Evening star., 1897-03-02
a Darker Page.


Continuing Mr. Tillman said ;ber. MAS
still darker page in the history of the
dealings of the Carnegies with the govern
ment. He referred to the charges of MAX
ing defective armor in 1884
THE thieves were caught" he said ..br,
they were released. The Secretary fmposed
rne. but this glorious President of ours
VINO. thank God. goes out of office in two
Gays more remitted the fine And yet in
tne lace OF these facts a senator with his
thin skin gets up and undertakes to twit
me with slandering the Senate"
he continued to lecture the Senate. saw
ing ne had no doubt the proposition would
go through The old guard never sur
renders" he exclaimed you get un here
and squabble over your little sl0.oO items
ana let these million-dollar steals go
through like creased lightning" He had
he said. convinced himself that the cost OF
producing armor Plate did not exceed Savj
per ton He said, however, that the naval
committee had placed the amount at Sts
because 1t was necessary to do so in order
10 reach an agreement, and also because
they had ia mind that tine bin must run
the gauntlet of TIE House. where" ne
said gag law is in full force and effect:
where man, free American, must crawl
on his belly like a worm. or fawn like a
whipped cur to get any recognition for
anything" He said they had also borne in
mind that it would have to run the gaunt-
let of the mogus CT the Senate committee
Mr.. Quay followed this speech with a
motion TO lay Mr.. Chambers motion to re-
duce to $500 Per ton on the table. The mo-
tion was lost-l2 to 80 Those voting in the
affirmative were Messrs. Aldrich. Allison,
Brice Cullom, Gibson. German. Hale. Haw-
ley. Mcmillan, Murphy. Squire and Wet
more.
Previous to Mr.. Tillman's sensational
charges Mr.. Hawley had spoken against the
proposed amendment to reduce the price
of armor to $500.
Mr.. EIkins FavOrs the Amendment.
Mr. Elkins spoke in favor OF the amend
ment. 1t was the most remarkable propo-
sition ever presented to Congress. he said.
that when the committee on naval affairs
reported that a fair price would be DE
tween $500 and si00 for armor plate. the
appropriations committee fixed the price al
S4oO a ton No business man on such
showing would agree to pay the highest
price for a product.
In reply to question. Mr.. Hale said
Great Britain paid from $3.50 to s400 per
ton for armor plate.
Mr.. Elkins. continuing. said the differ
ence between $500 and 800 ton on The
contracts proposed would be some sS0o.0oo.
No man would do private business In that
way Moreover. there were more ships
than the government could man already.
He would stop work on the three battle
ships under way until some detniue Ia
formation on the value of armor plate could
be secured. There must be a merchant
marine as a basis for a navy. yet there
was none. Senators wanted to rush through
naval matters on rumors of war.
There is going to be no war" continued
Mr. Elkins. 1.-The Senate is going to ad-
journ. the arbitration treaty is going to be
considered. the Cuban question Is settled.
Julio Sarguily is out of Jail and on his way
to see his friends In the Capitol"
Mr. Chandler said Ii was true that the
American manufac turers had lately made
contracts with the Russian government at
high prices, because since they had forced
themselves into the European market they
had been taken into the European combine.
and now one great international combina-
tion controlled armor plate prices for the
world.
Mr.. Squire said he took no stock In all the
talk about the high profits made by manu-
facturers
Amendments Adopted.
The Chandler amendment. reducing the
price Of armor plate to 500 a ton. was
adopted without a division.
Then another amendment proposed by
Mr. Pettigrew to reduce the total OF con-
tracts authorised to s., 4O7 800 to CORES
pond with the reduction per ton. was
adopted.
tary of the Navy to establish q government
armor plate factory at cost OF 81 l.500.OoO,
II he failed to make contracts. was lost,
vote 26 to 30.
An amendment to give the leader OF the
Marine Band the rank and pay OF q second
lieutenant OF marines was proposed by Mr..
Nelson. but ruled out of order by the chair
The naval bill was passed at midnight.