Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-08-20
IN SHORT, THE TRUTH.

lights in the Roach Whitney business
having been burned out, parties con-
cerned in that amicable farce appear to
be comfortably settling things in a
sensible way. AS far as can be judged,
the whole series of events beginning
with the first trial of the Dolphin and
ending with the decision of the secre-
tary of the navy to take charge of the
Roach works and finish the uncomple-
ted cruisers, is a piece of elaborate
political man@uvering. That part of
the public which has not been misle d
by fiery leading articles on one side or
the other will reach the conclusion
that Mr.. Whitney has simply been try
ing the sharp politicians game, and
that he has been very cleverly check
mated. The conclusion is warranted
by the announcement that virtual
compromise has been reached, and that
the arrangement will probably include
the acceptance of the Dolphin by the
government, after some slight changes
has been made to afford a pretense for
retreat. Stripped of all fictitious mat
ter. the whole affair between Mr..
Whitney and Mr.. Roach looks about
as follows: For years the greatest
clamor raised by the Democratic party
has been against the management of the
navy. And John Roach, as the fore
most shipbuilder in the country and a
dabbler in Republican politics to boot,
was the principal object of attack.
When a Democratic administration
came in, it was party necessity to
find some fire where there had been
so much smoke, and give Mr.. Roach
some trouble first of ALL The original
step in this was to get the Dolphin
condemned. We need not linger over
the technical reports of trial trips,
and the conflicting papers of learned
board of construction and advisory
boards. Mr.. Roach had never none
anything to speak of in the way of re-
pairing vessels, and the charge that he
had wasted public funds in that direc-
ton had to be abandoned. The only
thing left was to attack his reputation
as ship builder The facts of the
case seemed to be that there was not
enough faults about the Dolphin to
warrant her rejection. Mr. Whitney
was bound to reject, and did it finally
by the assistance of remarkable de-
eision announced by Mr.. Garland, and
formally invalidating the contracts
under which not only the Dolphin but
the three cruisers were to be built.
That this was done principally for
effect was evident from the published
facts of the controversy, and is now
proved by the report that the Dolphin
will finally be accepted practically as
built So far Mr.. Whitney had the
lead. But Mr.. Roach had as much
political shrewdness as his adversary.
Immediately he closed his works and
announced a business suspension. It
Is probable that this was as little of an
actual necessity as was the course of
the navy department Mr. Roach has
declared that he can pay dollar for
dollar. He does not pretend that he
is insolvent, and nobody believes that
he is. He had already received large
sums on the contracts, and to complete
them would not have embarrassed
him. But, when he failed, and when
the contracts were declared illegal,
there was no way in which the govern
nent could recover these sums. Mr..
Roach had won public sympathy with
his alleged misfortunes, he had turned
an honest penny in the way of political
capital himself, and had beaten Mr..
Whitney at his own game. That the
government should lose all the thou
sands put in these unfinished hulls was
impossible. The navy department
had to compromise and get out of the
scrape that it had got itself into The
cruisers will be finished under govern
ment direction precisely as MIR. Roach
would have finished them. The latter
has got the money for work that he
had done, and he will probably resume
business as usual at later date. No
body is badly hurt, no abuses have
been unearthed, and no reform has
been accomplished. There has been
little interest or feeling on either side
apart from that which is distinctly
political The whole business has
been exceedingly tarcical. When
next Democratic secretary goes hun
ting for political reforms. he will
probably first carefully ascertain that
the game be is after is not craftier
than himself