Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-30

BATTERY TO BIZ CONGRATULATIONS
| suPPLIEs-NEcEssIrY OF ARNoRED VESSELS.
Secretary Whitney has presented his annual
report to the President After giving brief
review OF the condition of the navy as it will
exist on the fourth day of March, 1885, in COM
parison with the same as it existed on the
| fourth day OF March, 1885, and furnished list
OF armored vessels heretofore authorized
by Congress, the Secretary says: so
far as armored ships are concerned,
the subject is yet to be treated in broad way
oy the department and by Congress. At the
pIesen. tiihe the conditions are such that
everything necessary to first class fighting
snip can be produced and furnished to the
department III this country as soon as in the
course OF construction any element or feature
Is requlred but this has never heretofore, I'M
III lhe present time, been true, and therefore
the consideration OF the subject has been nee
! essariiy postponed by the department until the
present time. The efforts of the department
IN snip construction have necessarily. since
March 1888, been devoted to unarmored YES
sens ana as TO these the department is able to
| report that when the ships in course of con-
struction and those authorized shall have been
completed,
THE UNITED STATES WILL RANK SECOND
among the nations in the possession of I'M
armored cruisers or commerce destroyers'
having the highest characteristics, viz: of a
SIZE S'oOo tons and upward, and possessing
speed OF ~ knots and upward. The i'm
Portance which has been placed upon
TINS branch of naval armament will
De appreciated from the statement
that England and France possess sixty-five ves-
sels OF the class known as unarmored cruisers
Inc attention OF the world was attracted to the
destructive effect which was produced upon
the commerce of the United States by the
cruisers ntted out under the auspices of the
contederaey in the war of the rebellion. The
total tonnage of the registered ves-
year by year until in 1861.
1t amounted to 2,642, 62S tons, and between 1861
and 1866 it was reduced to .492 926 TONS or. in
other words, to the point which we had reached
IN lS49. from which decline we have never re-
covered. The insurance war risk upon Ameri-
can vessels during the war rose in exceptional
cases to as high as % per cent
Sir Charles Wilson. director-general of the
ordnance survey of Great Britain, recently
stated that-''If there is one point clearer than
another in the history of commerce it is this,
that when state cannot effectually protect its
carrying trade in time of war. that trade passes
from it and does not return" And Lord
Charles Beresford. lately member of the board
OF admiralty, in the same connection, stated:
To-day one-half of the people in England
would absolutely have no bread to eat but for
the food that comes over the sea. 1t is mat
ter of life and death for you to protect the
commerce, and you have not the ships to do it
with. We cannot at present protect our
coast, but we can return blow for blow, for we
shall soon be III condition to launch a feet of
large and fast cruisers against the commerce
of an enemy able to infict the most serious
and lasting injury thereon.
MACHINERY.
With regard to the production of power by
machinery the report says: AN examination
of the state of the art in 1885 led to the con-
illusion that the machinery of naval vessels
ought to be so designed as to produce 10 horse
power for each ton of machinery; and it was
determined to make that the standard,
and to enter into no contracts that
were not based substantially thereon"
Plans OF machinery were purchased abroad,
which, upon trial, have Appropriated that re-
suit Bidders were authorized to bid upon the
plans thus submitted to competition, or were
permitted to submit their own plans, but were
Obliged to guaranty the results determined
upon by the department under severe penalties
for failure. and with compromising premiums
III case OF attaining better results. 1t results
that all the contracts for the construction
of ships which have been entered since March,
1885, call for the promotion of power by
machinery equal to the highest standards
The efforts Of the department in this matter
have been cordially seconded by the bureau
chiefs; and it is believed that at the present
time, the department has reached the point
where entire reliance can be placed upon it
for the production of war vessels equal in
character to those of any other country.
REDUCTION OF EXPENSES.
'It is gratifying to be able to report" says
the secretary, that ''as will be seen from the
following table notwithstanding the large ex-
penditures for the new navy in the last three
years. the reduction in other directions has
made the total expenditures of the department
less for these three years than for the three
years ending June 80, 1884, the ordinary ex-
penses of the department having been reduced
omitted from the table not having been
wholly in either administrator.
Total expenditures of the department for
three years ending June go 1884. compared
with the three years ending June 80, 1888.
items being taken from reports of fourth au-
ditor of the Treasury and distributed under the
various objects of expenditure"
Here follows the table mentioned above
showing that the expenditures for the years
ending June 80, 1882, 1888 and 1884, were SAL
979,397, and for the years ending June 80, 1886,
1887 and 1888, $40, $685.
COAST DEFENsEs.
Under the head of ''coast and harbor de-
fense the secretary states that .'in the last an
nualreport of the department the considerations
were given leading to the conclusion that it
would be unwise for the department to follow
the course of the European powers in building
unprotected torpedo boats. and in the pres
ent uncertainty regarding the practicability of
submarine boats, and while waiting the practi-
cal trial of the dynamite gun-boat, it has been
deemed wise for the department to build one
light draught heavily armored, harbor-defense
floating battery or ram, for which de-
signs have been prepared by the bu-
reaus of construction and steam engi-
neering, in consultation with the chief of
the bureau of ordnance. The advertisements
for this vessel call for the submission of bids
in the month of February next. The charac-
teristics will be found stated in the table of ar
mored vessels before mentioned"
THE BUSINESS METHODS
of the department are discussed at some
length, and history given of the efforts being
made to simplify, systematic, and improve
them. Upon this subject the report says:
During the years of 1884 and 1885 over 80
per cent in value of the supplies of the de-
partment were obtained by open purchases
without competition. During the last year the
proportion of such purchases was less than IL
per cent, and in the course of the next fiscal
year, it is believed, that the open purchases
can be reduced to about s per cent The naval
brokers have for the most part disappeared
and regular responsible dealers are becoming
more and more contractors for these supplies.
For time it seemed impossible to disfodge
them. They would underbid regular dealers.
notably for the supply of coal. 1t was quite
evident they had some advantage, which
did not appear. Careful investigation showed
the quality Of the coal delivered to
be as contracted for. The receiver of the coal
was changed at the Brooklyn navy yard and the
i n