St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-12

| chief of the bureau of ordnance. Com
| ment also is made at length on powder
manufacture, high explosives and pro-
| Jectiles. all showing progress of the
| most satisfactory nature. With regard
to torpedoes. tie report says the Howell
torpedo has not gone much beyond the
hope with which the department
entered upon the contract for its manu-
facture four years ago. but the last
/ trials are
Giving Great Promise.
The contract made over year ago for
the manufacture here of hundred
eighteen-inch Whitehead torpedoes is
being filled and twenty completed, with
certain characteristics superior to those
| manufactured abroad. Of the so-called
"uirigible' torpedoes, intended to be
controlled from a fixed station, three
Patrick torpedoeS have undergone OIL
clal trials and two have been sent TO the
Pacific coast. The Sims-Edson company
also delivered one OF its torpedoes, to be
used in series of projected expert
ments. With regard to the increase
of the navy the secretary says
another year of experience, of dis
[ cfsSeOn and of criticism both
at Rme and abroad. confirms The de-
pas5 lent i'm the views it adopted in the
ans al report of 1889 as to the policy of
cos4 rqction the navy should pursue.
he PprecateS The construction OF any
m0s9o vessels of the monitor type, elab-
oraesng arguments against their useful
Deat, and, quoting from the report OF
Chairman Herbert. of the house CON-
mittee on naval affairs, says: "Our
true naval policy for tile future is to
construct hereafter principally only
first-class cruisers and first-class battle
ships with their accessories" The sec
rotary speaks with much satisfaction OF
the act to encourage
American ShipbuiIding',
under which the City of Paris and City
of New York were admitted to Ameri-
can registry. and under the terms OF
which some Of The finest liners will be
built here, and earnestly recommends
the same principle, which is now enl-
bodied in the bill to grant American
registry to the steamship China. OF the
Pacific Mail company. may be carried
out, not entirely in this, but i'll all SIM
liar cases, by means by which Ameri-
can owners of foreign steamships whose
high qualities are SUCH as to make them
a desirable acquisition. may be per
mltted to obtain American registry upon
the condition that vessels of equal
size and tonnage shall be ordered to be
built in the United States. With refer
ence to unprotected cruisers OF the
second-class, from 1000 to 1900
tons displacement, the department
does net recommend any present in
crease OF number. THESE vessels tore
tain the high speed required must nee
essarily sacrifice coal endurance, and
have therefore very restricted sphere
of asesnlness for cruising in times of
war. They answer satisfactorily the
limited demand for f1agShipS in time OF
peace, but it is not upon these vessels
the United States would place reliance
III case of an attack from a maritime
power. Nor is it desirable to add to the ;
number of heavily armed gunboatS of
the Yorktown type. One well-defined
fact which has proved largely success
full, is that OF the efficiency OF the
Torpedo Cruiser
from 800 to 1000 tons. of small size,
light draught, speed Of twenty-five
knots, sufficient coal capacity, rapid
firing guns and powerful torpedo arma-
ment. This is the type of vessel the de-
epartment would suggest building, and
several such vessels would be valua-
bic addition to the naval force. The
secretary also reuews the recommends
ton, previously made, for the building
showing the vast usefulness of such
craft in the service of the nation. We
should have thirty such boats con-
structed liz the immediate future. The
aggressive policy of foreign nations
continues, and this country, whether 1t
will or not, will soon be forced into
a position where it cannot disregard
measures which form standing menace
to its prosperity and security. On the
iSthmuS our commerce is engaged in a
desperate tight to maintain its foothold.
In the South Pacific repeated naval con-
I straetion and protectofateS are extend
ing the power and influence of the
maritime states of the old world. Sub
Sidized lines of fast steamers are COM
pleting the circle of maritime COM
munication on the eastern and western
coasts of the Dominion of Canada, and
fortresSeS are daily increasing in
strength surrounding our coast upon
the south and east. Under these cir
cumstanceS it is imperative TO the wei
fare of this country that the policy of
naval reconstruction so successfully
carried on in the past should
Suffer No Interruption
in the future; that the vast number of
skilled artisans who have been trained in
its workshops and those of private man
ufacturers concerned in its operations
should not be thloWn out of employ
ment; that the work, whose chief diff
culties have now been overcome, should
not be suffered to languiSh when every
day shows improvement in both ecOnO-
my and dispatch; and that with only two
vessels remaining on the stocks. as will
shortly be the case, there should be
some further additions. In conclusion,
the secretary says in part: The state
ment has been made from time that
the present administration had pro-
ceeded substantially upon the lines
of it's predecessor. This is in a
large degree correct. Its cardinal
policy has been to preserve continuity
in the direction of naval establishment.
make no changes merely for the sake of
change, and none unless they would be
justified by clear and conclusive reas-
ons. At the same time, every effort was
made to advance that was possible. The
labors that devolyed on the present adj
mlnistration of the navy department,
both in the management of the fleet and
the work of construction, have not only
been far in excess of those Of any pre-
vious administration since the war. but
have required to much greater degree
the solution of difficult and Intricate
problems in detailed supervision Of the
most
Extensive and Varied
branches of manufacture. The ships
nlone in the building of which this adj
ministratiOn has been engaged aggre
gate ITO, 600 tons. 1t has manufactured
PA heavy guns; added largely to the
plant of the working yards. and made
the Washington factory one OF the great
estand best equipped in the world; con-
structed wharves, dry docks and other
important public works; awarded con-
tracts under the head of increase of
| the navy alone to the amount of 1884,,
| 9OS,541, and employed labor to the
amount of SS,126.671. Its operations
have placed the art of steel shipbuild-
| ing in the United States on a firm basis,
while manufactured product has been
| so cheapened that there is now pros
pect that steel ships of Ameri-
can build may successfully COM
| pete In cost as we'll as structu-
! raj qualities with those made in Europe;
and finally it has been its 6ndeaVOr to