The San Francisco call., 1898-04-02
Call Of1ce, Riggs House,

Washington, April i.
 F. After an exceedingly turbulent ses-
 sion of six hours the House to-day
 passed the naval appropriation bill and
 then: adjourned until Monday. The
 war. spirit was manifested in all the ;. speeches and overrode the naval com
 mittee itself by increasing the number 2. of torpedo boats and torpedo-b6at de ! stroyers to twenty-four, the bill as re-
 ported provided for but twelve. The
 amendment of Cannon, chairman of the. s Appropriations Committee, to reduce
 the number of battleshipS to one was
 buried under an overwhelming ma %jorfty. The provision relating to arInor :. plate, which in ordinary times would
 have precfpitated d debate of several sdays, was disposed of in ten minutes, a proposition to decrease the: price agreed : to in the bill from $4O0. to $500 per ton :. being drowned in perfect chorus of
 noes. ...". =. aa Cannon, during the course of the. day, announced the belief of a majority of
 the members that war would be upon. E. us. within a week. and DeArmond of
 Missouri made a, notable speech, de- esclarlng= that if hOstiifties were near it
 Was=our. duty.to str5 the first blow. ;: Long before the House convened , eNaI.y inch of. ayaiFa ble= space in the :: galleries =was: taken. and hundreds be- .sieged. the doors. unable.to gain"adrnis- # .BelltGIle chairman of the Naval .Cotn- %mutee, .desired to go. ahead with the
 naVal* bill despite the fact. that Under :sthe rules. this was private bill day. He .explained kTIefy the ~utgent necessity :of. getting. tkA bill through. at once. -. X. very; significant event occurred :.vlliile.an attempt was being made to ef- fact: eflII- -aiEr8ng ngen5ent to postpone; g. .prfYate: bill days until Tuesday. . The a iSpaaker.s .hiImSeEf' seemed t0 hesitate
 about asking tne t0nsent of. the House, syl,llareup poli: RronlWeIl (R. j. Qf Ohio. asked " fG I'uesGa.g. was set apart Iof pF!Fate
 bills -wiiethereit. would interfere with a rep Of:t: from the Foreign Affairs Com
 IIlttee: j ': IT certainly. would replied the Speaker promptly. .:' :'t..'. : ; "1:Then 1 object shouted. Cromwell.
 .M Subsequently he withdrew his objec- .ti0n With the understanding that Tues !. day should be private bill= day provided :=tIle. Foreign Affairs Committee had no }: report to make to the. House. The naval :: bill was then: taken up.
 .:. King .C9;) of Utah made a point of order against the provision for new bat .tleships and torpedo boats. 1t.:waS over ruled: by the chair.::
 +s;rC'annon+ chairman of the Appropria- @tions Committee. offered a; substitute for the paragraph in the bill providing for fhiee battleships, six. torpedo-bOats =:and six torpedo-boat destroyerS. The =#Substitute provided for one battleship F to cost &, ,000.0e0 exclusive: of arma ment, | twelve: torpedo-boat destroyers' and twelve torpedo boats to cost not eX- /. -Geeding S4600 900. .:. .:s@ Cannon supported the. amendment in "a: brief speech, arguing that in case of F. necessity the torpedo boats and the torpedo boat destroyers would be much more valuable than. the battie-ships, i because they would be quickly built :IIow long does it require to build
 battle ship?" asked MT. Cookery. 5s:: :tfThree years '' :.=.. :.< :@How long to construct torpedo +. .== .,sUnder stress, utilizing the ship ards :-of the country, from three to eight :: months"
 Cannon appealed to members without passion to act as wise men should act
 What objection, asked Norton. (D.) g: of Ohio 'have you to leaving the three : battle ships in the bill and increasing the number of torpedo-boats to the humber provided in this amendment? ?'' ',CTremendous applause in the gaIleries) ..., Moist gentlemen believe said Can non, --:.that within week we will. be
 a war with one of the countries of the earth. That will mean additional taxa ,:tiOm and authorization to borrow S500,-
 O00 000. It means that these burdens
 shall be put upon the people. Let us
 double taxation if necessary, but let .us not authorize a single dollar that is not
 necessary to meet the emergency just in front of us. Long before these battle e ships can be launched the war will be over and fear these battleships will be 5 obsolete" (Applause)
 z. Boutelle ifi spirited reply, declared that the history of naval warfare
 showed that the great naval battles of :. the world had been won by the ships
 of the battle line.
 Hilborn (R.) of California, member Of the Naval Committee, argued ear .nestly in favor of authorizing the per .Snauent increase to the battle line pro- Vided in the bill.
 x. Cummings CD.) of New York declared that the value of the battleship had : been demonstrated at the battle of the yYalu and the subsequent action of Japan and China in ordering battle . ships, not to speak of the fact that Germany, France, England and Russia
 were building immense ships of the
 heavy%fightinP type, was conclusive of
 their value.
 ,; .Pearce (R) of Missouri offered an
 amendment to increase the number of
 torpedo boats and torpedo boat de-
 SlF0NerS autnOrlZeQ "Dy the DHl 10
 twelve each and to increase the appro- priation from $2, ,30O, 900 to 4,6e0 GOO. He
 quoted a high naval officer as stating that these torpedo craft were absolutely necessary to the protection of the bat
 tleships of the navy. It was little short
 of criminal he contended to subject fleets to dangers from a torpedo boat.
 Boutelle said the committee was per
 fectly willing to accept the Pearce amendment, but he pointed out that under the emergency appropriation the administration was buying and build- ing torpedo and other boats of the mos
 quito fleet for the protection of our fighting ships.
 The debate drifted into a discussion of the respective merits of battle-ships and torpedo boats.
 De Armond (D.) of Missouri at this juncture got the floor with a speech that