Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-03-13
More Ships for The Navy.

Senator Halcs bill authorizing the con
struction of additional warships should not
be cunfoundcd with the report OF the Ma
val Policy Board That ambitious duCu.
ment represented the tastes and fanCies OF
group Of naval officers They are men
of distinguished ability. and the result, oi
their deliberations, whether Congress de
cidrs To build one ship or i've hundred
will he OF great advantage. The work Of
construction has beeu hitherto experimental
and without any definite system. We have
gone a. far as l. wise upon those lines.
Th. time has come " hen decisions must be.
reached as TO how much and what sort Of
naval establishment the country should
have. Secretary Tracy has expended much
labor upon Investigations Intended To en-
able the Government To come To such de-
cisions. The work performed BY the Pol
icy Board Was part of thee stlgatipn>
bat IL must not tie assumed that the De
partment ludorses the BoaMs conclusions
With many of them, und ,ubtedly, Seere
tAry Tracy agrees With several he has
distinctly said he does not agree. 1t ha,
been repeatedly affirmed a. the judgment
{ Of the Administration tina. however large
+ the plan Of construction miy be in the con
I temptation Of the Government, whatever
final results may be sought, no Congress
should he asked TO appropriate for any
V considerable term of years
This i sound and wise 1t is desirable
4 to make ali possible haste in adding to the
Navy tor Notwithstanding he feet recently
. built the old ships are gdng out of com
mission faster than new tues are coming
in. But there is neither ne MOI proprieiy
in authorizing ahead Of the capacity Of
our shipy They sh,ud all be kept
hard at work until the Ntvy has become
satisfactory. Senator Hle's bill Is con
ceived in this spirit. II represents the
views of the Senate Navd Committee aud
Of the administration. t aims to make
a good beginning Of the work outlined in
Secretary Tracys report Eight battle
ships. two armed coast def nders. three
guuboats and live torpedshoats are author
lied. Thus far We haze been building
cruisers mainly, in times # peace the most
useful typ. Of vessel. l is now proposed
to turn to other lines o construction, so
that tue Navy as it gr,ks may be useful
in all emergencies, and nay contain vessels
adapted to every kind ot>ervice.
Some objection has 'een made to the
building Of battle-ships 1t is urged that
they are too costly too hsvy and not neces-
sary for our service. Jst how any marked
distinction can be mad. between our Navy
and those OF other counries we do not see.
If we need a navy at a, We need it to be
effective against other navies. War>hips
are not built for spectacular effect. except
as the spectacle NAV sggest prudence to
those who differ from US. They are not
built for their beauty at all events. 1t
may be well enough fir US to adopt our
own fashions in the buding of monuments
and capitols, but We ned To construct war
ships 50 that they viii prevail over other
war>hips. Then hOvcan we wisely intro
duce aesthetics into dr. Construction plans,
and make a navy to nit our tastes regard
less of the fact thatthe navies of Europe
contain vessels tina can stay beyond our
range and blow US ut of the water? The
argument against ie Hale bill fails to
answer this Questn. 1t fails to show
that the main poir in owning q navy
NatioLa nj safety ca be gained At all with
out battle-ships. fails to show that
they are too heav, or too clumsy. or TOO
, costly. The jndgnnt Of the best authori-
ties is that they artgoing TO be . tremen-
dous factor in the iext naval war, and II
l they are we canno afford to be without
them.
Opposition to thHale bill is only to be
: Justified by reasonof real weight. While
: Congress is IN all hings its own master,
> and although, in o. system. there is moth
. ing which impose,upon the Legislature
l any duty of obedie.e 10 the Executive, yet
. there are subjects to which each has q
. function to perfori even before laws re-
suit from them. annpon which concord is
highly desirable. he building Of the Navy
Is one of these subcts. 1t l. not properly
l q matter of parts, contest. but should ne
7 approached by all that spirit from which
r proceed agreemen and good understand
! ings The Hale b is the embodiment Of
I the latest scentif ideas and best judg-
ment after prolond and searching inves-
tigations.-New fk Irib1ne.