The herald., 1898-03-25

} tn breakwaters not to exceed 81, 900, 900, 0
70 sssssssssssesssssssssssss 80
with all reasonable requirements, to NEE
any exigency that might arise.
| Boutelle took occasion to resent some o.
| the criticisms which had been made
against the committee. The committee
| he said, patriotically and earnestly laboret
to meet all the extraordinary demands, ant
as a result of infinite pains had reported
the bill. With this preface Boutelle entered
| upon a detailed explanation Of the bill ant
| the increase and extraordinary provisions
| 1t carried. In the course Of his remark!
he replied to what he termed an "extraor
| dlnary slander' upon himself which ap
peared in New York paper yesterday
charging him with responsibility for the
lack of engineer officers in the service.
At the conclusion of Boutelle's remarks
he attempted to arrange time for closing
general debate. He suggested o'clock 10
night, but there was a chorus of protests
whereupon he moved that the committed
rise for the purpose of fixing the time al
which the debate should, close. The motion
was hotly contested, but 1t prevailed by 6
narrow margin-93 to 9S, several Repuo
licans voting with the Democrats. Speaker
Reed himself marched through the tellers
When the committee rose Boutelle moved
that general debate close at s o'clock.
Richardson, Democrat. of Tennessee
moved to amend the motion by making the
hour o'clock tomorrow. but the chair de.
clined to recognize the motion, accepting
the statement of Boutele that he intended
to move the previous question on the mo.
tion. The latter was put after several
sharp parliamentary wranglings. The
motion for the previous question was de.
feated-91 to 90.
Thereupon Boutelle demanded the ayes
and nays for the purpose Of putting on rec.
ord the Republicans who refused to vote
to sustain his motion. Before roll call was
concluded a compromise was reached by
which 1t was agreed that the general de.
bate should close at o'clock tomorrow, the
session of the house to be extended until [
o'clock. tonight. This arrangement was
ratified and then the debate proceeded.
Myer, Democrat, of Louisiana, one of the
members of the naval committee, then took
the floor. Myer, after referring to the ex.
traordinary circumstances under which
the naval bill came up for consideration
at this time, said that the theater Of war
If such must come, would not be on the
land but on the sea. Our army required
no addition to place US in a position Of de-
fense. 1t is large enough for peace pur
poses and can easily and quickly be -sx
panded in event of war. But" said he
you cannot improvise navy even will
$50, 900, 900 or 800, 900, 900 placed at the dis
cretion Of the president. You may have al
ample supply of officers, yet even thes,
require experience in the handling of ship,
and In habits of command. Nor can yol
| make sailor as quickly as you can a sol
dier. STILL less can you improvise man
of-war's crew with a thorough knowledgt
Of all discipline and training to make then
effective in a sea battle. A battleship OF
armored cruiser is not built in day, any.
more than Rome was. Not even in the ole
days of wooden ships could a war fleet bt
improvised or built expedtdously.
"It Is obvious that to wait for a war ant
to await naval preparations until war &C
tually arrives, In the hope that a disparity
In naval forces can be speedily corrected
is an idea unworthy Of rational and patri
otic men. 1t Is the very acme of human
folly. So much has been said in the press
and on the stump about the new navy
that the public has grossly overestimatel
its fighting capacity. True, may asser,
that the ships we have are Of the best and
our personnel active, keen and equal to the
highest traditions Of their predecessors
1t Is indeed powerful navy compared
with the best fleet Of wooden ships that the
United States or any other nation evel
possessed. but 1t is far inferior to the pres.
ent navies OF France, Germany and Rus
sia. 1t is very small navy compared witt
that OF Great Britain. 1t Is inferior tt
that of Italy, country nearly bankrupt
with about one-third Of our population, ant
still more inferior in wealth and the in
terests she may be called on to defend
There are only four batteships of the firs
class and two of the second class. One Of
these, the Maine. now lies at the bottom Of
Havana harbor, the victim, probably o.
an assassin's foul act, whose instigators
whoever they may be, evidently took M
thought from the words of the Englisl
statesman that ASSASSINATION has never
changed the history of the world Now
then, we have only five battleships- left
We have five more Of the first class now
being built and these, the secretary tell.
us, will not be ready for service before thu
latter part of 1899. say eighteen to twent,
months from now. Even the torpedo boa t.
an essential part Of our system OF coas
defense-will not be ready for a consider
able time to come. Holding these views a,
to our duty and the public necessities.
welcome the exceedingly modest and rea.
sonable addition Of three battleships ant
six torpedo boats and six torpedo boa
destroyers proposed by the bill With equa
satisfaction do I hail the steps which pro
pose to give our warships adequate dock
ing and repair facilities upon the Atlantic
and Pacific and Gulf coasts.
1.-THE fifty million appropriation unani
mously voted by congress was not only E
declaration of our purpose to stand by tn,
country in time of war; it was also con
fession by congress that we are lacking
sadly lacking in preparation for war, ant
that whatever money, freely voted, would
do to atone for our past neglect and want o,
foresight void be cheerfully, promptl,
given"
Dayton, Republican, Of West Virginia
another member of the committee, In dis.
cussing the bill spoke feelingly of tn;
Maine explosion. But the blowing up Of
the Maine," said he, sis mere inctden,
compared with that greater and more hor
rible tragedy which is transpiring daily be.
fore our eyes and which we, as great an6
enlightened nation, insist must stop
(Great applause.) Two hundred and Atty.