Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-15
NAVAL AFFAIRS.
Report Of the Chairman of the
House Naval Committee.
Opposed to Building More War
Vessels at Present.


Making-Taken for Granted That We
Do Not Need Great and Extensive
Navy Like Great Britain or France.
WASHINGTON, March 5.-Representa
tive Herbert, of Alabama, chairman OF
the house committee on naval affairs
has prepared an elaborate report to ac-
company the naval appropriation bill re-
Gently reported to the house, The report
calls attention to the fact that the bill
carries an aggregate appropriation of
$23, 726, 1923, and is $S,S14,831 less than
the amount appropriated at the second
session of the Fifty-frst congress for the
current fiscal year, and So, ,467 ,8l6 less
than the amount estimated by the de-
partment as necessary for the year COW
cred by the bill.
Speaking of the matter of increases
of the navy" under which head the bill
appropriates some millions of dollars
less than the act for the current year,
the report says:
"There will be at the end of the cur
rent fiscal year very large sum of
money in the treasury to the credit Of
Increase of the navy which can and
ought to be taken into account in max
ing appropriations for the coming year.
Your committee are unanimously of the
opinion that every dollar should be APP
propriated necessary to complete the
vessels heretofore authorized. To this
end they have recommended, as they
believe, the money that will be called
for during the coming fiscal year. They
also believe that it should be the
settled policy of congress to author
ize the construction of one or more
new vesse,s at each regul9r ses-
sion until we shall nave provided con-
siderably larger number of fighting
ships than we now have, and will Aave
when those authorized are completed.
Vi,ws of the Public.
"The recent Chilian imbroglio during
which a naval war seemed for time
to be quite probability, developed the
fact that our people at large quite ap-
prove of the policy in which we are en-
gagged of rehabilitatins the navy. by
thoughtful people, who appreciate orr
situation, al | who understand the pc :
cies of the government as settled many
years ago. such reminder was noU
needed.
sit seems to your committee th0t
every one who considers at al. the well
fare and honor of the whole country
must recognize, rs every president has
done from George Washington down to
the present day, the necessity of putting
ourselves in condition to resist attacks
coming from the sea-"
Armor Making.
The report calls attention to the diff
culties encountered in lomesticating in
this country the industry OF manufac-
turing heavy steel armor for vessels, and
to the fact that although the Bethlehem
Iron company's armor plant is said to be
unequalled in the world, it has only just
fairly begun the delivery of armor plates,
and it has not yet come up to monthly
contract requirements. There are twelve
vessels for hich armof is yet to be fur
nished, aud it will take until the spring
of 1894 to complete the delivery of this
armor, amo anting to $4,000 tons, even if
monthly COZ. tract requirements be met.
''For thes, reasons" says the report,
"the majollty of your committee have
decided that it would not be best now to
authorize the construction of another
battle ship. Your ommittee do not be-
lieve, however, that our new navy has
yet reached the point at which further
increase should cease.
Not Like European Countries.
"It may be taken for granted that we
do not need to build a great and eX-
pensive navy, like those of Great Brit
ain and France, but certainly the time
has come when it would be well to form
some distinct and definite idea of the
10
among the naval powers of the world.
To regain the relative position among
these navies we occupied prior to our
civil war is certainly not too much to at
tempt, especially as we know now that
we have no such efficient coast defenses
as we then believed ourselves to possess.
To reach this point it is not disputed
that we need more frst-class battle
ships. We have now only three author
lied. Eight or nine more of these, in
addition to our authorized fleet, would
give us a respectable navy, sufficient,
perhaps, for our purposes. But if a
battle ship We're authorized now, we
could not reasonably expect that the
heavy armor it would require could be
furnished when needed Certainly, if
reasonable progress We're made in its
COUSlTuCVlOu, tllutT lle he" sup VI
some of those already authorized would
be obliged to wait for armor, as several
of them are doing now. Some of them
have been ready, or in condition to be
speadily made ready, for armor for
years.
One Commerce
The majority of the committee has
therefore recommended the authorize
ton of one strong and swift commerce
destroyer of the type of the New York,
whose armor can be manufactured much
more easily and with much less delay
than can the heavy armor for a battle
ship. BY extending the construction of
the new vessels needed over a series of
years. the report says, we shall avoid
mistakes and prevent the repetition in
different ships of the same error, and by
keeping appropriations within moderate
bounds each year congress will commend
its program to popular approval. The
few mistakes made thus far, the report
adds, are SO insignificant that it may be
safely stated that our success in ship
building is remarkable.