The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-13

tOT
ing Factories Rejected. - to q
The Minority 10 Renew the Fight.
The Senate yesterday by a vote of "a to
90 rejected the amendment of.Mr. Pettus
to the Naval Appropriation bill, providing
| that the Government should erect its own
| armor plate plant. The amendment of Mr..
| Tillman providing that the amount offered
| for armor plate be limited to $500 per ton
| and that the Government should erect its
| own plant if this price was rejected by
| private firms. was also rejected by vote
of "a TO %. Eight votes were taken on
| separate armor plate amendments, six OF
| these being rejected, the other two votes
being declared void because of the abb
sence of a quorum.
The minority fought hard to pass the
Government armor plant proposition, Mr..
Tillman substituting sums regulating the
price of armor plate from $500 to $545 SO
that the plant proposition might go
| through. All of these were defeated, how
ever, and the Senate adjourned without
| voting on the committee amendment.
| This latter provides that the Secretary
| of the Navy shall be instructed to pro-
| cure armor for the naval vessels already
| ordered, the cost of the armor not to ex-
| coed S445 per ton of 2.240 pounds, includ-
ing royalties. 1t is flu. Their provided that:
IF, after advertising for the armor. the
| Secretary of the Navy should be unable &c
contract for such armor designated above,
then, and in that event, the Secretary
| of the Navy is authorized to pro-
cure armor of the best quality for the lat
! tleships Maine, Ohio, and Missouri, now
i awaiting armor and to pay therefor not to
exceed S545 per ton of z, 240 pounds; pro-
vide6 further, that If the Secretary OF the
Navy has found, after such advertisement
that armor plate of the best quality can
not be purchased from private manufac-
turers of armOr plate for s445 per ton Of
2240 pounds. then, in that event, he is
| hereby directed to procure or purchase
suitable site and erect thereon an armor
plate factory at cost not to exceed 81
10000; and to carry out the purposes OF
this provision the sum of 100000 is
hereby appropriated and made Immediate
ly available out of any money in the
1 Treasury"
1t is expected that the above will be
adopted on Monday although Mr.
Chandler gave notice that he reserved the
right to call for vote on the armor plate
amendments when the bill came up for
passage.
Mr.. ChnndIer's Address,
Mr.. Chandler opened the debate on the
amendment yesterday, speaking at length
in favor of a Government armor plate fac
tory. He denied Mr. Allison's statements
that there was any great difference be-
tween krupp plate and Harvey plate. and
said that Harvey armor was as good as
the krupp. He also denied that there was
any secret in the Krupp process. He re-
cited an extended history OF the Harvey
process and its use By the United States
and other Governments.
.krupp armor is simply Harvey armor,
into which tie carbon is driven two or
three times farther than in the latter
process. There is no secret to it," said
he. The Klnpp process has never been
even patentable'
Mr.. Hale asked If Mr.. Chandler would
If he were Secretary of the Navy. select
Harvey OF krupp armor for the naval ves-
sells.
..Krupp armor Is little harder than
Harvey ar,nor" said Mr.. Chandler, but IL
were paying S445 per ton for armor l
would get them to harden the plates clear
through. They can do 1t. They will do
ii and will come to us demanding $500
per ton simply because they had decided
to harden il through
a
Government armor plant?" asked Mr..
Stewart of Mr.. Hale.
We'll, it might be good thing" said
Mr.. Hale, but l would rather get the ar
NOR from the private companies. l want
10 give them chance TO make the plates"
How can you hold the companies 10
your rates?' asked MIR. Stewart.
Il don't know" answered Mr. Hale.
Il don't believe the Krupp process has
any great merit. At all events. ! don't
want to II oil with this armor plate trust
any longer. | believe that We all favor
Government armor plant, but some of
us want to follow in the way of the COM
mittee. A Government plant is the only
remedy, anG l nope we will vote to erect
ii at once"
2 Mr.. Bacon stated that II the Senate
agreed to give the armor people si45. it
Z would only b. year before they would
demand more money and a Government
plant would haze to be erected anyway.
THE Senator from Massachusetts can
hardly contend that We are always to re-
main in the power of the armor plate
!, trust" said Mr.. Chandler. We Iced a
a great amount OF armor. and should make
a | ii ourselves.
Mr. Stewart stated that the evidence was
4 | all against the armor trust, and while he
a did not deny the right of corporation to
1 get all it could, he did not propose to have
D
MIXED frog year TO year.
4 1.-THE United States is now frst-class
] power" seid he. 'and we ought TO be
{ ready for all emergencies First and most
important is our navy and we must have
some means of armoring our vessels in
I dependent of any corporation. Without a
a factory of our own we never will have ar
a | NOR plate on reasonable terms"
M-. HOnr's Patriotism.
II want to protest against the state
ment of the Senator from Nevada
0 that the United States has got to
e be frst-class power said Mr.. Hoar.
THE United States went out of the war OF
1872 a first-class power and has been one
ever since. We have kept the peace .or
s some time, but we will always be first
n class power The Duke of Wellington ac-
knowledged this in 1916. We are not as
strong as we were a year ago as we have
. | been bound over to keep the peace. The
: finest treatises on naval gunnery published
: in Great Britain give nineteen examples of
splendid work. Seventeen of these were
with Yankee vessels which had been vic;o-
: ricus. We came out a frst-class power
and there hasn't been country since that
dared to tackle us and that wasn't glad to
. get out OF any trouble with u.s.
Mr.. Rawlins said that he believed that
, armor plate on. naval vessels would follow
!, the ancient helmet and coat of-mail
/, THE battle will be to the swift and the
mobile said he THE Senator from
Massachusetts stated that by virtue OF
the Monroe Doctrine, the United States
u | must be the dictator on this Conf