The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-07

GATEWAY TO THE NAVY YARD.
non, look with curiosity on the guns
ranged to illustrate the progress of the
country and are speechless with aston
ishment at the wonderful machinery
which bores out the rif1ed cannon-ma-
chinery v hich seems to move SO easily
and yet requires SO many thousands of
horsepower.
Ponderous Stiffness.
The ride to the navy yard is quite q
pleasure in itself The cable line on
Pennsylvania avenue turns south on
East EIGHTH street and terminates at
the entrance to the yard The visitor is
at first charmed with the magnificent
gateway which looks monolithic. but is
not, and IS really aved by the sentinel,
who is impressive in blue and white
and stands as stiff1y as if be had swa1-
lowed one of the hammers. The general
silence abont the place is almost op-
pressive The rules governing the yard
amount TO quite a code, and IN addition
t. stringent regulations against loud
talk or swearing or unnecessary noise
tLere Il al plicit in~truction to every
one on 1a:r to hold no conversation
whataver e<cept IN the line of duty.
Even ia faast of the workshops there is
comparatively little noise, everything
running with what might be called
ponderous ssnootbness- The one excep-
ton Is in the great hall where the rifed
cannon are manufactured 1t is the
nature Of man to respect power whether
in the machine or the human being,
and know of no other place where
everything seems to move with such re-
sistless force.
Overhead the great tram car, with its
IF
clamps and girder loops, moves back
ward and forward with an energy which
seems as if it were beyond control, and
yet the engineer who sits in the iron
cage attached can stop or start it with
a touch of his finger. I shall not weary
the reader by describing the long guns
of steel and nickel, weighing ever so
many TONS which are so easily raised
and lowered by the machinery of this
tram car, nor the great augers, if / may
call them such, which bore out the
guns, seeming to move with the most
gentle responsiveness and yet tearing
off the delicate shavings of steel and
nickel with a power which really fas-
cinates the beholder. Nor shall I at
tempt a description of the process for
various reasons. 1t would take me at
least three months to master the subject
and probably another month to put it
into simple English, after which the or
binary reader would require three
months or so to understand it, by which
time some of us would be dead or pros
trated with brain fag.
Uncle Sans Navy Yards.
The noted navy yards and stations are
at Norfolk, Brooklyn, Mare island, near
San Francisco; League island, near Phil
adelphia; Portsmouth, N. H; Boston,
New London, Conn Port Royal, s. c.,
and Seattle, the last three being regard
ed as mere naval stations There are
training ship and torpedo station at
Newport, r. L, and minor establish
ments elsewhere. The Naval War col
lege at Newport R. L, was formally
opened a few weeks ago by Assistant
Secretary of the Navy William McAdoo.
The general result Of all the work done
at all these places and in the various
shipyards is thus summed up by Mr..
McAdoo at the close Of the fiscal year
1894: 1.-THE United States while it does
not possess a great navy in the number
of its ships, has within its limits colossal
plants, both public and private, and
great armies Of skilled workmen, led by
contractors, designers and inventors OF
marked ability. It is therefore essen
TALLY and substantially capable Of ma
eAOAe1- NsAOAcCs II AACS7N- 20 u OAA CASC
operations. = The general summary Of
every naval report of this year is that
we are Just ready to make great navy
and to make it quickly
History is taught at this navy yard
by object lessons, and the lessons are
fascinating indeed First is the progress
in ordnance making shown by the old
guns ranged IN their order from the old
est pieces hammered out by the black
smiths of colonial times and coming
down or up through all the changes
wrought BY the Revolution, the second
war with Great Britain and the Barba-
" Mexican and civil wars. Soma Of