New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-09-30
SECRETARY WHIISFYs QUIBBLIYG.

Secretary Whitney only makes n bad matter
worse by petty quibbl.ng. In his letter to the
naval board appointed to appraise the work and
material of the unfinished cruisers, he says ;
.Thc validity of the contracts has never
abecn, so far rs knew, by any person assailcd,
sand know OF no ground upon which they can
abe. There il no specific requirement rs TO the
speed of these three ships to be found in the
"legslation authorizing them, ana hence the
u ground upon which the Dolphin contract was
@criticised by the Attorney General does not
exist in these cases. This implies that the
three cruisers were not Affected by the At
toiney- Generals decision and that the charge
that Mr.. Roach was threatened with legal pro-
ceedings for the recovery of all the money he
had received for the four vessels was not well
founded.
II is true that the Attorney General held that
Secretary Chandler had no power TO contract
for dispatch boat that would not make fifteen
knots sea- speed. The statutes relating To the
crniscrs called for the highest attainnble
speed" without making specific requirement,
rs in the ease Of the Dolphin. If the falsely
assumed deficiency in speed had been the only
ground on which the Attorney General decided
l
cruisers would not have been affected by the
ruling. But it was not the only ground The
Attorney General held that the contract was in
validated by the clause providing that the con-
tractor should not be responsible for the
| failure of the engines TO develop n specified
| horse power, If his materials and workmanship
were good This was the main ground on
which the Administrations legal adviser de-
cided that there was no contract existing be-
! tween Mr. Roach and the United States, and
| that the money received by him, having passed
! into his hands without authority of law, could
| be recovered from him. AS the contracts for
| the cruisers contained similar clauses relieving
! the contractor from responsibility for the
horse power developed by the engines, pro-
vidcd the Workmanship and materials were
good the decision applied to the four ships
| Mr. Roach's contracts for the cruisers were
virtually declared void. His credit was
ruined. The malignant persecution to which
he had been subjected in the case of the
| Dolphin was an earnest of what he had to eX-
pect in completing the cruisers. He was driven
into bankruptcy by the Democratic Adminislra-
ton, which had declared Secretary Chandeliers
contracts to be illegal.
These are the PLAIN facts of the case, winch
Secretary Whitney is attempting to disguise by
pucrile quibbling. He wants the public to be-
licve that the legality Of the contracts for the
cruisers has never been assaulted, that there has
been no compromise with Mr.. Roach's assgnees
and that the Government is only carrying out
its plain duty in contingency for which it is
not responsible. The public is not to be de-
ccived. 1t knows that the Secretary in accept
ing Office last March was bent upon raising
political capital for the Administration. Tho
Navy Department for many years had been II
conspicuous target for Democratic abuse aud
misrepresentation. Ii was there that the AID
ministration expected to make great hit, and
the Secretary did not venture to disappoint his
party. Instead of introducing practical re-
forms and entering with energy upon
tho construction of the five additional
cruisers authorized by law, he proceeded de-
liberately to make q cheap reputation as a
areformer" by undoing all that his predecessor
had done, by condemning vessel wholly de-
signed by naval experts and constructed under
their direct supervision, and by driving the most
enterprising American shipbuilder out OF the