The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1895-12-22

u torpedo boat dcstroycrs is coast de-
lwnsc vessels and special service ships,
rnero y an engineer on every one OF
ono line officer, 4
:. They, also keep enough mon on board 10
keep tue machinery In order and usually
could he made ready for service within a
month or as soon as they could be manned.
IN r ,sr are; ,eesord,ns to regent article
navy. Uncle Sam on the other hand
n y 81 at present IN the naval service only
however, be quadrupled In dry if ncces-
saiy aud probably would In case OF war.
I'm summing a;n,n, ~, 4 must be remembered
anu " seriously strainlng her resources 10
Keep her navy intact, whereas the United
shfs nre m 4 position to acquire new
difficulty, Yankee enterprise, Yankee In
Eenutty and Yankee pluck overwhelmed
Great nritain on a previous occasion UNI
uer diHiculics vastly greater.
Besides that, there Is no doubt that the
Fighting strength OF tho South American
republics would be placed at our disposal.
and this would give us force of ships
nearly as great as this govornmcnt's. For
all practical purposes war between tho
United states and Great Britain. based
ON the Monroe doctrine, would probably
mean that England would have to fight
two continents
ConcerninS tho United states navy, Con-
sttnctor hichborre made tho following
statement as to the condition OF work on
nvsscls now building at the various yards.
rue proRt ess " the work liz shown by per
cCntagoi Indiana, 100 ror ,'ca,. at League
island, Massachusetts Is per cent, at
cramps snip Yard, Nashville, ea per sent.
at Newport News; Wilmington, 90 per
cent. az Newport News. Helena. % por
NJ ant "a
cent, at Union Iron Works. Monodnoek,
" per cont, al Mario island Puritan, NJ
bcr elnt- ut the New York navy yarl.
navy yard Unadilla, % per cent, at the
Marie Island navy yard,
subject that is giving tho navy de-
Is til. luck OF docking facilities IN thls
country AZ the present time there is no
EuNernmon, Of private dock In the
the Indiana. The docks IN course of con.
s,rtcton at the Rrooklyn navy ynrk,
Puget Sound and Port RoNni are large
enough hut owing to the difficulties and
DELAYS in their construction It VIII he
some time before they nm In condition
TO receive vessels, The Indiana has n
foul bottom, and II who were needed at
short notice this condition would be u
serious impeachment 10 her speed ana effi-
cheney.
navy Department for the purchpse cf
GdO1 tons of rocahontua coal, which In to
No. lippel from Norfolk shortly for Homo
luld, where II ia to bc placed In tine
dumping shed ana used hv naval NrssclH
touching at that wort. This ahirmunt Ia
said TO be the largest ever made Nv the
donartment and win cost about la.00u,
thrco- fuurths of which gocs for vessel
hire. The department has also recently
bought 1900 tons Of coal from n san Fran
cisco firm for delivery at Honolulu. These
large putchnHrs have revived reports that
tho government viii at once hpglu active
urcpHrn tiona Tor lhiTc naval station
In ihwnli land for which wa granted
hy the late uu"un some yours ago,
Admiral Walkers report ON the adNifa-
hiliN of tsinhllshlug this station has he"n
considered of late, aud II ia not lmrrobL.
TT, that the secretary OF ia" navy viii
nlN winter authorize the expenditure of
ia0h Oo0 WhioN ~ available fur foreign
,oAlng stations pcRrl llarhor station IL
one Of the boat locations for naval sta
tiou iu the iacidc. aud H. easily reached
from tho srH and can hc fortified without
f-rnnt expense. There Ia plenty ~ water
thrre for tho heaviest wnrahipN, nttrr n
siirht hnr Mt tho entrance 10 the hnrhor
iH removed. and once Inside torpcdoca
would render " intuli Hrhblc 10 any hoN.
w .grci II has been recognized "a OF
purnmourt Importance to th'H country
mt a naval station be located AZ Hawaii
md now that the department hns both
the authority md the money FOR THE mr.
nooa n - not hnprohahlo that the station
" M hr established.