The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-14
ARMOR PLATE DEBATED.
Old Question Of the Price To Be
Paid.
CHARGES MADE THAT GOVERN
EENT HAS BEEN DEFRAUDED.

Amendment Adopted to Deficiency Bill
Providing for Investigation as to
Feasibility of Establishment of Govern
ment Armor Factory-Urgent Defieien.
cy Bill Passed.
Washington, July 13.-The price to be
paid for armor plate for the three new
battleships now in course of construction,
was the theme of extended, and at times,
lively debate in the Senate today. Late
in the day an amendment to the deficiency
appropriation bill was agreed to, restrict
ing the prices of..armor plate to $500 per
ton, or 1926 less than the amend ment re-
mended by the navy department as the
minimum rate acceptable to the armor
contractors Another amendment inserted
in the bill directs the Secretary of the
Navy to investigate as to the establish
ment of a government armor factory and
to report to the next session of Congress.
During the debate Mr.. Hale urged that
the failure to equip the battleships with
rmor woul humiliate the United States
in the eyes of the world and would lessen
our naval power at time of possible
foreign complications. After inserting
the armor amendments, the deficiency
appropriation bill, the last of the great
supply measures, was passed.
Washington, July Reconsideration of
the deficiency bill was resumed in the
Senate today.
The question of armor plate for new
battleships led to considerable discussion.
The. bill provided total appropriation of
So, ,410, 735 for armor plate for the three
battleships authorized in 1896 and limited
the cost of production to $425 per ton.
Mr.. Butler offered an amendment re-
ducing the total to 50, 4O7, 800 limiting the
cost to $500 per ton, and providing for the
establishment of government armor
factory if private concerns should not bid
within $3.50 per ton.
Mr.. Pettigrew spoke of the evidence
taken before the committee on naval
affairs, showing conclusively, he said,
that armor plate could be made for $3.50
per ton.
Instead of opposing the trust, Mr..
Pettigrew said, the naval committee now
proposed to accede to its demand of s425-
1t was procedure too disgraceful to be
tolerated, the Senator asserted.
Mr. Butler spoke in severe criticism of
the course of the armor factories and of
the disposition in official circles to yield
to them.
The Senator reviewed the Investigations
made by Secretary Herbert as to the cost
of armor plate, and read from the report
of the House committee on naval affairs
relative to irregularities in the manu-
facture of armor plate. He said the re-
ports showed that by fraud and deception
armor plate had been palmed off on the
government SO defective that it could be
pierced like pine board. The Senator
asserted that men had been shot and put
in dungeons for offenses of far less mag
nitude
Mr.. Hale questioned these statements,
saying that none of the defective plates
were at present in actual service on war
ships.
Mr.. Tillman' of South Carolina, insisted
that many of the alleged defective plates
were in use and said their exact location
on various warships was specified in the
reports of the House naval commission.
ment as to the extent of the defective
armor in use, Mr. Hale interrupted with
sweeping denial. He said that such a
condition would be appalling if it existed
in reality, but there was no warrant for
the assertions by the North Carolina
Senator. He absolutely denied that any
proportion of the armor plate on our war
ships was unserviceahle.
Mr.. Butler declared that he knew of no
more dangerous kind of high treason
than the equipping of war vessels with
defective plates. One of these vessels, the
Oregon, with spongy, imperfect fraudu-
lent plates, had been ordered to tbs
Hawaiian islands at the time when Japan
was threatening to take possession of
those islands. 1t would be fortunate If
the first hostile shot fired at her did not
hit one of those defective plates, If indeed
there were any good ones on her. If we
are to take Hawaii. if we are 20 go into
the land grabbing business, then said Mr..
Butler, we must have feet as good and
better than any other country in the
world. If we are launching on that policy
of aggrandiZement then we must be abla
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