The age-herald., 1898-05-17
THE NEWS WILL
 BE CURTA|LED Movements of NavyWiII No Lon- ger Be Made Public. ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT Several Plans Have Been Abandoned Ol Account of Their Publicity. THE OPENING OF THE BLOCKADE Regarded as a cv '..s Proceeding ID View of Pre- $ nditiOns.
 t<sy HAVANA IS soS g OF AMMUNITION
 ss
 eS Powerful Bg eee.S at Entrance of Harbos Deprive $ r Defensive strs"s. h. spah- V est Thought to Be
 Cooped Up In Caribbean Sea.

Washington, May 16.-An order posted this morning and signed by Secretary Long rel- ative to the publication of news emanating from the navy department had the effect today of considerably curtaling thee supply of information that heretofore has been rather freely given out. The secretary's order was directed to Captain Crownin- shield, chief of the navigation bureau. and he in turn gave it effect by making an or. der in his own name that no person con7 nected with this bureau in any capacity should have any conversation whatever upon the subjects fin any way pertaining to the navy with representatives of the press. As an offset it was ordered that bulletins of such facts as have actually occurred and are proper for publication and are not con- nected with existing or projected move- ments shall be prepared and posted on the bulletin board.
 The sum total of the information pub- lished by the bulletin board under this rule was notice of the intention to start the Philippine expedition and of the permission given to some foreign neutral vessels to pass the blockade at Havana.
 Tn explanation of the issue of this order oN leading newspapers have been so far lack ing in patriotism as to print plans of can- paigns and projected movements of naval ships, with the result that the war board has been obliged to completely revise it's plans, in the knowledge that the Spaniards had promptly taken notice of the pubica- lions and were prepared to profit by them.
 Newspapers Working Injury
 Complaint was made to Secretary Long that the newspapers were working injury to the government in such cases.
 Itsis not the purpose of the secretary to prevent the press having any information that is not calculated to cause a miscar- riage of the plans of the department, but it remains to be seen whether the naval offl- cers to whom the order has been directed will not by their ironcad interpretation of it bring about modification in the interest of liberality.
 The opening of, the blockade at Havana to certain vessels is a rather curious proceed ing that may lead to very considerable widening of the blockade itself so that in the end the neutral vessels not loaded with contraband supplies, the carrying of which into Havana would interfere with the naval and military operations laid down by the United States. The statement that the department still hopes to make an ex- change of prisoners at an early day shows that the mission of the Uncas yesterday was by no means complete failure as has been stated.
 The troops going to Manila are to be pre- pared for six months stay, according to the number of rations furnished, 2,160,0o0 and preparations for their departure are be- ing pressed with the greatest energy. The Charleston should have sailed today from San Francisco.
 The marines who have been lying in Key West harbor on board the Panther, swelt- ering under a semi-tropical sun, are to be transferred to a more comfortasase vessel, the Resolute, which will easily accommo- date the 800 men aboard.
 Short of Ammunition
 Limitations have been received here that Captan-General Blanco, at Havana, Is very short of ammunition, in which case the powerful batteries at the entrance of Ha- vana harbor, of course, would be deprived of a large part of their defensive strength. This state of affairs may lead to some des- perate attempts at blockade running on the part of the Spanards in the hope of getting more ammunition into Havana. It Is believed that the supplies so frequently referred to as being on the Spanish flying squadron were of this character rather than food supplies, which makes it all the more important that Sampson and Schley should succeed in keeping Admiral Cervera from reaching Havana or Cenfuegos or any port in Cuba connected with Havana by rail.
 
 on the Florida coast now, and should be able to guard the Florida straits by to- morrow or next day. His appearance on that side of Cuba would enable Sampson to bring his ironclads with perfect safety into Cienfuegos on the south side. and with this disposition of our naval forces and the free use of considerable number of our scout ing vessels it is hard to see how the Span- fsh fleet can escape from the Gulf of Mex leo or the Carribean sea.
 Test of Armor Plate
 The navy department Is getting a better and better quality of armor as the con- tracts expire. A 1s-inch plate tested at Indian Head Saturday with l0-inch gun showed itself to be equal or superior to any piece of armor that has ever been made for with the highest velocity of 1,945 feet per second; the shot penetrated only 12 Inches, without cracking the plate. It was the very last piece to be delivered under
 Continued on Third Page.)