The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-24
FEEL THAT CRISIS IS NEAR
UNIVERSAL IMPRESSION IN WASH
 INGTON OFFICIAL CIRCLES.

suits Regarding Maine Disaster and the
 Cuban Question in General Are About to
 be Reached-secretary Long Expects the
 Naval Courts' Report Tonight Ordering
 of Monitors to Key West.
 Washington, March 23.-The feeling
 was universal throughout official circles
 to-day that a crisis in the Spanish
 trouble was near at hand. With the
 report of the Maine court of inquiry
 only a little while off, with the White
 house the center of long and earnest
 conferences between the president and
 the party leaders of congress and with
 exceptional activity toward emergency
 preparations in the war and navy de-
 partments, there was abundance of ev-
 idence that definite results regarding
 the Maine disaster and the Cuban
 question in general were about to be
 reached. Among the presidents call
 CTS were Senators Cockrell, Turpie and
 Foraker, General Dan Sick1es, former
 United States minister to Madrid, and
 Representative William A. Smith of
 Michigan, who has recently returned
 from a trip to Cuba. The call of
 Messrs. Cockrell and Turpie was re-
 garded as particularly significant, as they are representative democrats in
 the senate, and their visit followed that of Senator German yesterday. It was generally understood that in the pres ent emergency the president desires { harmony without reference to party. D.. U,r Secretaries Long and Alger also con- ferred with the president during the day. Secretary Long said later that the Maine report probably would reach \ Washington tomorrow night. If, how M ever, it did not come before o'clock, MT. Long said he would not receive it K until Friday morning, when it would be laid before the president immediate < ly. The secretary did not think the < president would give the report any ( consideration at late hour It was more probable, he thought if Lieuten- 3 ant Commander Mark arrived at < late hour, that he would take the re- port to a hotel for the night. There & has been no change in the plan of sending the report to congress early
 next week accompanied by a message x from the president. It is definitely set $ tied, however, that the message and & the papers accompanying 1t will relate \ exclusively to the Maine disaster. The Z message will not take up the fearful \ condition of affairs in Cuba as shown x hy the reports of United States con- suls, these being reserved for subse- S quent action and a later message to \ X congress.
 % Monitors Ordered to Key West. Secretary Long determined to-day to < order the double monitors Puritan and x Terror to Key West, where they will reinforce the squadron in those waters.
 He also determined to bring into ser & vice the eight single turreted monitors ( at League Island navy yard, Philadel- phia. It was stated at the navy de- $ partment that this move was in &C., x cordance with a programme previously x agreed upon, although this programme
 had not been announced heretofore K The Puritan by many experts is re-
 garded as the most formidable fighting
 machine in the navy. In addition to X it's other preparations for possible x trouble, the navy department to-day # took steps towards utilizing ten of the
 sea-going revenue cutters for use along
 the Atlantic coast. Captain Shoemak-
 CT, chief of the revenue cutter service, z conferred with Assistant Secretary S Roosevelt during the day on plans for
 turning over these cutters to the navy.
 They will first be sent to Norfolk,
 where additional guns will be mounted
 and will then proceed to Key West and 4 become a part of the squadron there.
 Their main service, however, will be
 as naval pickets, a chain of these fleet # cutters being maintained outside of & the cruisers and battleships. The
 revenue cutter service now has ready
 for instant and active service 124 line < officers, IA engineers, 300 enlisted men % and 24 vessels. Two others are in x course of construction at Cleveland
 and with rush work can be completed $ and ready for sea in from thirty to $ forty days. The Manning, the Gresham, {. the Algonquin, the Onondaga, and the E Windom are all new, fast and effi- < cient vessels and 1t is said can perform < any service that any vessel of their
 class can perform.
 Dry Tortugas Improvements.
 The Manning is considered an IS knot x boat All Of them, 1t is said, quickly < could be converted into torpedo boats % or dynamite cruisers. Whether this
 last move will be made is not yet " definitely decided. Secretary Long N said to-day that it had become evident M that torpedoes could not be bought 8 abroad and could not be built soon z enough in this country, so that we
 might have to equip other craft with & torpedoes. The navy department open 2 ed bids to-day for extensive improve V ments at Dry Tortugas and Key West, sx formal transfer having been effected is as regards Tortugas, which passes E from the treasury to the war depart ment These improvements consist of \ two solid steel pieces to be construct q ed at Dry Tortugas with two extensive a coal sheds and an elaborate mechanical H equipment for loading naval vessels
 with coal. At Key West the improve X ments consist of a steel pier and two \ coal sheds with similar machinery for " loading warships with coal. The bids < ranged from $1,151 ,000 for the entire k work done to about s460,t GOO.
 "A Mayor Rohannon Eennninated.