The herald., 1898-03-25

with all reasonable requirements, to meet
any exigency that might arise.
Boutelle took occasion to resent some oil
the criticisms which had been made
against the committee. The committee
he said, patriotically and earnestly labored
to meet all the extraordinary demands. and
as result of infinite pains had reported
the bill. With this preface Boutelle entered
upon detailed explanation of the bill an6
the increase and extraordinary provisions
1t carried. In the course Of his remarks
he replied to what he termed an "extraor.
llnary sander" 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 Boutele's remarks
he attempted to arrange time for closing
general debate. He suggested o'clock 10.
night, but there was chorus Of protests
whereupon he moved that the committee
rise for the purpose Of fixing the time al
which the debate should, close. The motion
was hotly contested, but 1t prevailed by @
narrow margin-93 to 49, several Repuo.
licans voting with the Democrats. Speaker
When the committee rose Bouteile moved
that general debate close at o'clock.
Richardson, Democrat. of Tennessee
moved to amend the motion by making the
hour 4 o'clock tomorrow. but the chair de-
clined to recognize the motion, accepting
the statement of Boutelle that he INTENDED
to move the previous question on the mo-
ton. The latter was put after several
sharp parliamentary wranglings. The
motion for the previous question was de.
feated-91 to 92
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 compromise was reached by
which 1t was agreed that the general de-
bate should close at 1 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,
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 II.
panded In event of war. But" said he
you cannot improvise navy even with
$50. 900 900 or 500, 900 placed at the dis.
erection Of the president. You may have ar
ample supply of officers. vet even thess
require experience in the handling of ships
and in habits of command. Nor can you
make a sailor as quickly as you can a sol.
dier. Still less can you improvise man.
of-war's crew with a thorough knowledge
Of all discipline and training to make them
effective in a sea battle. A battleship OF
armored cruiser is not built in day, any.
more than Rome ewas. Not even in the old
days Of wooden ships could war fleet be
improvsed or built expediuously.
1T Is obvious that to wait for a war and
to await naval preparations until war &C.
tually arrives. In the hope that disparity
in naval forces can be speedily corrected
is an idea unworthy of rational and patri-
otic men. It 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 overestimated
Its fighting capacity. True, may assert
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 a powerful navy compared
with the best fleet Of wooden ships that the
United States or any other nation ever
possessed. but 1t is far inferior to the pres
ent navies Of France, Germany and Rus.
sia. 1t Is a very small navy compareG with
that of Great Britain. It Is inferior to
that of Italy, country nearly bankrupt
with about one-third Of our population, and
still more inferior in wealth and the in.
terests she may be called on to defend
There are only four battleships Of the first
class and two of the second class. One OF
these, the Maine, now lies at the bottom OF
Havana harbor, the victim, probably, oi
an assassin's foul act, whose instigators
whoever they may be, evidently took nc
thought from the words of the English
statesman that assassination has never
changed the history of the world. Now
then, we have only five battleships- lef,
We have five more of the first class now
being built, and these, the secretary 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 consider
able time to come. Holding these views al
to our duty and the public necessities, ]
welcome the exceedingly modest and rea-
sonable addition of three battleships and
six torpedo boats and six torpedo boat
destroyers proposed by the bill. With equal
satisfaction do 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 a
declaration of our purpose to stand by the
country in time Of war; it was also a con-
fession by congress that we are lacking,
sadly lacking in preparation for war. and
that whatever money, freely voted, would
do to atone for our past neglect and want OF
foresight void be cheerfully promptly
given"
Dayton. Republican Of West Virginia,
another member Of the committee. In dis
cussing the bill spoke feelingly of the
Maine explosion. But the blowing up OF
the Maine" said he, sis a mere incident
compared with that greater and more hor.
rible tragedy which is transp!ring daily be-
fore our eyes and which we, as a great ap0
enlightened nation, insist must stop.
(Great applause.) Two hundred and ATTY
seven American sailors have gone down in
Havana harbor; 100000 people are dead in
Cuba and $4,000 more. mostly women and
children. are being starved to death We