Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-04-07
Our Merchant Cruisers.


Our navy is growing in preparation
for the emergency that may any day
be forced upon it, A new cruiser. called
the Diogenes but which is in no sense a
tub, and several new torpedo boats
have just been secured in Europe and
are on their way over the ocean. The
New Orleans formerly the Amazonas,
will arrive in few days. Several
other craft have been secured abroad,
and refusals secured on many more
now building which effectively pre-
vents Spain from securing them. These
foreign additions, however. do not in
great measure strengthen our navy
Those who thought we could quickly
it came now see their great mistake.
The purchase of yachts tugs ana
steamships at home to form the
mosquito feet" and provide auxiliary
cruisers is being rapidly carried on, and
work will soon be begun upon several
new battleships and NO less than 4
torpedo boats.
But the most important and signiti
cant step taken by the naval author
tiles is the purchase of ten large mer-
chant steamers for war and transport
service. 1t is obvious to all who ar
a n .I.l,,
marine that the naval board is making
its important selections with notably
good judgment At Boston the officer;
have taken the latest and most efficien.
steam collier out of the port-the
Saturn of the Boston Towboat Com
pany-a steel ship as well designed
and capacious as she is powerful. AT
New York the board has just secured
the very flower of the splendid Ameri-
can steam fleet running to the south
ward. Two of the ten vessels are the
We'll known mail and passenger ships Of
the Red d" Venezuelan Line-the.
only American line to South America.
This route. of course. would be one OF
extreme peril in case of war. and it l.,
advantageous both to the governments
and the owners that the navy should
acquire these ships. which, by the
terms of their mail subsidy CONTRACT
are held available in case of war. for
naval service
The other eight merchant cruisers
which, like the Venezuela line, owe
their strength and prosperity to the
protective policy as applied in the face
of the fiercest-and blindest--opposition
to a part at least. of our modern mer-
chant marine. The Kansas City is
swift and stately queen of the Savan-
nah trade. familiar to thousands OF
Northern travellers to Florida. FL Sol,
El Norte, FL Rio and Ell Sud are very
large freight and passenger ships of
the New York New Orleans Line. with
an unusual speed for vessels of their
classroom Is to Is knotS-and room in
their deep holds to stow a regiment of
troops or many train loads of supplies
and ammunition. The Yorktown. the
jamestown and the Princess Anne are
elegant Old Dominion liners, which il
seems almost pity to devote to the
grim uses of war-but their power and
seaworthiness make them highly l.
sirabe and effective
There is probably no steam merchant
fleet in the world so large a proportion
Of whose tonnage would be found fit
for useful and sustained military ser
vice as that of the United States This
fact is a striking tribute to the skill Of
American shipbuilders and the wisdom
of a national policy which has consist
emily preferred to encourage native en-
terprise rather than to fill our fleets
with the cheap but inferior ships of
other nations, constructed on a base of
wages which stunted the workmen's
ambition and intelligence.