The record-union., 1892-12-12


such establishments cannot be expressed
n words or figures.
IN reference to the ordnance of the
navy the Secretary makes extended
reference To developments promising
greatly improved results, and which
points have heretofore been covered in
these dispatches in the report Of the Chief
of the Bureau of Ordnance. Comment is
also made at length on the ordnance re-
port as to powder manufacture, high eX-
plosives and projectiles, all showing pro-
gress OF the most satisfactory nature.
With regard to torpedoes, while the
Howell torpedo has not gone much be-
yond the stage of hope with which the
department entered upon the contract for
its manufacture four years ago, yet the
last trials are giving great promise. The
contract made over year ago for the
manufacture here of 100 lS-inch White
head torpedoes is being filed and twenty
are completed, with certain characters
tics superior to those manufactured
abroad. OF the so-called "dirigible' tor
pedoes, intended to be controlled from a
fixed station, three Patrick tOrpedoes
have undergone official trials and two
have been sent TO the Pacific Coast. The
Sims-Edison Company has also delivered
one OF It's tOrpedOeS to be used in a series
of projected experiments.
With regard to an increase in the navy,
the Secretary says another year of expert
ence, OF discussion and of criticism, both
at home and abroad. confirms the depart
ment in the views adopted in the annual
report of 1889 as to the policy of construc-
ton the navy should pursue. He depre-
Gates the construction OF any more vessels
OF the monitor type, Celebrating argu-
ments against their usefulness and quot
ing from the report of Chairman Herbert.
of the House Committee on Naval Affairs,
saying: Our true naval policy tor the
fnture is to construct hereafter princi-
pally, if not entirely, only first-class
cruisers and tirst-class batLle-ships, with
their accessories.
The Secretary speaks with much satis-
faction Of the Act ito encourage Ameri-
can shipbuilding," under which the CITY
of Paris and the City Of New York were
admitted to American registry, and under
the terms OF which several Of the finest
liners will be built here. and earnestly
recommends that the same principle which
is now embodied in the bill to grant Ameri-
can register to the steamship China of the
Pacific Mail Company may be carried
out, not only in this but in all similar
cases by which American owners of
foreign built steamships, whose high
qualities are such as to make them de-
sirable acquisition, may be permitted to
obtain American register upon condition
shall be ordered to be built in the United
States.
With reference to unprotected cruisers
of the second class of from 1000 to 900
tons displacement, the department does
not recommend any present increase ofthe
number. These vessels, to attain the
high speed required, must necessarily
sacrifice the cost of endurance, and have,
therefore. a very restricted sphere Of use
fulness for cruising purposes in times Of
war. They answer satisfactorily the linn
tied demand tor 1agships upon regular
stations in time of peace, but it is not
upon these vessels the United States
would place reliance in case of an attack
upon maritime power. Nor is it de-
sirable to add to the number of heavily
armed guuboatS of the Yorktown tvDe.
One well-defined fact which has proven
highly successful is that of a torpedo
cruiser from 800 to 1000 tons, of small
size, light draught, speed of twenty-five
knots, sufficient coal capacity, rapid fire
guns and powerful torpedo armament.
This is the type of vessl the department
would suggest building, and several such
vessels would be valuable addition 10
the naval force. The Secretary also re-
news the recommendation previously
made for the building of torpedo boats,
and submits table showing the vast in
crease of such craft in the service Of other
nations. We should have at least thirty
such boats constructed in the immediate
future.
Continuing the Secretary says: "The ag-
gresslye policy of foreign nations con-
tinueS, and this country, whether it will
or not, will soon be forced into a position
where it cannot disregard measures which
form a standing meuace to its prosperity
and security. On the isthmuS our COM
merce is engaged in desperate fight to
maintain its foothold. In the South Pa
citic repeated anneXations and protector
ates are extending the power and intiu-
ence of the maritime States of the old
world; subsidized lines of fast steamers
are completing the circle of maritime
communication on the eastern and west
ern coasts of the Dominion of Canada.
and fortresses daily increasing in
are surrounding our coast upon
the south and east. Under these circum-
stances, it is imperative to the welfare of
this country that the police of naval re-
construction so successfully carried on in
the past should suffer no interruption in
the future; that the vast numbers of
skilled artisans who have been trained in
its workshops, and those Of private manu-
tacturers concerned in its operations,
should not be thrown out of employment:
that the work, whose chief difficulties
have now been overcome, should not he
shows improvement both in economy and
and that with only two vessels
on the stocks, as will shortly
be the case, some further additions should
be made by Congress at the present ses-
sion"
Much space is also devoted to interest
ing details as TO the operations of ships in
the past year in Behring Sea
and elsewhere.
On the work of the Marine Hospital
Bureau, in connection with the cholera
quarantine, ETC., interesting statistics are
given.
AS to the growth of the movement es-
tablishing naval militia, the creation of
which is characterized as one Of the most
steps in our recent naval prog
resS, the department again recommends
the consolidation of the revenue marine
service with the navy, and calls attention
to the recommendation of the COM
mandant of the marine corps in reference
to an increase in the number of priyates
and commissioned officers in the
corps.
In conclusion the Secretary says in
part: "A statement has been made from
time to time that the present administra-
ton had proceeded substantially upon
the lines OF its predecessors. This, in a
large degree, is correct. Its cardinal pol
icy has been to preserve continually in
the direction of naval establishment. to
make no changes merely for the sake of
change, and none unless they would be
justified by clear and conclusive reasons.
At the same time every effort has been
made to advance as far as possible.
THE labors that devolved upon the
present administration Of the Navy De-
partment, both in the management of the
tleet and the work of construction, have
not only been far in excess of those of any
previous Administration since the war;
hut have required, too, a much greater
degree of solution of the difficult and in
tricate problems in detailed supervision
of the most expensive and varied
branches of manufacture, The ships