The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1896-07-25
NEW JAPANESE War SHIPS
The Sea Fighters Will Be- Built
on the Clyde.
American Contractors win Build
Two of the Cruisers-.Japnn-
csc Officers Favor brit.
tsh Ship Builders.

Washington, July 1.-THE report
rom San Francisco that accredited
agents of the Japanese ministry are
now in the United States prepared to
make contracts for tie building of sew
sral battleships is denied at the state
department. where the intentions of the
Japanese government, so far as the re-
Mobilization of its navy is concerned.
S well understood.
While it is known hat Japan purposes
at once contracting for a number of
j class battleships, it is also well
known that these vessels will be con
structed on the Clyde, and not in the
United States. Since the beginning Of
me late war between Japan and China,
British ship builders have anticipated
these additions to Japan's navy and
lave made their plans accordingly.
honey has been freely spent in such cir
ties in Japan as are known to have
great influence with the naval officers.
Vt is not insinuated hat this none has
been expended to bride certain persons,
out it has been expended none the less
widely.
Moreover, a number OF the younger
'fficers in the Japanese navy have re-
.eiVed their technical training in Great
3rltafn, and these men are strong par
,sans of the country where their edu-
cation was acquired. Their influence
mas been cXerted In favor of British
snip builders from the start, and their
nHuence is said to be very powerful. In
many ways the Japanese admiralty
mas been led to believe that the English
can construct vessels not only cheaper,
but or better efficiency tina those built
n this country for the American navy.
Whlle the two great ship building firms
o1 thls Countrywide Cramps of Phila
delphia and the Union 1ron Works o
san trancisco-have been represented
IN Japan for only a few weeks at a time
oy a single agent each, their British ri
Vals nave sent scores of representatives
to Toxic well supplied with money and
with instructions to entertain laviShly.
These men ave been kept continually
upon the ground, and their efforts have
been supplemented by the influence OF
the younger class of japanese officers,
Who were graduated from English train
ns schools. and who have aided their
British friends through the social and
official influence which many Of them
are able to exert.
Advices received from Toxic at the
navy department state hat only two
cruisers will be built in this country,
one by the Cramps and the other by the
Union Iron Works. These. it is believed.
will be vessels of the Olympia class,
which the Japanese government seems
20 favor The Olympia. which was built
IN a Francisco. has been in Japanese
waters for some months, and her splen-
lid performances from every point of
view have won the hearty approval of
the Japanese naval authorities. This
vessel, while essentially a Inc
destroyer, having a speed equal to that
IF the swiftest of the transatlantic
steamships, is not without a certain
lighting ability. She carries four eight
Inch and ten tiYe-inch rapid-fire guns,
She would be a formidable foe when pitt
ted against any vessel not a battleship
Or an armed cruiser, and she possesses
In addition, all the qualities of q COM
merce destroyer which are to be found
In those two splendid products of naval
architecture, the Columbia and the
Minneapolis.
1t has been suggested that Japan's
ambition to create a large navy will en-
lble her within q few years to exceed
the United States in point of naval
strength. This. the officials of the de-
partment deny, At the present time the
United States navy is greatly superior,
both in the number of its ships and their
efficiency to the Japanese navy. More
over, the policy of building two or three
battleships each year will be continued
indefinitely until this country shall pos
sess q fleet of distinctively fighting
Ehips. a~CpregatInp TWENTY-FIVE or tbir-
ty at the least. This policy will enable
us to retain III rank as the fifth naval
power of the world and permit the de-
partment to avail itself of the latest i'm
p~rovernents Iii ship building which eX-
perience and observation would %natural-
ly suggest.