, 1886-06-19

o'S - 80 OVht VI
West Virginia, attributed the present de-
plorable condition of the navy to the
idiotic policy of appropriations by con-
gress, and denied that it was the result of
extravagant expenditures by former sec
%retaries of the navy. He then went on to
criticize the action of Secretary Whitney
in connection with the Dolphin, and
bitterly assailed the auxiliary board ap-
pointed by the secretary without authority
Of law to report upon the vessel. That
board consisted of Capt. Belknap, Com
mander Evans and Mr.. Winter. The
first named officer had been an applicant
for promotion. He knew the report was
to be made one way, and unless it was so
made, he would get neither promotion
nor his designation to his high Office.
Commander Evans had an underlying
grudge and hatred against Secretary Chan
dler, having been removed by that officer.
MIR. Winter was superintendent of tie
Metropolitan Steamship company, in
which he was deeply interested, and to
which John Roach was a rival, as he built
the ships of the Mallory line. lie was
interested in patents which Mr.. Roach
had repatented, and this was the third
man on this impartial board. These were
the men who had struck down and ruined
the grandest artisan of the day, and he
was convicted on such evidence as this.
He (Mr. Gof) believed that this board
could not be duplicated anywhere. The
Dolphin was as grand a ship as had ever
danced on the ocean wave, if
the testimony of experts could be
relied upon. 1t had been condemned
on the ground that it had not attained a
speed of fifteen knots an hour. That was
not trle. 1t had attained and exceeded
that speed. The advisory board had said
that it made over fifteen knots under mot
disadvantageous circumstances, After
the appointment of Lieut.. Knapp on the
board it went down to New York. The
vessel made a trial trip and the board re-
ported to the secretary of the navy that
the Dolphin made over fifteen knots. A
dispatch from Mr.. Belknap reporting that
the vessel had made fifteen and one-half
knots had slumbered in the departments
until last week. 1t had slumbered, and
it would be far better for the reputation
of living men il it still slumbered. 1t bad
slumbered from May, 1885, down to the
time that Senator Hale had called for all
information relative to the matter. SEE
rotary Whitney had reluctantly drawn it
from the pigeon hole and given it to the
light ofdayy Its being kept secret was
especially significant, as Secretary Whit
ney, after its receipt, had written to the
attorney general asking him for his opin-
ion on this subject, and stating it as a fact
that the Dolphin had not made fifteen
knots an hour. On the strength of this
statement, the attorney general had acted
and this dispatch, written in May, 1885,
had slumbercd while the attorney general
was making his decision, and while the
wreck of the grandest establishment which
had honored the land had been going on
to the shame and degradation of the gov
eminent. On the llth Of June, 1885,
another trial trip had been made to test
the structural strength of the vessel, and
not its speed. Capt. Belknap had sent a
dispatch to the secretary reporting the re-
suit of the trip and making no complaint
of the vessel or unfavorablc comment
thereon. On the following day the secre-
tary telegraphed-and this telegram had
also slumbered until called for by Senator
Hale-that the test was valueless.