The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-17
Stntemen by Captain Lowe.

Statement by Captain Lowe. New York. Nov 16.-The official re-
 ports upon the Holland submarine toc. pedo boat were made public to-day
 The report of John Lowe, captain U. S. N., who was on the Holland boat at
 the time of the official test, gives tech- nical details of the principal circum- stances which took place within the
 boat and then in part says: q report
 my belief that the Holland is suc-
 cessful and veritable sub-marine tor
 pedo boat capabale of making verita- a-
 be attack upon an enemy unseen and
 undetectable, and that, therefore, she
 is an engine of warfare of terrible po-
 tency which the government must
 necessarily adopt into its service. Con-
 corning the worse than worthlessness of
 the present above-water torpedo sys-
 tenn. and the absolute need of real
 torpedo system such as the submarine
 system, have already reported.
 Tn addition I would like to give fur
 ther reasons why a submarine service
 should at once be organized as a mat
 ter of public necessity and security. We
 must concede that the time has not yet
 arrived for ma ations to disarm. That
 nation which is not ready to fight, that
 ceases to use the most frightful war like appliances when war is made, is already in the position of China, a prey
 to the weakest and most rapacious. If, then, we propose to fight, we must fight with every fighting appliance and therefore, if there is anything valuable in submarine torpedo warfare, we must not permit our hands to be tied behind our backs by any Hague conference or pusillanimous humanitariansm forbid ding such appliance. Again conceding war to be possible, consider where the United States is weak and how to re- sist attack.
 We have distant dependencies, the Philippines, Hawaii and the like. Will an enemy seek to bring us to terms by attacking those We could afford to of fer these as a gambit, upon which the enemy, could waste its strength, while we would develop it from the counter moves. Any powerful enemy would not play at war after that fashion. They would strike us in the vitals. An eght- day dash across the Atlantic would bring their ships to Montauk Point, where they would encounter the Ameri- can fleet which being destroyed by force of numbers the remainder of the en- emy's ships could pass on, and anchor in Long Island sound in perfect secur- ity and shortly Long Island would be- come q foreign possession. So many have spoken of this scheme that I am satisfied 1t has been considered and di- gested in foreign councils and is part of their programme.
 In our last Spanish war we saw the army diligently fortifying against phantom ships In our next war it wont be phantom ships for there are at least two nations which can do this thing single handed. We need right off fifty submarine torpedo vessels in Long Island sound to preserve the peace and to give potency to our diplomacy. The French in this matter are much more alive to their needs than are we. What we have left to the private company the French have taken up as a national af fair
 Tt seems to me quite a necessity that this government should not allow the ekill and knowledge possessed by the Holland people to pass out of it's own hands from native to foreign lands, but should at once purchase the Holland and put the Holland people under some ban whereby they will be prevented from disclosing secrets to the disad- vantage of the United States. l desire to add my own opinion as to what the future policy of the navy department should be, after inaugurating a sub- marine service Instead of doing too much with one vessel each one should be distinct vessel of it's kind and not have combined two or more kinds of one vessel
 Thus there should be submarine torpedo boats, submarine gunboats, observation and despatch boats, submarine counter-mlnes and submarine channel diggers. etc., and each kind complete in itself, but not more than one office. The object I have in mind is to keep the boats down to small dimensions for the sake of handiness and to keep each boat as roomy and as habitable as pos sible for the sake of the crew. This class of vessel cannot possibly have the comforts of a roomy vessel. There can only be limited cooking facilities. They must therefore always be attached to some base, either on shore or afloat.'
 The report of the board of inspectors and survey signed by Fred Rodgers, rear admiral, U. S. N, president, and others describes in detail the official rial of the Holland substantially as re- ported in the newspapers at the time md concludes with the observation | that all of the official requirements were fulfilled by the performance of