Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-09-05
Correspondence From the Capital.
WASHINGTON. Sent. 3. 1889,


The wonderful difference between the
old and the new navy is nowhere shown
to better advantage than in the Office of
the Secretary of the Navy, where two
models form one of the most attractive
centers of interest in the great building
Visitors are apt to overlook the second
model in their admiration of the first, q
glittering mass of nickel and steel, a
perfect beauty, but those who do look
over into the window corner and study
the old vessel will find in it, or in the
contrast it offers to the new model, an
essay on improvement This older
model is of the ship-of- -the-line Pennsyl-
vania, and its more modern, much
larger rival is Of the armored cruiser
Maine, now being constructed at New
York. The former model is less than
one-twentieth the size of the latter, and
it is constructed in the rough jack-knife
carving style of old sailors, while that of
the Maine is perfect likeness of the
proposed vessel, every detail being re-
produced in exact proportion down to the
smallest item.
RADICAL CHANGES IN wAR-sHIPs.
The methods and means of conducting
naval warfare have undergone great and
radical changes in the past twenty-five
years. The experience of other nations,
added to the failures and successes of
our own country during the late war,
have caused almost a transformation in
the system of attack and defense on
water New inventions have come into
the field to aid the progress and to-day
the ship of war of modern make is as
totally unlike her sister of quarter of a
century ago as the latter was different
from the Roman trireme. The old
Pennsylvania was launched at Philadel-
phia in 1887 and was burned at Norfolk
in 1861. She was built of wood and
followed the lines of ship builders of the
day of her birth. She rose out of the
water several fathoms and presented the
appearance of great floating house.
She carried a complement of !, 100 officers
and men-a small army. This was in
conformity with the older ideas of naval
warfare, in which the boarder, with his
cutlass and pike, his daredevil spirit
and his paralizing yell, swarmed over
the gunwales of his own ship and upon
the decks of the enemy, cutting, slash
ing, firing, throttling until he had
driven the foe beneath the decks or had
been swept back upon his own.
COMPARING THE COST AND POWER.
The contrast between the two models
is rather confusing, for the dazzle of the
newer toy is apt to bewilder the observer
so that he neglects to draw parallel.
The comparison draws out two lines of
figures, for the Pennsylvania cost $694,-
500 and the Maine will cost about 50, 5O0,-
600, or nearly four times as much. The
Maine carries one-eighth as many guns
and one-third as many men. But in
destructive qualities she will be hundred
times as powerful and serviceable, show
ing the result of the workings of busy
brains and busy hands during the past
quarter century.
A QUARTER OF A MILLION LOST.
When Secretary Tracy returns to the
city he will probably be invisible to cal
lers for while. There are many diff
cult problems awaiting settlement by
him. In the first place, the battle ship
Texas, with her weights and displace-
ments, disputing constructors and faulty
plans, looms up. For nearly two years
the construction of the monster iron-clad
Texas has been going on, at contem-
plated expenditure of over $3,OOO,OOO
To-day the proposed construction of the
vessel is on the verge of collapsing, at
dead loss to the United States Govern
ment of over quarter of million dol
lars, by reason of mistakes in the plans
and displacement, by which the armor
of the vessel intended to protect the ma
chinery would be nearly submerged in
the water, leaving exposed the unpro-
tected parts of the vessel. Then, too,
the unaccepted vessels-Vesuvius, Petrol
and Charleston-are not likely to make
the Secretary's course an easy one for