New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-17
BREAKING DOWN ROACH.
THE ADMINISTRATIONS UNJUST ATTACK.
now A SCHEME TO COIN POLITICAL CAPITAL HAS


(YRoM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiBUNEl
WASHINGTON Oct 15-Accreditng TO the Presi-
dent a meagre sense of justice and limited de-
gree of fairness of mind it impossible to think that
no. could consent to retain Secretary Whitney anu
Attorney neral Garland i'll his Cabinet II he knew
all the circumstance of their combined assault Oh
John Roach and of the extent to which they are even
gong in their effort to escape the pah necessity
of taking back track. No suppOses, of course,
that they took Office for the very pur ose OF driving
Roach into bankruptcy. But in common with the lily
white Bayard and the astnte Manning and the crnmb-
sayng Villas they were cooked and primed to " re-
form something and TO hew out reputation no mat
ter how valuable the timber they teed or where the
chips might fly.
That this was the spirit in which they all took oihoe
is illustrated by Mr.. Whitneys career in the Navy De-
partment, not less than by the melancholy mess lhto
which Villas has got the foreign postal ser7ice ana me
inglOrous tumble Of 6arland and his telephone rag
baby. Without the delay OF so much as two weeks
after he took Office Mr. Whitney wrote to John hoach
his suspicion that the Dolphin not all the conract
required. He sat down at his desk fully pcrsuaueu
that its drawers and pigeon holes cobwebbed with
Jobs between former Secretaries OF the Navy ana John
Roach and that was his good luck to be the man to
ferret them out and institute vast reforms Not
STAYING to find the jobs he acted the principle that
fhey existed As matter of course, aud rushed head
long upon John Roach and the cruisers, regardless
alike of the rnn he bringing on the contractor OF
OF the havoc he making in the Naval service 'h"'
had been waiting long and in such extreme need iof
the vessels Now having overwhelmed Koach ana
locked up the vessels await the tedious processes OIL
the law though his blunders stare him in the dee lie
Is going to further extremes merely in the attempt 10
convince the people that he acted Tor the pest
brief but connected history OF the case, preserving
Mr.
pnted and cannot dispute will serve to show how par
tsan apnosity has been permitted TO crush private
citizen and work irreparable injury to the ship
building industry These facts will be far from iun
statement because Mr. Roach, acting under the auVce
Of his Democratic counsel ressts all Efforts 10 uuce
him TO show his correspondence with the Department
or TO saw ANYTHING with regard to his treatment by IT,
He Is determined to risk acton that can be USED
Z, his prejudice and to discuss the Gaze II be does not
secure speedy Justice before the people but in the
courts.
When Mr. Whitney took Office Mr. Roach wrote hm
that the Dolphin finished and ready for delivery
at any Navy Yard he chose to designate. lhe reply
was somewhat long 1t stated that the Secretary was
IMPRESSED with tie responsibility that rested upon hn
with regard to the Dophins acceptance that 1t ana
NOT seem from the report of the Advisory Board that
she had developed the maximum horse power OF
9 300 as required by law that The Board had sad
that this failure was not due defect IN her ma
chnery and that he aware OF the provision III te
contract which made her acceptable III view oi thls
Judgment by the Board, and yet he preferred to be
satisfied on the subject himself aud therefore he might
want another trial under such circumstances and with
such inspection as he might require In the meantime
he asked that the bills for the balance due the Dol
phin should be sent him. Mr.. Roach answered TINS
letter by sending the Secretary the bills which lac de-
IN haf
letter which concerned the trial 1t Is said that
the Secretary has widely complained OF Dir. Roach's
neglect to answer this constituting his silence rs an at
tempt to ignore the executive OF the Depart
mept and to force him make himself responsible for
the work of others. But Mr. Roach's friends assert
that he saw in the Secretarys letter shuy laid trap
to Get hu TO place himself at the mercy OF the Admin
israton Had he offered, they say at the Secretary
suggestion to have another trial. 1t would have been
population on his part of the Advisory Board whose
members were the legal judges OF the Dolphin accord
ing to the Act of Congress. Mr. Roach was not pre-
pared to take this responsibility and he wisely made
no auson 10 the matter one way the other If the
Secretary chose to take it, Mr.. Roach could do nothing
Int submit but be declined to be led into a trap.
Defeated in this little manOeuvre, Mr. Whitney con
eluded to do what Mr. Roach was shrewd enough TO
escape doing and he ignored the legally appointed
Advisory Board, whose authority was obtained from
Compress in these words Ii 81 all be the duty OF the
said Board to advise and assist the Secretary OF the
Navy in his and elsewhere in all matters referred
10 them by him relative the designs, models, plans
and contracts for said vessels III I'll Their
parts and relative the materials to be used therein
and the construction thereof and inspect the work on
the same as it progresses and have general super
vision thereof under the direction of the said Secretary
In considering Mr. Whtneys conduct aiterward 1t VIII
not do % lose sight of the character OF the eight men
who by the terms of this act were his legal adVserS
They we're Rear Admiral II. W. Stufcldt, who was
afterward replaced tor conventional reasons, by Rear
Admiral Edward Simpson; Commander j. A. Howell
Lieutenant Edward w. Very Chief Engineer Alex
ander Henderson, Naval Constructor f. L. Fernad,
Henry Steers and Miers Coryel The mere mention Of
these names is enough to show that the personal and
scientific character OF the Board cannot be assalied
But they had reported that tho Dolphin was a good
boat and should be accepted and Mr.. Whitney with
out.more ado put them gently aside and arbitrarily
created O Board of his This was composed OF
Commodore Delknap. whose professional zeal has
hardly kept pace with his political enthusiasm Com
1ander Evans whose hostility to exSccretary Chan
der is notorious and Herman Winter, an cmploye of
the Metropolitan Steamship Company OF which Secce
tsrv Wbitneys brother-in-law, Ii. f. Dmmoek, is
president This is obviously Board very close to the
Secretary and while nothing will be said to its per
sonaI discrelit who knows all the men on both
boards will pretend to say that it has any tess to sit
IN Judgment on the fidelity. experience and skill 81 the
legally constituted Board which the Secretary disre-
garded
Tho trials of the Dolphin that cnsued under the in
srecton of Mr.. Whineys personal friends are matters
OF familiar history That the vessel success and
worked to better advantage than new machinery
usually works the testimony OF dozen unprelu
diced engineer and naval constructors who were
aboard her and watched every revolution Of her
CINE from start to finish. But the report Of Mr. WHIT
news board condemned her. and alleged three general
faults. The first that she was failure as tC
speed the second that she sructurally weak. and
L. md, III "A NuDrl