People's voice., 1900-09-13
Signs of n Subsidized Merchant Me-
rine-The Navy Department FavOrs
Trust ArmOr PIate-Imperialisti
Control of the War Departments
Hanna's Fat-Frying.
Especial Correspondence.l

y
protest from the American seamen
of the Pacific coast against manning
the transport Hancock with Chinese
sailors. This transport sailed q few
days ago from San Francisco for
Shanghai.
The citizens Of the coast object to
having sailors employed who might
think it an act of patriotism to scuttle
q ship when we are practically at war
with China, The Chinese sailors were
employed because they were cheaper
than Americans.
1t can easily be imagined that if the
United States army authorities make
cheapness the first consideration in
selecting crews for war vessels or those
carrying troops the masters of a sub
sidized merchant marine wouldn't
waste any of their profits paying good
wages to American seamen unless they
were obliged to by law.
Trust ArmOr Plate.
The unsettled condition of matters
IN the orient encourages those who be-
lieve in big navy TO urge that the
vessels now ordered be hurried to COM
pletion.
The secretary of the navy recently
received bids for armor plate upon the
new vessels authorized by congress.
The Carnegie and Bethlehem COM
panies bid $49O per ton for Krupp ar
NOR and a little less for other kinds.
The bidders stipulated that the max
Ing of the Krupp armor should not be
subject to scrutiny by government Off
rials. claiming that the process is
secret one and could only be procured
by an agreement that it should be kept
so.
What lot of nonsense. There is no
special secrecy about the Krupp meth
cd and the record of the Carnegie and
Bethlehem companies is not such that
they can be trusted to produce STAN
dard armOr without watching. II will
be remembered that at the time Of the
great Homestead strike this labor dis
turbance helped to divert attention
from about the most defective lot Of
armor plate ever made for a credulous
government.
Some confding people wonder
whether the secretary of the navy will
accept these bids or build a govern
ment armor plant. Of course he will
accept them and see that perquisites
enough are allowed to bring the price
up to the original $545, for which the
armor plate trust fought so hard in
congress. The democrats knew what
the republicans meant when they
talked about leaving the whole matter
to the discretion of the secretary Of
the navy. That meant leaving it at
the mercy of the trust. There will be
no government armor plate factory
under republican administration.
War Department imperialism.
The activity of the war department
shows that practical Imperialism is do
ing its level best to involve the country
SO deeply in unauthorized wars that
Bryan would have difficulty in straight
ening out the entanglements.
We are supposed to be on a peace
footing. The war department ignores
the Philippines completely. Yet NIL
lions of dollars worth of war supplies
are being shipped to Manila. There
are all sorts of things that our army
cannot possibly want during the wet
season.
Secretary Root hints that the sup
plies are being sent in anticipation of
further Chinese trouble. The admin
stration has no moral scruples about
helping to partition China as soon as
It has the campaign off its hands and
can get all the troops it wants.
The Russian government, it is said,
has set the example by advising its
minister to accept an escort from Pc
king. 1t is said that the Russians in
tend in this manner to short circuit the
whole incident. This does not sound
like Russia, for she is in better posi-
tion than any other country to force
China to give up territory.
The Chinese government maintains
scornful silence in relation to Nc
Kinley's demands for free communica.
tion with our minister and his safe
delivery TO our forces.
The administration is hoping that
Chinese affairs will drag along until
after election. II defeated Mckinley
.an leave the consequences of his bad
management to Bryan 10 repair and il
reelected there will still be an oppor.
tunity to combine with Great Britain
in grabbing a port or two. The Brit.
.sh have landed troops at Shanghai
without protest from this government
This means that Mckinley and hi:
friends of the Anglo-American alliance
are looking to the future and that i'm
perialism will have even wider scope
than before.
Mark Hanna's Skillet.
Hanna is busy frying fat" and scar