote that way, but he said he would
not do it.
Mr.. Cox, of New York. The gentle
man is one Of my old pupils and | taught
him always to be courteous and just,
and know he will be both to me.
Mr.. Hill. Certainly sir.