The Bourbon news., 1897-11-26
NAVAL MILITIA.
Good Showing Made by Most of the
Organizations Inspected.
The Supply of Old Wooden Vessels Practi-
cally Exhausted-The Use of Small Mod
ern Gunboats RecOmmended-Signal
Stations for Coast Defense.

Stations for Coast DeIenSe'
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24.-Assistant Sec
retary Roosevelt has submitted to the
secretary of the navy the report OF
Lieut.. Gibbons, who has charge Of the
naval militia matters. The report
speaks in high terms of the operations
of the naval militia and is approved by
Mr.. Roosevelt.
Commenting on the inspection made
by himself Mr.. Roosevelt says:
81 was greatly pleased with the zeal
and efficiency shown by the different
organizations which personally visit
ed (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and New
York;, and no less with the showing
made by most of the others, as set forth
in the accompanying reports. There
were two or three concerning which
the reports were less favorable. ti
''The different state organizations
are continually asking for old vessels,
and the department has finally tried
the experiment of sending the Yantic
to the lakes for the use of the Michl-
gan militia. The supply of these
old wooden vessels has now become
practically exhausted. The depart
ment has tried the experiment of loan
ing monitors to the different OrganiZa-
tions, but the results have not so far
been satisfactory, as monitors are poor
ships for cruising or for use as bar
racks.
''There are three or four of these or.
ganizatiOns which, in the event of
sudden emergency, could be utilized at
once for manning the smaller national
cruisers; but this of course can not
generally be the case with the major
ity of the organizations. They must
be depended upon primarily as Sec
ond line of defense. There are two
very important features which should
be attended to by such a second
line. One is the placing of mines; the
other the establishment of signal
stations for coast defense. The de-
partment should request that there
should be inserted in the provision for
the maintenance of the naval militia
the words submarine mining outfits,
so as to allow of training them for this
purpose. The departmen has also
been maturing plans for the signal
stations for the coast defense,
and very slight expenditure of
money, with the cooperation of the
treasury department, will put this on
a satisfactory basis. The organiza-
tions are continually requesting the
detail of officers to instruct them, and
they can best of all be instructed by
actual service on regular war vessels
or under the supervision of naval of
fcers and in conjunction with the
sailors.
sit is much to be wished that con-
gress will authorize, in the first place,
the substitution for the old paddle
wheel steamer Michigan on the lakes
of a small modern gunboat, perhaps on
the Petrel type, to be devoted large
ly to cruising with the lake militia
organizations and to overseeing them,
and furthermore to the building
of one similar small cruiser on the Pa
cific and two on the Atlantic, to be
used for this same purpose. With
these cruisers it would be possible to
bring the naval militia organizations
to a very high standard of efficiency,
and the cruisers themselves of course
would be available at any moment for
any of the regular naval uses in an
emergency"
The special naval board appointed
to examine into the cost of armor
making will present to congress de-
tails of a plant which it has designed
1t will cost more than $3, 600, 900 and
will have a capacity of 5000 tons of
armor per annum, which is about the
combined capacity of the two armor
plants now supplying the navy.
The processes of manufacture will
include the very latest developments
in the art of metallurgy, and while the
plans contemplate the manufacture of
Harveyized nickel steeled armor, ac-
cording to the methods used in the re-
forged process they will admit of easy
adaptation to the new secret Krupp
process of hardening armor by the use
of gas. The plans are said to be per-
feet in every detail, and, being drawn
under one of the leading experts of the
country, the specifications are said to
be so well defined that no difficulty is
expected to arise in securing straight
bids The board has prepared the form
of advertisement calling for bids for
erecting this plant, as congress desired
information, and Secretary Long will
soon issue the advertisement It is
the purpose to have all of the plans in
the secretary's hands by the first of
! next month, and if the advertisement
is promptly sent out it is hoped that
within three months at the latest con-
gress will have before it full informa-
ton as to the cost of an armor plant as
we'll as offers from existing plants to
| sell out to the government.
Hammond Testifies Against Lowering.
CHICAGO, Nov. 24.-Private Hammond