Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-12
ANOTHER MAINE.
House Naval Committee Tran
sacts Important Business.
Three New BattIeships - Naval Marine
Force lncreased-Four New Dry Docks
Planned, One of Them at Boston.

Washington, March 11--Three new
battleships of the staunchest type afloat
were authorized by the house commit
tee on naval affairs today, and a pro-
vision for their construction was insert
ed in the naval appropriation bill At
the same time the committee agreed on
a maximum price of $40O per ton for ar
NOR plate for our vessels, increased the
force of naval marines by AIS men, and
put matters in fair shape for q decision
tomorrow on the location of the dry
docks, probably four in number, capa-
BILE of accommodating the largest sized
war vessels.
The committee was in session practi-
cally all day, and before the decision
on the increase of ships was reached
there was a long and interesting discus
sion. Representative Tate, democrat,
Georgia, believed that two vessels
diture beyond the point of necessity,
should be avoided. Representative
Loudenslager of New Jersey protested
that if the strength of the navy was to
be increased at all, it should be to the
extent of three new vessels, built and
armed to meet any vessel afoat.
Representative Hawley of Texas
moved that a cruiser be substituted for
one of the battleships, but subsequently
withdrew the motion. When the vote
was taken there was but cne dissenting
voice, Mr.. Tate insisting that two bat
tleships would be sufficient to meet
present needs.
The new warships will be of the finest
pattern. 1t will be two years, doubtless,
before they can be placed in commits
sion. One of them, the committee de-
cided, should bear the name of the i'll
fated Maine. The appropriation for
their construction was not fixed, being
referred to the subcommittee on appro-
priations which will report rc the full
committee tomorrow. The cost it is
said, will be about $1,000, 900 each
though for the fiscal year covered in
the Dill, the amount of expenditure may
not exceed $2,000,000 each.
An important question was raised as
to whether the expenditure for the new
battleships should be betrayed out of the
| $50,000000 emergency bill, but this sub.
| ject was passed over.
| The committee also agreed on a pro.
| vision authorizing the secretary Of the
navy to purchase armor plate by con
| tract or otherwise at a cost of not eX
ceeding $400 per ton. This was agreed
! TO, however, only on the express prOYiSt
that this item should include the nicke
used in the armor for which a large out
! side percentage heretofore has been paiC
by the government This limit of armol
| contract price has been generally ex.
pected, and, with the exception of the
insertion of the proviso as to nickel, met
with little opposition in the discussion
One of the most important features OF
the work on the bill was an agreement
on an appropriation of $135, 900 for out
fitting, rationing and uniforming 473 ad-
ditional marines.
This increase in naval force was
made the subject of a special and ur-
gent request sent to the house after
the submission of the regular recon-
mendations. The question of the es-
tablishment of new dry docks went
over for action tomorrow. It was
thoroughly discussed today, and the
outlook is that four new docks will be
authorized, two on the Atlantic coast,
one on the Pacific and another on the
gulf If the present expectations are
materialized tomorrow, these docks will
be authorized to be constructed at Bos-
ton, Algiers, New Orleans, Mare Island,
Cal, and League Island, Philadelphia.
With the amounts to be paid for dry
docks and for armor plate in the aggre-
gate not yet determined, the bill, as it
stands, carries in all something like
$36, 900, 900, which, however will be
largely augmented by the other items.
Rapid progress has been made with the
bill, and it is likely it win be in shape
to report to the house Monday or Tues
day