Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-12-07

very fxserabiy with sny navAl vessel Ia
The vpsId IA seed. In psseecfion srd 10
destructive power. II will be remsm
bered that under DE Cleveland regine,
LITTLE confidence Mas exhibited In the
sbiiisy 81 American kalip baAiders 70
construct laval sezse3a that would
be able 10 compete In al respects with
those 81 foreign countries lrdeed oce
Of the asst acts Of nr. whitney, after
assuming control d the navy depart
nsDt xas 70 erush Gu. John Roach. the
greatest Of American shipbaiidsrs, By
the meet aagiass i, jussies. 80 iops ~
there adheres 10 the heafts Of the Amer
! lean people love Of dseeney and far
play. 30 song viii the rank. the criminal
lojastlcs yisitsd upon Mr. Roach cur
.iaae to BE- al uEdysDg condemnation To
the petiy politicians who engaged In t.
It nay be well, right here. 10 call the
attention CT cur readers TO the tact that
the Dolphln 10 which Mr.. WhiEneg and
his Assos ialss clAimed 10 have found
fatal structural xezkDess' II today ose
al the staaact.sss vessels In the United
states N.sy. Hxsing crushed Mr. is'acit'
Mr.. Whitney appears TO have been con-
ynced that there was In the United
states 70 firm competent 10 model and
build first. class modern war vessels.
Eavlng become fully convinced Of this
he secured { Isns in Europe and began
The construction Of vessels upon than.
he felt that the United Srates should be
content 10 follow instead OF leading In
naval architecture, and even went so Tar
"A to purchaze armor plates and big guns
abroad But under the the present adj
,niuistratlon there has been none O. THIS
Kind of worship Of foreign Idols. The
New York equals In every respect the
beat work 10 this line, that has has been, or
can be done abroad As Secretary Tracy
sa,d 10 bis last report. SIT Ii no longer
necessary, In considering the speed Of
the new ships OF the navy, to make com
parsons with foreign vessels. We have
now our own standard, and we have the
right 10 congratulate ourselves that the
standard Is unsurpassed by any other
navy In the world
IL Ia A matter OF .eoDgratulation that
the New York will be folio wed into our
navy by large number OF fine vessels
NOW in process OF construction Yet
when all Of these are done we
.ball still be far Inferior IN
naval strength to mfst European
countries, As the Philadelphia Press
has recently pointed out. England has q
navy seven times greater than ours IN
slze. while France is not far behind
Great Britain, with all the other Euro
peau nations away In advance OF
us. With a population twice as great
a. before the war, our naval strength
Is only relatively half as great
With a coast line OF 1900 miles, upon
which are located more than twenty
great centers OF population, we ought to
have frat class navy in all respects.
We are without torpedo boats, with
which other nations are plentifully sup
piled; we have no eoaling stations, al
though other nations have them In all
PARTS of the world, and Congress has
pursued penny-wise and pound
foolish policy in not sheathing the new
vessels to protect them against marine
growth. which impedes their speed We
have no naval reserve to speak OF, al
though every other great power mas
large reserve. and we have no last mel
chant steamships to be used as transports
and auxiliary cruisers. Hence while the
Navy Department has done splendid
work with the money Congress has CIV
en- to 1t, we are still far from being a
naval uoWer.