The morning call., 1894-11-16
Contrast With Popular Feeling
in England.
PROTECTION NEEDED FOR SHIPS
They Should Not Be Taxed When
They Receive No Benefit
From Taxation.

Ok hcCuaulCdl SlCHOht "a
Griscomb was elected president and Wash
ingtOn L. Clapp. U. S. n, secretary and
treasurer. The following vice-presidents
were elected: Charles Il. Cramp; Philip
Marchborn. .. S. N; Charles H. Loring.
U. S. n. (retired); r. w. Mead. U. S. N;
George W. Melville. U. S. NJ; Irving NJ.
Scott. George Quintard, Francis A. Walk
er, William II. Webb and Theodore d.
Wilson. U. S. n.
Some Suggestions OF Professional Ex-
perience in Connection With the Naval
Construction Of the Past Ten Years, was
read by Richard NJ. Meade. rear-admiral
U. S. n. ''If l had my way" he said.
mot a single cruiser should be added to
the navy until at least twenty battle-ships,
100 toTpedo-5oats and a number of
rams were ready for service. The ves
sells least satisfactory to the practical
men of our profession are the COlum-
hia, Minneapolis, Detroit and Cincin-
natl. The Majestic aud Teutonic can
laugh at them for speed. AS TO fghting,
l doubt the superiority Of the Columbia
over the American liner New York, suit
ably armed. Naval opinion In the main
to-day is that an efficient fleet for modern
warfare should be composed of the follow
ing component parts: Armored ships for
coast defense, armored ships for harbor
defense and armored cruisers. The battery
and torpedo outfits being the heaviest, YES
sells built to ram them are necessary. or
the rapid type of cruisers for commerce
destroyers | know none that better fulfil
my idea than the ocean liners Lucania and
Campena. These ships, in my Judgment,
Il r.,
In conclusion Admiral Meade called at
tentiOa TO The present war between Japan
and China, pointing out the fact that
China, with a fine fleet and incompetent
personnel, was defeated by Japan with
an inferior fleet but trained personnel.
''It we are to have policy" he said,
"Iet us have one. for heavens sake. that
will outlast the brief space of Presiden-
tal term"
In paper on Some Obstacles SO Ship
Building and Owning iu This Country"
George w. Dickie of San Francisco said:
SIN order that the United States may par
ticipate in ocean commerce to the extent to
which her own imports and exports entitle
her, there must be, first. patriotic ambi-
ZION throughout the country To carry tho
products of our industry under our own
flag; second, national laws to protect and
foster our merchant marine; third, State
and municipal laws on the part Of sea-girt
States and maritime cities, encouraging
shIp-building and shIp-owning within their
borders.
1.-The British Government fosters mari
time exhibitions, naval maneuvers are
carried on. and all the traditions of the
naval mercantile fleets Of England
are made part of the education of the
youth. How remarkable the contrast be-
tween their intense loyalty to the maritime
interests OF their country and the hopeless
apathy prevailing among us even in sea-
port towns. AT the launching of the battle
ship Oregon in San Francisco no Govern
ment ship was there to represent the navy.
Not a gun was heard to herald the event.
The builders, to make decent show, had
to go around and beg the English merchant
ships to dress up for the OCCASION.
'Quite large number of those interested
in shipping matters claim that as foreign
commerce can only be prosecuted in direct
competition with all the world. Amer-
can ships built of protected material and
with protected labor represent an invested
capital so far in excess of their competi-
tors that. even with other things equal, the
contest is too One-sided for any hope of
success. We are apt to condemn such q
presentation of the subject as Unpatrotic,
but it is business. We must either build
ships for the ship owner at the same price
as that paid for similar ships with which
he completes, or else give him the privilege
of buying his ships where his competitor
buys his to make the struggle an equal
one. And as with material and labor at
the present rates it is impossible 10 m eet
the European price for a merchant ship,
and It being the will of the people that
shp-building should have a protection
with englne-buildng or bridge-b building,
the free purchase of ships abroad would
be as unjust to the ship-buider as the free
purchase of engines would be TO the en-
gine-buiIder. 1t follows, therefore, that
the American ship-bulder should from
the public purse be placed on an equal
footing with his foreign competitors.
1.-The constitution of the State of Cali
fornia provides that all properly, real and
personal. found within the State on a Ger
tain dale of each year must be taxed on
its actual value at the time. Thus the
vessel owned and registered in San Fran
cisco and valued at 100000 has to pay the
same city, county aud State taxes as
building on Market street valued at the
same amount Tho vessel can receive no
benefit whatever from the expenditure of
the taxes that so materially reduce her
m0nev-earning power"
Other papers were read as follows:
Present status of face-hardened armor."
by w. L. Sampson, captain and chief of
the ordnance, y. S. N; "Cellulose, its ap-
pIication to warshps," M. E. Chsmau of
Philadelphia; Experience gained within
our new steel ships as regards care and
preservation" Phillip Hichborn of the
Bureau of Construction, U. S. N; "The
Uuited Stales triple-screw cruisers Colum-
bia and Minneapolis" George w. Mel
vile, engineer-in-chief, u. S. N.
Commodore Hichborn said. sit is the
stitch in time that saves nine," and then
he gave q full account of how the necss-