The herald., 1898-04-14
MORE OCEAN LINERS
ARE PRESSED INTO SERVICE AS
CRUISERS
ALL THE ROUTINE WORK DONE
Preparatory to Mobilizing the Army
and Calling Out Fifty Thousand
Volunteers
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
. WASHINGTON, April 13.-There
was a revival of war activity in the
. navy and war departments today.
Q number of important conferences and
hearings were held, the most notable .
Q being a session of the war board Of the
. navy department before which Consul
. General Lee appeared.
General Lee furnished a great deal
. of definite data in regard to the forces .
. of the insurgents and Spanish in Cuba.
. An important feature of the hearing
was an agreement that 1t would be .
. very necessary to interrupt the cable
. from Santiago de Cuba 1t is proposed
Q to send a ship to the southeastern
. waters of Cuba at the outbreak of hos .
. tilities drag for and cut the cable from
. Santiago de Cuba. 1t was decided to
. press the st. Louis and st. Paul into .
the naval service and to assign Cap .
Q tain Sigsbee to the first of those ships .
. which should be ready.
Q Contracts for one hundred guns for .
Q the army were awarded at a cost of .
. nearly three-quarters of a million:o
. nine enlisted men in the army were
. made second lieutenants and the navy .
. department began the official enroll .
. ment Of an acting line Of officers. An .
. offer was received from patriotic New .
. York ladies to build another ambu -
. lance ship. Five tugs were purchased .
. by the navy department and a sixth .
. tug was organized for purchase. .
Army signal men in the west will be .
. transferred to the eastern district. .
. The navy department has been off, .
. cially advised of the departure of the .
a,aI
. Rico. No intimation is given of direc- .
. ton taken by the two vessels, but it .
. has been given out that they are pro- .
. ceeding to the Cape Verde islands or .
to the Canaries, probably the latter.
. This information was the cause of .
. some excitement this afternoon. Or .
ders were given the flying squadron .
. to leave Hampton Roads and proceed .
. to sea. The department said the ships .
. will be away only forty-eight hours. .
They have proceeded to sea, it Is said, .
to gain a little practice in evolution
. and familiarize officers and men with .
. the handling of the ships and guns.
. General Miles urged Secretary Alger
to make call for volunteers of sixty .
. thousand men for augmentation Of .
. the army, but after further considera- .
. tion 1t was decided to adhere to the
numerical strength of forty thousand .
. previously decided upon, but there .
. will, within a day or two, be a COM .
. promise on force Of fifty thousand. .
. Eevrything is in readiness, so far as .
. routine work goes, of securing volun- .
. teers and for the concentration Of tho .
. regulars. There remains for these two o
. features in the military program only .
. the issue of the presidential prociama- .
. tion calling for volunteers. .
. Admiral John G.. Walker has been .
| . detailed as member of the war board .
. in the navy department Orders have .
been issued in the war department pro- .
| hibiting further use of ammunition .
| by light batteries Of artillery in field .
| . guns for instruction of troops. The .
| . order has significance in the fact that .
the time has arrived when powder and Q
projectiles must be saved. .
. There is ominous news from New .
| York that dock number 8 cannot be Q
| . put into condition for service within Q
sixty days. The dock situation, which .
. has given the authorities good deal .
. of trouble in the last four or five years, .
proves to be the most exasperating Q
. feature in the whole war scheme. .
10 MINISTER POLO Q
| . WASHINGTON, April 13-(Special Q
. TO The Herald.) No word was received .
at the Spanish legation today from .
Madrid. Senor Polo y Bernabe will .
. leave this country when Minister .
. Woodford departs from Spain. Bern -
. abe has made every preparation nec- .
. essary for departure. .
. CALLS 1T A RANK FRAUD Q
. WASHINGTON, April 13-(Special .
| TO he -
| . TO enter into any general discussion of Q
| . the Cuban subject today, but remark .
| . ed that he considered the declaration Q
| of an armistice by Spain to be a rank Q
| . fraud. Q
- SPANISH SPIES =
. NEW YORK, April 1S.-(Special to .
| . The Herald) The authorities are .
| . aware of the presence in this city Of a Q
. number of Spanish spies. These men .
. have been securing all possible in .
formation which could be of value to .
| . Spain in case of war. The govern Q
| . ment officials have been keeping a q
| close watch on them, however, and as Q
| soon as hostilities are declared they Q
| . will be put under arrest To guard Q
| against the leaking of any more se- Q
| . crets the sentries about the Brooklyn Q
. navy yard and the ordnance dock .
| . have been doubled. Launches guard Q
. the navy yard channel approach, and .
war watches are maintained on all the Q
| vessels in the yard. .
. EUROPEAN NEUTRALITY .
. ROME, April 13.-(Special to The Q
Herald.) At a meeting Of the council Of .
ministers today Marquis visconti .
. Vsnosta declared that italy. In ac- .
. cordanee with engagements entered .
. into with the allied powers, would, In .
. case war occurred between Spain and .
the United States remain absolutely Q
. neutral. The italian ambassador to Q
Berlin has arrived in Rome He in Q
| forms the government officially that =
<Coutinued on Pas>,raur.l