The age-herald., 1898-03-25
WARLIKE TALK
 IN THE HOUSE Consideration of the Naval Ap-
 propriation Bill. MEYER CRITICISES THE NAVY Sarcasticay Says Ii Is Good Compared With Those Maintained in Days of Wooden Ships-Reterence to Starving
 Cubans Applauded.
MEYER CRITICISES THE NAVY

Washington, March A.-The naval appro- priation bill was taken up in the house to- day and after considerable difficulty an arrangement was made to close the general debate at D. tomorrow. There was great pressure for time, but the leaders desired to limit as far as possible, the op- portunity for infiammatoTy utterances. The debate today was not on sensational Hines but every radical expression was cheered to the echo by the crowded gdller- les. The speeches of Messrs. Dayton, Of West Virginia and Arnold, of Pennsylvania, both of whom took advanced positions in favor of aggressive action to stop the war An Cuba, aroused intense enthusiasm.
 Mir. Boutelie, chairman of the naval com mittee and Mir. Meyers, of Louisiana, con fined their remarks closely to the bill amd the extraordinary emergency which neces- stated the large appropriations it carried
 At the conclusion of Mir. Boutelles re- marks he attempted to arrange a time for closing general debate and after some par liamentary wrangling a compromise was reached by which it was agreed that the general debate should close at o'clock the session of the house to be extended until o'clock This arrangement was ratified.
 Extraordinary Circumstances
 MT. Meyerr, (dem.) of Louisiana, of the members of the naval committee, then took the floor. After referring to the ex- traordinary circumstances under which the
  that the theater of war if such must come would not be on hand but on the sea. Our army required no addition to place us dn a position of defense. ''It is large enough for peace purposes arl1 can easily be expanded in event of war;" said Mr. Meyers.
 Compared With Wooden Ships
 "But," said he you cannot improvise a navy, even with fifty one hundred mil lions placed at the discretion of the presi- dent You may have ample supply of of- ficers, yet even these require experience in the handling of ships and in habits of com mand. Nor can you make sailor as quick ly as you can soldier. Still less can you improvise a man of wars crew, with thorough knowledge of all they have to do and possessing the discipline and training needed to make them efficient in sea ser vice and in battle. A batteship or an mored cruiser is not built in day any more than Rome was built in the olden days. Not in the days of wooden ships could a war ship be improvised or built expenditiously. It is the very acme of hu- man folly to wait. So much has been said in the press and on the stump about the new navy that the public have grossly over estimated its fighting capacity. True, l may assert that the ships have are of the best and our personnel active, keen and equal to the highest traditions of their predecessors.
 Tt is indeed a powerful navy compared with the best fleet of wooden ships that the~Jnited States or any other nation ever possessed, but it is far inferior to the pres- ent navies of France, Germany and Russia. It is a very small navy compared with that of Great Britain. It is inferior to that or Italy, a country nearly bankrupt, with about one-third of our population and still more inferior in wealth and the interest she may be called on to defend. There are only four ships of the first-class and two of the second-class. One of these, the Maine. lies at the bottom of Havana har bor the victim probably of an assassin's foul act, whose instiga tors, who ever they may be- evidently took no thought from the words of the English staesman that Assassination has never changed the his tory of the world So then, we have only l five battleships left. We have five more of the first-class now being built and these, the treasury tells us, will not be ready for service before the latter part of 1899, say eighteen to twenty months from now. Even the torpedo boats-an essential part of our system of coast defense-will not be ready for a considerable time to come 'holdlng these views as to our duty and the public necessity I welcome even the exceedingly modest and reasonable addition of three battleships and six torpedo boats and six torpedo boat destroyers proposed. With equal satisfaction do l hail the step which proposes to give warships adequate docking and repair facilities upon the Att lantic, Pacific and gulf coasts.
 Confession That Our Navy Is Poor
 'aThe $50 900 OOO appropriation unanimously voted by congress was not only declara-. tion of our purpose to stand by the coun- try in time of war; 1t was also confession by congress that we are lacking, sadly lack ing in preparation for war; and that what ever money, freely voted, would do to atone for our past neglect and want of foresight would be cheerfufly and promptly given
 MT Dayton (rep) of West Virginia, an- other member of the commlttee~ in discuss ing the bill, spoke feelingly of the Maine explosion. But the blowing up of the Maine,' said he, 'is a mere incident con- pared with that greater and more horri- bie tragedy which is transplring daily be- fore our eyes and which we as great and enlightened nation insist must stop. (Great applause) Two hundred and fifty Amerl- can sailors have gone down in Havana har- bor, 900 people are dead in Cuba and 25O 000 more, mostly women and children, are being starved to death We do not know that Spain blew up the Maine, but we do know that she is responsible for the deadly murder in Cuba. This thing must cease. I hope, without war But if war is necessary, let it come"
 MT. Arnold trep) of Pennsylvania dis