Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-07-14

the Dolphin provided for see speed OF 10
knots per hour"
Being a shipbtlilder, and one devoted
to all improvements, Mr.. Roach's opinion
concerning the use of steel in preference
to iron in the building of boats would
naturally be asked by the committee.
Here is what he told them:
>esThere are many things connected with
the process of manufacturing IRON wnlcn
makes steel more reliable, and if we were
buildinQ navy, or to build navy, should
Certainly build it of steel. The navy you
build nov ought to be our navy for the next
fifty yesrs and nothing should be omitted
to SECURE the very best material and work
manship. AS to furnishing material, facll-
ties for rolling steel in this country to-day
are such that If you wanted to build forty
snips YOU would have no difficulty IN getting
the necessary steel. ------------- ----------
81 have given this question OF the COM
parative merits of iron and steel for ship
building great deal of consideration. At
nv age naturally did not desire to invest
dollar more in the iron interest, but so thor
ouphly was convinced Of the superiority OF
steel as a material for sh1pbulld1ng com
pared with iron, that / felt satisfied that
in a few zears steel would take the place of
iron for these purposes all over the world.
Now. / understand that there has been some
question made here with regard to the faclll-
ties existing in this country for the produc-
ton of steel. Speaking only for myself, l
NAV say that shall be in condition by the
LIST of March to produce, inside of one year,
all the steel that will be required for the
construction of twelve OF these 4,0oo-ton
! ships."
As time changes all things it was nat
ural that Mr.. Roach should change his
opinion concerning the use OF steel in
building ships and even as to the supply
of steel. What that change was may be
seen from his explanation:
"Why was wrought iron substituted fol
| the steel shaftsT
| 81 have built hundreds of vessels In which
| I used wrought iron for the shafts, and in
| none of them the shafts were ever broken.
| am practical man, and to me experience is
| the best teacher. 1t has demonstrated to
me that the wrought iron l used IN the
{! shafts is superior to the steel shafts.
"Why was no penalty attached to the time
| limit in the contract within which the dol
phin" should be completedr'
| HsThe condition of the steel industry III oul
1
| contract was such as to make the completion
of the vessel within a specified time an un
/ certainty. 1t must not be overlooked that
4 the construction of these vessels was ven
| ture, and it was deemed unfair to impose G
penalty for delay"
The country is to be congratulated upor
the letter of Secretary Whitney and the
opinion of Attorney General Garland. L
seems indisputable that had the "Dol
phin" been accepted the navy would
have suffered and the Government beer
defrauded The Attorney-General ex
presses the opinion that the amount o
money that has already been paid to Mr.
Roach can be recovered, and it is to bt
hoped that proceedings will be instituted
for its recovery, as such proceeding
would have most salutary effect upor
contractors who furnish worthless dis
patch boats and other things TO the Gov
ernment.
An inquiry into the composition of the
board that supervised the work on the
dolphin" and recommended its con
struction should be made. As the
New York Erening Post, from
which we got the extracts from
Mr.. Roach's testimony and explana
ton, says: "He" (Mr. Roach), "mus
see now what an error he made when ht
counted so surely upon Mr.. Blaine''
election