The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-05
NAVAL APPROPRIATION gill.
s;kirmish in the House Over Reduction
of Number of BattIeships.

Washington, May 4.-The first
skiImish over the Senate amendment
to the Naval Appropriation bill, re-
ducing the number of battleships
from to 2, occurred in the House to-
day when Mr.. Boutelle, chairman Of
the Naval committee, moved to nom
concur in all the Senate amendments
and request a conference of the Sem
ate. Mr.. Boutelle undertook TO chas-
tie some of the Senators for their
Inconsistency. he referred to the war
scares of the past winter and the belli-
cose resolutions introduced in the Sen
ate and then practically contrasted the
war talk Of some of the Senators with
their votes to reduce the number of
battleships provided for in the bill.
He went on to refer to the remark
able and extraordinary propositions, :
advanced in the Senate to maintain
this novel and aggressive attitude" !"
He briefly sketched the bills intFoduc-
ed by Mr.. Chandler for the purchase
Of $10O,0O0,000 of war material, the re-
solution Of Mr.. Hale for calling out
the Naval reserves and the purchase Of
vessels and all the other bills and reso-
lutions introduced bearing on the
Cuban question He quoted from Mr..
Vests speech in the Senate, in which
the Missouri Senator referred to Spain
as a 'stoothless old wolf" speech
which Mr.. Bouteile said ceused great
excitement throughout Spain. IF
ii were parliamentary, said Mr.. Bou-
telle, II would say that the record
shows that that Senator voted to sgrike
out half the House provision for
strengthening the Navy. He quoted
Mr. Allen, who he said, voted To strike
out all provision for the Navy and also
the declaration of Senator Sherman,
who voted to strike out two battle
ships and was proceeding to read
Senator Hills resolution, when Mr..
Quigg, rep, N. ~, jumped to his
feet, and called Mr.. Boutelle to order
for violating the rule which provides
that members of the House shall not
criticise the proceedings in the Sen
ate.
sWhen the gentleman from New
York has served here somewhat longer
than he has," said Mr.. Boutelle, he
VIII have learned that in order to es-
cape all possible structures under the
rule, it is necessary only to state a
Hypothetical case. This is a point OF
order frequently made here, but almost
always by new members
But the Speaker evidently did not
coincide with Mr.. Boutelle's opinion.
"The chair has the impression that
the point of order is well taken" he
said, amid some applause.
Mr.. Boutelle protested against such
a ruling, declaring that the idea that a
member could not read from the rec
crds of the Senate or any other legisla-
tive body on earth, was a '.monstrous
proposition" He said he was amazed
at such an infantile point Of order.
Mr.. Grosvenor (Rep., Ohio), decided
with Mr.. Boutelle, and Mr.. Cow fRep.,
Pa.), thought the record could be re-
ferred to, but not commented upon,
Mr.. Boutelle, however, accomplished
all that he intended, despite the Chairs
ruling. Subsequently, Mr.. Sayers, OF
Texas, moved to concur in the Senate
amendment reducing the number Of
battleships, but, by consent, the mo-
ton went over for action until no-mor-
row, when it is likely that the whole
question of large appropriations at this
time for strengthening the navy, will
be opened and ventilated
Quite number of bills were passed
during the day, mostly of minor im-
portance. Among them were bills for
the protection of yacht owners and
shipbuilders, to authorize the construc-
tion of a bridge across the Illinois river
at Grafton, Illinois; TO create new di-
vision of the Eastern judicial district
of Texas; to pension Gen. Joseph r..