Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-09-06
PARTIES AND oEFENsEs.
mocratic Patriotism shown in tn
NAVY,

y, mocratic Patriotism shown in tho
Our Republican contemporaries are in
dulging In the familiar pastime Of repre-
senting the Democratic party as hostile
to the national defense The Post In
forms us that when the country elects a
Republican congress 1t ''will have navy
and coast defenses, and not before" The
Chronicle announces that Townshend, of
Illinois, lied the Confederate forces
against the senate amendments" to the
fertilization bill
The latter amusing journal airily re-
marks: Without looking the matter up,
it would be safe 10 wager either that
Townshend is free trader and advocates
buying guns from England or Germany,
or that he thinks the United States ought
to get down and crawl rather than fight,
no matter what the provocation may be-"
May we suggest to our esteemed contem-
porary that II it would occasionally "look
matters up" before writing about them it
would not make such frequent exhibitions
Of itselfH
Mr.. Townshend, representing the house
COMMITTEES on military affairs, desired to
lave the senate amendments adopted.
rMr. Sayers, representing the committee
on appropriations, objected, because his
committee had natured q cch"Uc Of j+-
own, appropriating three or four times os
much. On neither side, it is needless to
say, was there any proposition to buy
guns abroad, or to crawl rather than
fight"
AS to the navy, the case is even
stronger. Tho house naval committee,
composed of enthusiasts on the subject,
had prepared plan looking to the expen-
diture Of $4,000, 900 o year on new ships.
This plan was formed after careful study
and consultation with experts. For the
current year it authorized the construc-
tion Of an armored battle ship of 1900
tons, q protected cruiser of 5000 tons,
and two protected cruisers of 5000 tons
each.
The bill passed tho house, and when it
reached the senate the committee on ap-
preparations mutilated it by striking out
its most essential feature, the provision
for the armored battle ship. The change
was supported in the senate by the most
incredibly ignorant speeches it has ever
been our fortune to read. Senator Hale,
, chairman of the committee on appro-
m citations, said that the ship proposed
would be q useless expense; that she
would have to be twice as large to be Of
any value; that she could not fight the
vessels of any European navy, or even of
Chill, and that we might as well confne
ourselves for the present to the construc-
tion of light cruisers. Apparently there
was not senator present who knew
enough to correct these absurdities.
The ship provided for by the house bill
could knock the whole Gillian navy into
kindIing wood and scrap iron. She would
be match for any three vessels in the
German navy. There is not ship ahoat
which she could not fight with some hope
of success, and there are very few which
she could not attack on at least equal
terms.
The Republican senate, the friends of
the American navy, struck out tho
$4,000, 900 appropriated for this splendid
vessel, and substituted $2.3G0,000 for
some gunboats.
When the administration came into
power three years and half ago, $780,
$1,000 had been spent in reducing US to
naval impotence. We had nothinr Lat
could resist even the fleets of Chilli, China
r Japan Now, with appropriations
sAggregating $45O00,000, we have vessels
under way that will make US tho fifth
naval power of the world. When the
ships which the house has already pro-
vided for are completed, only England,
Franco Italy and Russia will be ahead of
us; and if the plans of the house naval
committee can be preserved for few
years from the childish interference of
the senate, we shall pass all but France
and England.-SGn Francisco Examiner