The Portland daily press., 1892-05-18

men To Live in on Maine Farms Than
the Number of Habitable Houses He
Saw in Mississippi Outside of the
Cities.
WASHINGTON, May 1.-THE naval ap-
preparation bill was taken up in the Sem
ale today, the pending question being
the provision for the increase of the ma
Wy. The House bill provides for one ar
mored cruiser of about 5000 tons dis
placement, to cost, exclusive of arma-
ment, not less than $5,5O0,OOO. The Sen
ate amendment provides, in addition, for
one sea-going, coast line-of- battle ship
of about 5000 tons displacement, to cost
not over $4,000,000, and also for one har-
Dor defence, double-turet ship, of the
monitor type,> with a displacement of
about 1900 tons, to cost not over So, ,O0O.-
600; four light draught gunboats and
six torpedo boats. Mr.. Mcpherson last
Friday, offered an amendment to strike
out the House provision for the armored
cruiser and the Senate provision for the
battle-ship, and to provide for three, in
stead OF one, harbor defence double
turret ships of the Monitor type. He
later modified his amendment to confine
1T simply to the striking out part, leaving
the number of monitors at one
Mr.. VIlas made a recapitulation of the
present ships of the navy, and suggested
question whether those and the vessels
under construction did not present suf-
ticiently strong naval force.
Mr.. Hale reminded Mr.. Villas that thev
would not give to the United States as
high relative place among the naval
powers as it held in 1860.
Mr.. Villas thought it made no differ
ence to the United States whether it oc-
cupied one place or another among the
naval powers so long as it did not out
strip the best. If this country was to
set out to compete for naval supremacy
with European nations, England would
have to be the objective point. 1t was
hardly conceivable that the United States
would go to war with any othe Europe
an nation than England.
Mr. Hale remarked that in order to
have a naval force sufficient to compete
with England, it was only necessary to
be able to cope with that small portion
of her navy that could be sent against
this country. When that point was
reached his Judgment would be that the
country was sufficiently protected and
that money enough had been spent on
the navy.
Mr. Villas said the idea of England's
going to war with the United States in
this age of civilization and good sense.
was simply preposterous.
Mr.. Vest referred to Mr.. Sherman's
statement some days ago that the treas
ury was confronted with a deficit Yet
it was now proposed to settle upon the
country spectacular navy. In his judg-
ment, there was more necessity for land
defences and torpedo system than for
war ships.
'You might as well," Mr.. Hale broke
in, depend on pop guns. No European
ministry could hold Office for an hour if
it told the people it depended on torpe.
does for the protection of it's cities.''
The discussion then branched off onto
the financial bearing of the matter, Dem
ocratic senators raising objections to the
bill on the ground OF economy. A vote
was taken on Mr.McPherson's amend
ment, as modified, and it was rejected
yeas, IS; nays, 80. Messrs. Frye and
Hale voted nay.
BARNS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HOUSES.
Mr.. Milliken Tells Mississippian About
Maine Farms.
WASHINGTON, May 17.-Mr. Lewis of
Mississippi, in speaking to a verbal
amendment to the sundry civil bill in the
House, today, asserted that the farmers
of New England were not more prosper
Gus than those of other sections of the
country. He quoted from pamphlets to
show that farms could be bought in Mas
sachusetts for less than it cost to i'm
prove the land.
Mr.. Milliken of Maine said that his
friend had never been in New England
and had picked up his information in re-
gard to that section from anonymous
pamphlets. He Mr.. Milliken did not
know of an abandoned farmhouse in his
county. There were more barns in his
district fit for a gentleman to live in than
he had seen houses in Mississippi TOUT
side Of cities) fit tfor.gentlemen to inhabit.
He denied the correctness of the state
ments contained in the pamphlets from
which the gentleman had quoted.
Mr.. Bryan Of Nebraska asked whether
the gentleman disputed the census re-
turns, which showed that the proportion
of farmers renting farms in New Eng
land had increased during the past 10
years, while the proportion of farmers
owning farms had decreased.
Mr.. Milliken said he did not dispute the
census returns, because he had not ex-
amined them, but the fact that there was
smaller number of farms owned in
Maine, or anywhere else, did not prove
that the farmers were less prosperous
than before. 1t showed only that there
were more avocations for farmers sons
to pursue.