The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-27

! They have proved a rat 1allure III
every particular. In being costly ma
chimes, they are uncomfortable to man
unsafe at sea, and are nowhere in bat
tie. Dewey done up the first two
which essayed fight and with as little
effort and without any greater risk
than II would have taken to sink a
pleasure yacht. The Spanish Temera-
rio. whose appearance in Argentine
waters about the time the mighty
Oregon came around threw this coun-
try into feverish anxiety. broke down
Of her own ineficiency. Had she ever
! encountered Captain Clark's superb
battleship there wouldn't have been a
scrap Of iron or single one of her Span
ish sailors left to tell the tale. Cervera
sent several of these vessels sneaking
| out of the bay of Santiago, but Samp-
| sons feet never failed to turn them
back the darkest night. Finally, when
| two Of them came out conveyed by
| Cerveras entire feet both were
promptly destroyed by rapid-fre guns
and sent gurgling to the bottom OF
! the sea, one being destroyed by Vain
wright's little wooden cruiser, the
! Gloucester One of our own torpedo
boats, the Winslow, getting too close
to the short batteries at Cardenas met
with a fate that sickened every Amer
! lean heart. The penalty of the venture
! was the loss of a brave and noble
young naval officer. The latest failure
| of a torpedo craft sent on a mission of
| destruction is that of the Spanish tor
pedo boat destroyer Terror, of which
| Captain Sigsbee in the st. Paul few
| days ago made such an exhibition. The
| Terror is one of the three crack de-
stroyers which almost made us tremble
at the very sound of their names when
! Cervera was roaming the West Indian
waters with them in his train. The
Terror became crippled and failed 10
get her neck in the Santiago moose
along with the rest of Cervera's squad
ron. When repaired she made tracks
for and entered the harbor Of San Juan
de Porto Rico. Thence she emerged
under the lee of a cruiser two or three
days ago and put on her thirty knots
speed to send the St. Paul to King
dom Come" Sigsbee turned some
Of his rapid-firers on her, and in a few
minutes she retreated ingloriously to
the shelter Of the harbOr, riddled with
holes and ready to go down.
There ought to be some way to head
eff the late appropriations for the con-
struction Of torpedo boats. If it is
questionable now whether any armor,
however thick, or however large the
warship can stand the Americans SUI
periOr gunnery, how foolish to put
millions into these machines which no
batleship breads and which are even
unfit for trans-ocean voyages. They
are more dangerous to the men on
board of them than to the enemy.
bristlng with guns of every calibre are
the things for the American to do bat
tie with, and the navy department
should make no contracts under the
late appropriation, but refer the whole
matter, with the well known facts, back
to congress. The Oregon is worth all
the torpedo boats and torpedo boat de-
stroyers afloat in naval battle. There
is not one of our greater battleships
but that could wade through a swarm
of these costly but Unconditional craft.
incidentally there will be no war With
Germany.
An old. old story now: mo Americans
were wounded"
Miles has landed at Porto Rico. Let
him now land on the Spanish.
Don Carlos mas arrived in Switzerland.
He never Will arrive at the throne, Mad
rid.
II there is a Miss Sampson how she is
sticking up her pretty little nose at Miss
Schley il Madrid.
The Spanish couldn't hit the side Of
barn with bird shot even with some one
holding the barn.
1t seems that the Red Cross flag is a
protection in every part of the world ex-
cept that occupied by Spanish.
yrsl,. $1,000
eneral Miles puts his foot down on Porto
Rico this morning.
In order TO improve the breathing abb
lily of the board Of strategy the fight be-
tween the Spaniards and Garcia proves to
be a fake.
Oklahoma has set a commendable pace.
Before giving memorial services the citi-
gems do not first inquire whether the hero
is an officer.
The rebellion in China is still growing
For the purpose Of making the United
States interfere Ii Hung Chang might
break out with a China ubre scheme.
We will have an awful gabfeast If one
Of our ships should lam into a German
merchantmen oy mistake. But It would
be merely talk. No war would result
Before the government gets through
saving the Colon We viii probably have
spent as much as the cost of a new battle
ship. Governments do not differ mucn
from individuals