The Springfield herald., 1900-05-04
CONGRESSIONAL GRIST-
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.

no one of whom contributed more than
n penny"
The naval board on construction has
, finally approved the plans of the three
battleships authorized by the last Con-
gress and gave instructions to have the
specifications prepared at once prelim-
mary to calling for bids from the ship
builders. The ships will be enlarged
lowaS in type with the same rectan-
Sular superstructure and the two tur-
| rets, bow and stern. on the main deck.
The ttIrret guns will be twelve-inch cal
iber, like the Iowa's guns; there will
be turret at each corner of the super
structure. carrying two eight-inch guns
and twelve six-inch rapid tirers will be
| disposed along the sides of the central
citadel. The ships Will make nineteen
knots speed and have displacement of
| about 1900 tons. making these new
| ships by far the largest i'll the United
States navy and as big as the largest
type of British armorcd cruisers. As
the constructors are limited in the draft
by our shallow harbors TO IA little over
twenty-five feet. and rs seventy-iive
feet represents about the greatest beam
consistent with speed, it will be neccS-
sary to provide for the weights by Civ
ing the ships more length than the
Iowa class, and they will be almost
40 feet long. The secondary batteries
will be made up largely of fourteen
Founders. Altogether the ships will be
more than equal 10 any warships of
their size in the worlds navics.
The report of the commissioner of
internal revenue looks very much as II
we We're becoming Il nation OF beer
drinkers, the increased consumption OF
malt liquors having been so rapid dur
L n. I.,..t ~ hnn
the population of the country was b.
O00.0o0. we consumed only about q
100000 barrels of beer. or an average
of one barrel to every sixteen people.
In 1870. with poulation OF 3S,50O,OOO,
we consumed 6,5I4,61I barrels of beer,
| or an average of about one barrel to
every six people. In 1850 the popula-
| tion had increased thirty per cent. but
! the consumption of beer was doubled,
and 30, 11,. 1873 people consumed 13,34I,-
| III barrels of beer. In 1890 the con-
! sumption of beer had doubled again,
reaching total of 2T.561 Oh barrels,
while the population had increased on
ly twenty-four per cent. to G2.662.25O.
In 1895. when. according to the esti-
mates of the bureau of statistics, we
had 65. .OOO. 900 people. we consumed 3d.
| 561 III barrels of beer. or about one
barrel for every two persons in the
whole community. and in 1889. with
| Iu,DOO.OUO people. we consumed 3G,5Sl,-
| ia barrels of beer. Thus the popula-
tion has increased 10 per cent. and the
consumption of beer 1,SOO per cent.
The increase in the manufacture OF
whisky has not been so rapid. In fact,
more whisky was produced IN the
United States in 1864 than in 1899 the
total in the former year being S5,293,-
393 gallons, and in 1899 81, 125, ,o32 gal
Ions.
Secretary Gage has sent to the SEN
ate n reply TO the resolutions of the
Senate of April Goth. in regard to the
amount of revenues derived from the
so-called war revenue act with state
men, showing the total amount of such
receipts from June I3, 1898. to the 3lst
ult. The statement is us follows: