The morning call., 1892-01-03

to get my subjects, and to .amass and
systematic information. One is Obliged 10
| learn how to do that in the law"
The principal subject OF your study was
| ships, / SUPPOSE? II,
| their armament and management, are the
substance Of what | have to look after.
| Matters of minor detail are left in meas
| ure to my sub0rdinateS, but the direction OIL
| everything belongs II ne. Cruiser NO. IL,
! for instance. was built according TO my
| Ideas | don't mean that drew the plans.
"The work of building these ships seems
! slow TO an outsider. Is there no means OF
| hurrying it-f0r Instance by distributing
| the work to a number Of firms instead OF
| giving it all to one?,
No" said the Secretary shaking his
| head. at would not be possible for us 10
| turn them out faster than we are now do
| ing The works at Bethlehem. after de-
| lay of four years, are now working at rate
moro rapid than is the case at the foreign
| ship-yards. Their plant is now perfected,
| after many difficulties and disappOintments
and at an immense cost. There would be
no gain in cheapness or pr0mptness were
| the work done by the GOvernment-aud the
Government, of course, has not the plant.
The delay has been, not in the construction
of the vessels, but in getting the armor.
The Bethlehem company has just begun to
deliver the armor at the rate of 300 tons per
month. Ne also have a contract with
| Carnegie & Co. TO deliver 500 tons month.
| That is more than is delivered by firms
abroad"
"ls the quality Of our armor as good as
! that in England or elsewhereP
at is better-it is the best up to date. 1t
is an alloy of nickel and steel. which does
not crack. II receives the shot and seems
to become homogeneous with II. like
snow ball thrown into q snOW-ba 1t Is
recent invention, and, from that point of
10 70 that yUa la dol ayn6
so long in getting our armOr. As it is, our
armored cruisers and line-Of-b battle ships
will be the best of their kind In the world"
But until they are complete-?
Until they are complete we are practi-
cally defenseless against any nation that
attacks US"
"'Then if Chile"
You may say this" said the Secretary,
lowly, emphasizing his words: " II you are
going to write about the matter, you may say
this -Four months from the time those
sailors we're killed at Valparaiso Chile, il
we had declared war; would have had our
Pacific Coast entirely at her mercy. With
the ships she has. together with those that
will be ready shortly, she could have done
anything she pleased with US. 1t has been
her ambition to be mistress of the Pacific"
"Aud must we continue to be defenSeless
for several years at least?'
Eyes; all that can be said is we are now
going ahead as fast as possible. But even
now there is this drawback: the next Con-
gress may not vote to AIRY on the work begun
by this or By previous one This makes
many firms timid about undertaking con-
tracts. They might 90 to a great expense
and then be left stranded"
You are convinced that the kind Of
ships we are building are the best adapted
for our purpOseY
Yes. Some statesmen are of opinion, or
have been so, that we should build num-
Der of light, swift vessels, of about 1000 tons
each. But in the case of war such vessels
could do nothing-they would be abso-
lutely useless. Our harbor-defense ships
are so armored as to resist any attack they
are not built for speed or for ocean travel.
The line-of-batte ships are nearly as fast as
the cruisers and nearly as strong as the
coGst-defense vessels
What is the character of our navy?" |
inquired
"rhe men who man our ships are very
intelligent; they adapt themselves readily
TO altered circumstances. a battle-ship
now is an entirely different thing from what
1t was some years ago. The work of the
mad is below. There are about thirty dis
tlnct machines aboard one of our modern
men-of-war; the machines for loeomOtion,
for moving the anchors, the electrical ma
chimes and many others. In spite of the
complete change in the nature of the duties
aboard ship, we have had no accidents. The
English. ON the contrary, are having acct