The sun., 1898-02-14
Tho Senate and Ship Armor.

With the vote of the Senate Naval Com.
mittee in favor of allowing $40O a ton for
purchasing the armor Of the battleships
| Illinois, Wisconsin, and Alabama, it looks
as If the long deadlock on that question
would be broken. The special Significance
! of this vote is that it was the Senate Naval
Committee that originally refused to ac.
cept that very sum after the House had
| agreed to It.
The trouble began about two years ago,
| with provision in the Naval Appropria.
tion bill forbidding Secretary HERBERT to
| enter into any contract for the armor OF
| those ships until Congress should specially
authorize him so to do. Meanwhile he was
| to examine the question of tho proper cost
| of armor and report on 1t. Expert naval
| officers were set to work. and the result
| was a report last winter by the Secretary
| that $400 would be q proper price to fix for
| such armor. The House promptly accepted
this estimate, and put it in the naval bill ;
but the Senate Naval Committee insisted
on reducing the amount to 5000 a ton. and
the House, after struggle, agreed.
The result, naturally, was that no bid,
according to the terms of the call for
nrmor, could be obtained for furnishing it
from any established armor plant. The
Government next set about inquiring as to
the cost of establishing plant of it's own.
The result showed that the original outlay
would be far more than had been supposed,
| while the plant would be for much of the
| time idlc and source Of expense. "The
| Ordnance Bureau" said Capt. ONEILL in
| summing up the matter. is of the opinion
that the Government can purchase armor
more cheaply than it can manufacture it.
and regards the making of armor as a
| proper adjunct to commercial plant
1t is greatly to the credit of the Senate
| Naval Committee that, having been foremost
| in the quest for cheaper armor, it now
takes the lead in returning to the price which
| the Navy Department had fixed. OF course,
| it does not follow that the whole matter ia
| settled by this change of front, but it seems
| fair to assume that, as the Senate showed
| it's faith in its committee before by sustain.
| ing it's demand for reduction to $500, SO 1t
will now have equal faith in the commit.
tees present conclusion. The House, 1t is
, true since the beginning Of the deadlock,
has developed disposition of its own to
insist on the lower price; but we think
that there Is good hope of its willingness to
concur in the Senate Committees views, il
adopted by the Senate.
1t should be observed that, after all, $4OO
ton is not only saving amounting to
much more than a million dollars for these
three ships alone, over previous prices paid,
| but is even large gain over the price
asked by the Bethlehem and Carnegie com.
panies last year, namely, $425. Secretary
| LONG. we believe, had favored giving that
price rather than undertake an armor plant
| and keep the ships waiting.
Indeed now that the Senate Naval Com.
mittee has taken this step, it may bo hoped
| that the item will be put into the cur.
rent naval appropriation bill and rushed
through. SO that we may have the use of
| those three much-nceded battleships at the
| earliest possible day.