The sun., 1889-12-07
AN AUXILIARY NAYE
Mr.. Hais's Rnl for SubsIdIsing Fast Mer-
ohnnt Kenaela ns HnnslhIe Crnlnern.


| chant Vessels as Possible Cruisers.
WARRINGTON, Dec. 6.-The project intro
ducsd into the Senate for the creation OF q
naval reserve Of American merchant vessels Is
not new. but ( derives additional Importance
from Secretary Tracy's proposal to substitute
| 1t for continuing the construction OF large and
fast unarmored war ships like the Baltimore,
the Newark, the Charleston. and the San Fran
cisco. Secretary Whitney several years ago
had considered the possibility OF fitting mp and
arminR fast American passenger steamers. In
case Of need. and caused report to be made
to him on the number of such vessels already
available. But he did not make this measure
take the place Of new construction. His
successor, however, noticing Great Britain's
advantage in the possession OF her many
fast ocean liners sailing under her nag. says
that our own deficiency " should be supplied
either by line Of fast merchnntmen,.eon-
structed with special reference to use In time
OF war, which will enable the Government to
avail itself Of their services at critical mo-
ments. or we should build feet OF at least
five frst-class cruisers Of the very highest
rate OF speed" Mr.. Hale, representing the
new policy. has taken the former alternative
by calling for no fewer than sixteen new war
vessels without including one large, fast un-
armored cruiser among them. at the same time
introducing bill for using merchant vessels
to represent the latter class, or rather for fos-
terinG their construction.
Even Great Britain at no time suspended her
construction Of needed unarmored cruisers
for the purpose OF subsdizing merchant ships,
but made tho latter additional. Mr.. Hale does
call for three more gunboats. but vessels OF
that class are not like u philadelphia or Balti-
more and even the many arm0red ships which
building, are not an exact substitute. Secre-
tary Tracy's proposition was to create " feet
Of specially adapted steamers Of American ma:
tionality, owned by American merchants" and
he added that the difficulty is that American
Saps WI not be drawn "a IfS the
for the concessions which II makes to the Gov
ernment; first, In the adaptation Of Its vessels
H. i He RsG eSR HSn aec
centpm yearly for trouble and expense incur
red In complying with the conditions Of the
ssns bs aI R
Ing less than fifteen knots, II in the foreign and
coasting trade. or twelve knots II used on the
The trouble in settling upon such scheme
Is that OF regulating the amount and perhaps
pensation It Is clear to start with that the
views OF foreign nations on the subject are no
saS fSr our bTbhey are in
Britain. for example, proposed oven to subsi-
die the raising OF farm horses. which on a
have registered reserve OF them like the one
now proposed ior our merchant ships. The COM
pensation proposed by MIR. Hale's bill differs
IRON others which have been suggested. One
OF those is to pay so much on every ton OF an
auxiliary naval vessel for every 1000 miles
that she NAV steam in her ordinary merchant
business The restoration OF our mercantile
marine through subsidies undoubtedly fur
nishes basis for discussion, pro and con. but
II ought not to interfere at all with system OF
building cruisers also exclusively for war
ships. In regard to the Importance of the naval
reserve proper consisting Of trained men
there never has been question, since the
payments made and TO be made to them are
for actual service annually rendered.
MIR. Whitthorne's original bill did propose
to create also reserve OF cruisers from the
mercantile marine as we'll as OF men, by giving
them bounty based upon the tonnage indi-
Gated horse power coal endurance. capacity
for carrying high power rited guns. and aver
age speed. But 1t has been felt by many friends
of the proposed naval militia that the success
OF this measure should not be bound up with
the much moro difficult one Of subsldizing ves-
sells.
Secretary Whitney some years ago directed
naval board OF inspection to examine the
merchant vessels already available for the
Government service. and as result the Lou
isiana Of the Cromwell line. the Newport OF the
Pacific Mail Company, and others were pro-
nounced suitable for service But the need
still exists OF constructing many more large
unarmored cruisers for the Government, what
ever may be done with the subsidy meas ure.