The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-17
OPINION AT THE CAPITAL.
Senators and Representatives Offer
Various Explanations.

various Explanations.
washington. Feb. 1.-THE greatest
interest prevailed among senators and
representa- ives as to the extent of the
Maine disaster. The immense gravity
of the situation, in case later advices
should show that the disaster was not
purely accidental, was admitted by all
public men. Conservative public men
in the face Of the appalling catastrophe
/ the meager information at hand and
the possible consequences, therefore de-
clined to express any opinion at this
! time.
Senators and members of the house
as rule, express the opinion for pub
! LEGATION that the catastrophe was the
result of accident and not of design,
! but there were some opinions, gene
/ rally expressed under the BREATH with
I the admOnition not to publish. to the
/ effect that the affair looked very myS-
J FERROUS. AS a rule, senators expressed
I the opinion that the department would
and should make thorough investiga-
: ton, and added that for the present it
would be unnecessary for congress to
] take the matter up.
Chairman Hit of the foreign affairs
committee, Chairman Dingley of the
ways and means committee and men,
bers of the naval committee of the
house all said that they preferred to
await further information before ex-
pressing themselves. Mr.. Hit said it
would be well for the public to follow
the cue given by Captain Sigsbee and
suspend judgment until the cause of
the disaster was ascertained.
Senator Hale, chairman of the COM
mittee on naval affairs, said that he
had just come from an interview with
the secretary OF the navy, and that he
felt confident that the navy department
would institute a thorough investiga-
ton into the disaster.
There is no occasion" said the sena-
tor, for congress to take the matter
up. 1t is, of course, impossible from
the information received to say how the
accident occurred, but l feel confident
that the facts, when developed, will
show that it was an accident. The
Maine was, of course, prepared for ac-
ton in case occasion should be neces-
sary, and had, therefore, many Vulner-
able points exposed. A battleship is
little less than a volcano under the
most favorable circumstances, and
when legislating for the increase of
the navy I always feel that a war yes
sci may prove to be as dangerous to
those on board as to those whom it
might engage in hostile conflict"
Senator Warren of wyoming: IF it
should develop that the Spanish had
anything to do with it, both the United
States navy and army ought to be
summoned to take the matter up in
earnest. If it should prove TO be an
accident, it should be carefully inveSti-
gated, for it is high time that such
accidents were brought to a close. It
has apparently come to be true that our
naval vessels cannot make any move,
cannot go up a stream or down a
stream, or out to sea, without ground
ing or having some other accident be-
fall them. l hope, therefore, that no
time will be lost in determining the
cause and placing the responsibility
for the occurrence wherever due,
either to the hand of a foreigner or
member of our own forces
Senator Carter expressed the opinion
that no amount of investigation would
clear up the mystery. The explosion
would leave no trace of what took
place before, and the burning ship
would obliterate all possibility of learn
ing much of what took place.
BLOWN UP BY TORPEDO.
Boston, Feb. 16-Rear Admiral
George Belknap. Z. S. N. retired. said
today that he was inclined to think
the Maine was blown up by a torpedo.
4 do not see he said, now any ex-
plosion of the forward magazine could
have occurred. The keys of the maya
zines are always kept in the custody
of the captain. All the ammunition is
carefully cased, mostly in form of pro-
jectiles, and their explosion by them
selves is next to impossible. If, as the
dispatches state, the whole bow of the
ship was blown off, it is apparent that
the explosion could not have been
caused by the boilers. or the coal get
ting heated. l do not see how it could
have occurred from the paint room, as
every precautiOn is taken to prevent
the collection Of explosive gases in the
paint room. and if such an explosion
occurred it would have been more likely
to have caused a fire than destroy the
ship.
Rear Admiral Belknap said it was
very significant thing that the Maine
should have been blown up in that
particular harbOr at this particular
time. In the absence of information as
TO the cause, he thought that was the
most significant indication in the whole
matter
Representative Newlands of Nevada,
member of the committee on foreign af-
fairs. said il would be very hard TO
convince the American people that the
~ plosion was an accident. He would
nOt wish to express an opinion until
further information was received.