The age-herald., 1898-04-26
ARMOR PLATE WARM FACTOR IN SENATE Consideration of Naval Appro-
 priation Bill TO BUILD AN ARM0R PLANT Amendment Offered By Butler to This
 Effect Defeated. ARM0R OF>OUR SHIPS DEFECTIVE MT. Hawley Accused Butler of Treason in Making This Assertion. THE BILL GOES TO CONFERENCE Bill Was Passed to Provide a Survey of Elk River in Tennessee and Alabama-Es- inmates for the Improvement
 of Texas Harbor.
MT. HawIey Accused Butler of Treason
 in Making This Assertion.
THE BILL GOES TO CONFERENCE

Washington, April 25.-War and war mea-
 sures were the only topics discussed by the senate today during more than four hours
 of it's session. The body had scarcely con- vened when the message of the president,
 urging congress to declare the existence of
 war between the United States and Spain.
 was laid before it. Without comment the
 message was referred to the foreign rela- tions committee.
 Consideration of the naval appropriation bill was then resumed, the pending ques-
 ton being upon the amendment offered by MT. Butler, of North Carolina. to regulate the price of armor.
 The amendment provides that for the ar nor for the three battieships now in course of construction the government shall not pay to exceed $400 ton, including the nick ell: and that subsequent contracts for ar nor shall not call for a greater price than $500 per ton.
 Purchase or Establish Plant
 In case the price cannot be obtained the secretary of the navy is authorized at once to nnrchase or establish government ar nor factory for which $1,5OO,O0o, and in ad- dition s1 OCO coo, is appropriated Tor the nai-
 ufacture of armor. MT Butter strong au
 vooated the adoption of the amendment anu
 charged that the Shlps ol tHis eo"h't'
 covered with defective arInor.
 Mir uaUley challenged the statement CT emnhaticaily deny,' said he, that there is any such amount Of defectlVe aihiOi V,i our war ships as the senator rom NoIen Carolina declares there is. And even II the statement were true,1 leave the country to judge of the propriety or haunting 'ie defects before Spain.
 "While I am in entire agreement With the senator from Connecticut,' 1nterJeeteo Mir. Chandler, of New Hampshire, l aI' satisfied that the senator (Mr. Butlerl IS mistaken. Investigation has shown that the ballistic tests of the armor were sat isfactory.'
 Best in the World
 MT Chandler appealed to Mr. Hale, chairman of the naval affairs committee, and the Ia tier said: 'The armor upon our ships is the best in the world. No Euro pean government has armor on Its shp so good as ours.
 MT Butler was proceeding to read testi- mony taken before a committee of the house relating to the defective armor on various United States war vessels and to
 make sharp comment upon it, when MT. Hawley said, sharply:
 q must protest against this. I believe
 the senator from North Carolina is out of
 order in making these charges here pub lcly If he should reduce them to writing
 and then submit them privately to Spain,
 pointing out those defective plates, he would be guilty of treason"
 Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina, called attention to the fact that the statements
 made by MT. Butler had been based upon official and congressional reports which were easily accessible.
 Continuing, MT. Butler adverted to what he regarded as the ''excited' utterances of the senator (Mr. Hawley) who, he said, had risen and flung at him charges of treason. He thought those who were guilty of treason were those who had refused to make provision for good armor at reasonable price.
 TiIiman Favored the Amendment At the conclusion of Mir. Buffers re- marks MT. Tillman made an extended l speech in favor of the proposed amend ment.
 MT. Hale declared that both the naval affairs and appropriations committee were opposed to the construction of a govern ment armor factory as they were thor oughly satisfied it would save neither time | or money. He then moved to lay the
 amendment upon the table and it was so
 ordered by a vote of 36 to 13. MT. Hale offered an amendment author | izing the secretary of the navy to enlist at | any time after the passage of the act as | many seamen, landsmen and boys as he | may deem necessary to man the ships of | the navy or for the use of the navy as a | temporary force and appropriating $8, ,S30-
 900 for that purpose.
 | Mr. Hale agreed to an amendment that | the time limit should be During the ex- | isting war" The amendment was agreed | to, the amount being appropriated being
 made immediately available. The bill was l then passed.
 The bill for the better organization of | the line of the army of the United States 1 and providing for the three battalion for | nation was called up and the amendments 1 offered by the committee were agreed to
 without division. The bill was paced upon | its passage and passed within twenty min | utes of its introduction.
 | Action of the House | At 2:25 the message clerk of the house of | representatives informed the senate that | house had passed a resolution declaring a l state of war existing between the United | Staes and Spain. The message was at once | read to the senate, and the senate went in- 1 to secret legislative session to consider the 1 resolution declaring the existence of war. At 4:32 p. m. the senate resumed business 1 in open session.
 A concurrent resolution directing the sec 1 retary of war to prepare and submit plans l and estimates for the improvement of Ar | kansas Pass harbor, Texas, was agreed to- | At 4:55 the message clerk of the house an- | nounced that the speaker had signed the | bill declaring tn existence of war between the United States and Spain, and requested | the signature of the vice president Within l two minutes Vice President Hobart had l signed the act and at precisely o'clock an- l nounced his signature.
 | few minutes afterwards another mes- l sage was received from the house an-