St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-10
NEED MORE CRUISERS.
COZ BEEN ON ON THE NAVY be-
FORE THE LOYAL AEsslON.
He Says American Coast Defenses
Have a Jolly lime.

The Minnesota Commandery of the
Loyal Legion OF the United States held
lis stated meeting at the Ryan las,
night. The board of officers met at g.
and the commandery at $3.50. At 7:3l
the regular supper was served.
The following applications tor mem
bership were tavorably acted upon
For the First Ciass-Original. James
Madison Bowler. major One Hundred
ana Thirteenth United States coiorpd
infantry. at present farmer by occupa.
ton at Bird Island. Mimi; William
Blrd.caDtain One Hundred and Seventy
ninth New York Infantry, United States
volunteers, now Il farmer at EairuuOnt,
Minn.
After the regular dinner the Men.
deiSsotn quartette favored the COM
mandery with the selection, I'VE Meet
Again Tonight" which was succeeded
by America, sung by the quartette
and commandery together.
Capt. e. w. HacEets called the com
nanuery to order. and Introduced Com
panlon Commander Lieut. Col. Reuben
Z. Benton, who read all original paper
entitled, Shall tbs Country Build
More Baltic Ships?" This paper was
one showing great research. He noted
the gradual improvements that have
been made in the armOrng of battle
ships. He told of how the lni-
proVeinent ill guns kept ready pace
With that OF armor plate. A great mass
OF statistics was presented. He showed
how the United States navy had only
roar iirst-claSs battle ships, as against
forty-fnur III the navy of Great Britain.
lie SAID in case of contest these four
would need to remain in harbor. On the
ether hand lie told of the United States
cruiser Minneapolis. which is the
Swiftest ship ati0at. 1t alon'. for this
reason. could scour the seas success
fully. He questioned the adviSaoiIity
OF building the SLOW moving. heavily
armored vessels, which gave no benefit
To any one save the contractors. He
reasoned that what the country re-
qulrud was cruisers of the Miuneapo.
lis type, that could sail all around.
The Minneapolis" said hr, serious
ly, lis very swift. as is to be expected
from her name" which caused Il laugh.
lie did not feel like deprecating the
TACT that the United States has lost
largely the carrying trade. He thought
that the reason for this lay in the fact
that the United States had found more
profitable business.
battle ships, would fail to pieces.'' He
presented the question whether battle
ships were necessity i'll the way of sea
coast defenses. He showed that COM
mon earth, costing 10 cents per ton. is a
better protection tnan the best of
armOr plate-''a fact We all learned, "
SAID he. ''in the army ill the construction
of rifle pits" In short, his argument
showed that it was irnpracticable to
make an armor plate that was impene.
trabie by artillery as there are guns with
force enough to knock holes in the best
arinor plate that can be made. He
showed that, although the sides of YES
sells are pretty well protected, the bot
TOMS of ships are left with no protection
Whatever from torpedOeS. or mines
that could easily be planted in
the beds of American harbors,
He said that the BON bardment of cities
is not partic ularly injurious to the
cities. TO lombard ships land bat
teries could be successfully opposed to
them, as land batteries could oppose
SiXteen-inch guns readily to any
thirteen-inch gun that could be trained
upon them. He said that this country
had been negligent III its seacoast de
lenses, and advocated additional land
batteries. What is most needed Is an
Intelligent adaptation of the needs of
exposed situations. He closed by say
ing that what the country needed was
more cruisers.