The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-12
WASHINGTON MONDAY, DECEMBER T. 1897

| port OF the chief of the bureau of ordnance.
comment is also made at length in the
ordnance report as to powder manufac.
ture, high explosives and projectiles. all
showing progress of the most satisfactory
nature.
"ith regard to torpedoes,, the secretary
says that while the Howell torpedo has
not gone much beyond the stage of hope
Win 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 of 100 eighteen.
lnch Whitehead torpedoes is being filled,
ana twenty have been completed. with
certain characteristics superior TO those
manufactured abroad. OF the so-called
"dlrigble" torpedoes. intended to be con-
trolled from fixed station, three Patrick
torpedoes have undergone official trials
and two have been sent to the Pacific
coast. The Sims-Edison Company also
oeiiVered one OF its torpedoes. to be used
In series OF projected experiments.
With regard to the increase of the navy,
the secretary says that another year of
experience, of discussion and of criticism,
both at home and abroad, confirms the de-
partment IN the views it adopted in the
annual report of 1889, as to the policy in
the construction of the navy it should
pursue. He deprecates the construction
OF any more vessels of the Monitor type,
celebrating arguments against their use
1ulness. and quoting from the report of
Chairman Herbert, Of the house commit
tee on naval affairs. He says:
Our true naval policy for the future is to con-
siruct hereafter principally. If not entirely first
class cruisers and frstciass bat.leships with
their accessories.
The secretary speaks with much salts
faction OF the act to encourage American
ship building, under which the City of
Paris and City Of New York have been
admitted to American registry, and under
the terms OF which several of the finest
liners are to be built here, and earnestly
recommends that the same principles
which are now embodied in the bill to
grant American register to the steamship
China. Of the Pacific Mail Company, may
be carried out not only in this, but in all
similar cases, by means Of which American
owners of foreign built steamships whose
high qualities are such as to make them
desirable acquisitions. may be permitted
to obtain American registry upon the con-
dition that vessels of equal size and ton
mage shall be ordered to be built in the
U nited States.
With reference to the unprotected cruis-
ers OF the second class, of from 1900 to
5000 tons displacement, the department
does not recommend any present increase
to their number. These vessels, to obtain
the high speed required, must necessarily
sacrifice coal endurance and have there
fore very restricted sphere of usefulness
for cruising purposes in times of war.
They answer satisfactorily the limited de-
mand for flagships upon regular stations
in time of peace, but it is not upon these
vessels that the United States would place
reliance in case of attack from a maritime
power, nor is it desirable to add
to the number of heavily armed
gunboat Of the Yorktown type. One
well-defned fact which has proved highly
successful is that of the torpedo cruiser, of
from 500 to 1,0O0 tons, of small size, light
draught, speed of twenty-five knots,
sufficient coal capacity, rapid-tire guns
and powerful torpedo armament. This is
the type of vessel the department would
suggest building, and several such vessels
would be valuable addition to the naval
force. The secretary also renews the re-
commendation previously made for the
building of torpedo boats, and submits a
table showing the vast increase of such
craft in the service of other nations. He
says We should have at least thirty such
boats constructed in the immediate fu.
ture.
The report then says:
II the aggressive policy of foreign nations
vi hot Z vctll nrv not
will soon be forced into position where il can
not disregard measures which form a standing
menace to its prosperity and security. On the
isthmus our commerce is engaged in a desper-
ate fight to maintain its foothold. In the South
Pacific repeated annexations and protectorates
are extending the power and influence of the
maritime states OF the old world. Subsidized
lines OF fast steamers are completing the circle
OF maritime communication on the eastern
coast of the Dominion OF Canada and for
tresses, daily increasing in strength, are sur
rounding our coast, upon the south and east.
Under these circumstances it is imperative to
the welfare of this country that the policy Of
naval reconstruction, so successfully carried on
in the pas. will suffer no interruption in the fu-
ture; that the vast numbers of skilled artisans
who have been trained in its workshops and
those of the private manufacturers concerned in
its operations, should not be thrown out OF en-
ployment; that the work, whose chief difficult
ties have now been overcome. should not be suf-
fered to languish when every day shows an i'm
provement both in economy and dispatch, and
that with only two vessels remaining on the
stocks, as Will shortly be the case. some further
additions should be made by congress ct the
present. session.
The statement has been made from time TO
time that the present administration had pro-
ceeded substantially upon the line OF its prede-
cessors This in a large degree is correct. Its
cardinal policy has been TO persevere continu-
ally In the direction OF a naval establishment.
to make no changes merely for the sake OF
change, aud none unless they would be justified
by clear and conclusive reasons. At the same
time every effort was made TO advance as fast as
possible. The labors that have devolved upon
ment, both in the management OF the fleet and
the work OF construction. has not only been far
in excess of those OF any previous adlninistra-
tion since the war. but have required in much
greater degree the solution oil difficult and in
tricate problems in the detailed supervision of
the most expensive and varied branches of
manufacture. The ships alone in the building
OF which this administration has been engaged
have aggregated 10000 tons 1t has rlsnufac-
tured pa heavy guns, added largely TO the
plants of the working yards, and made the
Washington City gun factory one OF the best
equipped in the world; has constructed
wharves, dry docks and other i'm
por,ant public works; has awarded con-
tracts under the head of "ipcresse OF the
navy alone TO the amount of s2l,9os. .9ii, and
employed labor TO the amount of $s,l1o67i It's
orerations have placed the art of steel ship
building in the United States On firm basis
while the manufactured product has teen so