The morning news., 1892-03-14
BUILDING UP THE NAVY.
AN ELAB oRATE REPORT BY THE
HOUSE COMMITTEE.

OA hbO OaE-A Aal A0
Surplus Left over From the Last
Appropriation,
WASHINGTON, March Is 18-Representative
Herbert OF Alabama, chairman Of the
House committee on naval affairs, has pre-
pared an elaborate report to accompany
the naval appropriation bill recently re-
ported to the House. After calling atten-
ton to the fact that the bill carries an
aggregate appropriation OF s2S, ,726, ,S23.
and is $s,sl4,sS1 less than the amount
appropriated at the second session OF the
Fifty-flrst congress for the current fiscal
year. and s3,467, ,s16 less than the amount
estimated by the department as necessary
for the year covered by the bill, the report
says: I'VE have been enabled to
make this reduction without In any
manner impairing the progress of
our new navy 10 great part
because OF the large surplus that will re-
main on hand unexpended and to the credit
OF tno crease OF the navy at the end OF the
present fiscal year. This. however, is not
the only direction in which we recommend
areduction OF the expenditures"
THE LIMIT FOR REPAIRS.
The report says that the committee re-
duced the limitation beyond which no re
pairs shall be made to wooden ships from 5
to 10 per cent. of the original value of tho
vessels and further provided that no new
boilers shall be made for any wooden ves-
sell. 1--WE have excepted. however," says
the report, from the operation OF these
limitations, the Kearsarge aud Hartford,
believing that as the old Constitu~
ton has been kept alive as
receiving ship and otherwise for now
nearly century sinc3 she was built, so In
view OF their historic services the Hartford
and Kearsarge should be kept as patriotic
memorials Of the past"
THE QUESTION OF IMPRovEMESTS
Speaking of the refusal Of the committee
to recommend a considerable number of
improvements recommended at the navy
yards and stations, the report says: "As
upon farm or any private property there
are always betterments that can be made,
so In any government establishment im-
provements without limit can be sug-
Rested. Your committee have endeavored
when presented, to follow the rules which
should guide prudent business man In the
management Of his own property and In no
case have they refused to recommend any
expenditure which seemed to them really to
be present necessity"
INCREASE OF THE NAVY.
Speaking Of the matter OF "increase of
the navy" under which head the bill ap-
propristes some millions OF dollars less than
the act tor the current year, the report
says: "The appropriations for this purpose
in zach fiscal year from 1897 to and includ-
in the current year have been greater
tn An the expenditures, for the reason that
in no one of these years has the progress
in sIip-building or in armor or guns been
SO rapid as the authorities had
reason to hope for and expect. The author
ization OF ships has not been, in the opinion
OF your committee, unreasonable, and the
results OF our efforts to establish plants for
the building of ships, for armor plates, gun
forgings and assembling of guns, have
been. considering the results attained, ex-
tremely gratifying. Yet the fact remains
that the difficulties, though they seem all
at last to have been triumphAntly
surmounted, have not been so great that
work has not progressed as rapidly as the
appropriations have accumulated. The
result is that there will be at the end OF the
current fiscal year a 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 making
appropriations for the coming year.
NO WORK TO BE SUSPENDED.
COiuhAtVEO 10 uuanAulOuslJ Vi JuB
OPT mon that every dollar should be appro>
priated necessary to complete the vessels
heretofore authorized. To this end they
have recommended, as they believe, all that
will be called for during the coming fiscal
year. They also believe that 1t should he
the settled policy Of congress to authorize
the construction of one or more
new vessels at each regular session
until we shall have provided a considerably
In 1Inar Of A0hfin0 han
now have, or will have when those author
lied are completed. The recent Chilean
imbroglio, during which @ naval war
seemed for time to be quite probable, de-
velopsd the fact that our people at large
quite approve of the policy in which we are
engaged of rehabilitatiug the navy.
By thoughtful psople who appreciate
policies of the government as settled
many years ago, such reminder was not
needed. 1t seems to your committee that
everybody who considers at all the welfare
and honor Of the whole country must
recognize, as 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-"
DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING ARMOR.
The report calls attention to the difficult
country the industry OF manufacturing
heavy steel armor for vessels, aud to the
fact that although the Bethlehem Iron Com
pany's armor plant is said to be unequaled
In the world, 1t has only just fairly begun
the delivery OF armor plates. aud
is not yet up to the monthly
contract requirements. There are
twelve vessels f1r which armor
is yet to be furnished, and 1t will take until
the spring OF 1894 to complete the delivery
OF this armor, amounting to $1,000 tons,
even If the monthly contract requirements
be met. "For these reasons" says the re-
port, "the majority of your committee has
decided that it would not be best now to
authorize the construction Of another battle
ship.
FURTHER INCREASE NEEDED.
"Your committee does not believe, how
ever, that our new navy has yet reached
the point at which further increase should
cease. IL may be taken for granted that we
do not need TO build great aud expensive
navy like those of Great Britain and France,
but certainly the time has come when IL
would be well TO form some distinct
and definite idea OF the position
we are hereafter 70 occupy 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 attempt, especially as we know now
that we have no such efficient coast defenses
as we then believed ourselves to possess.
MORE BATTLE-sHIPs NEEDED.
"To'reach this point IL is not disputed
that we need more hrst-class battle. ships
We bava noxy only three authorized EiohG