The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-22
WHAT PRESIDENT WILL DO
Line Of Action When Report Is Be-
ceiyed.
COPY WILL BE SENT To SPAIN AND
TO CONGRESS.

Decisive Action on The Part of the Presi'
dent Looked for When Report is in His
Hands-said Now to Be Expected by
Thnrsday.
Washington, March 21.-The procedure
in connection with the submission of the
report of the Maine court of inquiry by
the President to Congress is now clearly
outlined and cabinet officer today ex-
planned the general line of action at pres
ent intended to be pursued upon receipt
of the report which is expected to reach
Washington next Thursday. Copy OF II
will tie laid before the Spanish govern
ment very early and as soon as can bt
consistently. done the report will be sem
to Congress and made public at the same
time. The report to Congress will bf
accompanied by message from the
President stating that after receiving the
report the conclusions were laid before
the Spanish government and approp7i
ate action from that quarter asked. II
is stated positively that no part of the
report and no intimation of the findings
has reached the executive authorities at
Washington as yet. At the same time the
current of official opinion is beginning
to follow that of the unofficial opinion
expressed SO persistently at Havana and
Key West that the cause of the explosion
was external to the battleship. Officials
here in the administration stated today
that while they were wholly without
exact information as to the findings of
| the count of inquiry they found them
selves in the apparently intangible con
4 viction that the cause OF the explosion
was not accidental.
| Opinions expressed by the Maine sur.
| v1yors who reached here last Saturday
doubtless bave contributed largely to this
view in official circles. In this connection
it is understood that one of the officers
who arrived on Saturday stated not as
opinion, but as his personal observa-
tion on the night of the disaster, that
there were two distinct explosions The
tendency of this is to support the theory
of external cause. as this is based on the
| idea that the first external explosion was
| followed by second internal explosion.
| Interest in the report was manifested
today at the White House, and at the
state, war and navy departments. The
President received number OF Con-
gressional leaders, among them being
Speaker Reed and Chairman Hit of the
House committee on foreign affairs. The
visit of Mr. Reed naturally attracted
\ much. attention as he seldom leaves the
| Congressional sphere to make calls on
executive branches and it is inferred that
the purpose of his visit was to confer
upon the Cuban situation and its future
before Congress, though neither he nor
| Mr. Hit were communicative. Secretary
Long also had an extended conference
with the President, but so far as it could
| be learned it developed nothing addit-
ional relating to the Spanish question.
! The military and naval prepaT ations
have now become so regular as to lapse
| further purchases of war ships We're
concluded today and the negotiations
are not assuming a promising aspect, ex-
| cept in showing that the United States
can command the market as against
| Spain. The ordinance Office of the war
department presented q very busy scene
| TO-DAY when BIDS were opened for fur
nishing the department about 1850 cast
! iron projectiles for sea coast cannon in
| the fortiHcations. The advertisement
| called for 1s7 ten-inch solid shot, $40
| twelve.inch mortar shells, WEIGHING 500
pounds each and 500 twelve-inch mortar
| Shells weighing 1000 pounds each.
An unusually large number Of firms
bid for the contract and their prices
showed wide range. The companies
bidding including the following:
| The johnson Engineering and Foun-
dry company. Rearin Engineering COM
pany, Of Columbus, Ohio; the Davies and
Thomas company OF Catasauqua, pa. !;
the Phoenix Foundry Manufacturing
| Of 3ol Do ho -looy,
Iron company of Chicago the West Point
Foundry company; the Wylnan Machine
company of Labanon, Pa. ; the Pulaski
Foundry and Machine company of Pulaski,
Va; the West Side Foundry company of
Troy, N. Y; Wm. p. Hunt of Boston !;
the Petersburg, Va. Iron works; the
Rome, n Y, machine works; the Build
ers Iron Foundry. Providence, II. l.; the
Payne Engineering company of K lmira.
n. Y; the Pottsfield, Pa. Iron and Steel
company and the Ealk q Murdock Iron
company of Charleston, S. G.
The Petersburg Iron company was the
lowest bidder, although the other condit-
ions may prevent it from getting the
contract. The company offered to sup
ply the ten-inch shot at $i0.o6 each, one
half to be delivered in 4 } days and the
remainder in 70 days: l2-inch shells OF
500 and 1000 pounds each at s21.2s and
Se3.97 respectively, 90 of each kind to be
| furnished in 40 days and the remainder
at quick intervals.
nh. Rome. N. Y, Machine works
offered to supply the ten inch shot at
sl4. 30 each, to begin the delivery in one
| week and to turn over the entire amount
| in four weeks,
| The battleship Texas started northward
| from Key West today, thus settling the
question as to the formation Of a second
| squadron at or near Hampton Roads. 1t
| is expected the massachusetts, will follow
| in few days, but the tiEal orders for
that move have not been given. he
navy department received a preliminary
report today from one of it's agents who
| is at Havana watching the progress OF
| the wreckinQ 1t is understood that this
refers mainly to the mechanical work of
salvage and not to the question Of
cause. The judge advocate seneral' s
| office where the report was received will
| not disclose the details of the report.
The short session of the Senate today
was quite unusual for the first working
day of the week That no one was pre-
pared to go on with any opening measure
was given as the explan ation, but pri-
vately the opinion WAS stated by some
of the senators that while the Cuban
question remained in such suspense there