Evening star., 1900-05-10
DEBATE WITHOUT ACTION
DISCUSSION OF ARMOR
Plates COST.
of Rear Admiral O'Neil
ON "SOft Nose PrOjectfles' Pre-
senteL by Mr.. Hale.

the proposition of Mr.. Tfllman to reduce
the price of armor to $500 and for the gov
ernment to erect plant of it's own.
After The Stars report iof the Senate
proceedings was closed yesterday after
noon Mr.. Tfllman referred to the recent
naval tests on the penetrability of armor'
He was not convinced that the new process
armor was one whit better than the old kind.
A 9-:nch new process plate had been easily
penetrated, and who could say that
14-inch plate would not suffer similarly?
Mr.. Hale interrupted to state that the
only significance of recent experiments was
to show that the best projectiles will pierce
anything, but that the new process armor
has an impenetrability of rs per cent
greater than any other. The cap pro1ectlies
went through the 9-inch and even the
11-inch plates as though they were PM pine
boards. Mr.. Hale contended that Mr. mi
man could not urge this as a new reason
for a government factory.
Mr.. Perkins (Cal) Joined with Mr. Hale
and Mr.. Tlllman in an animated dlscus-
sion of paternalism In connection with the
proposal for a government armor factory.
M. Stewart said that the government
should not be at the mercy Of great cor
poration or combination, and should free
itself by building government factory,
even if a ton of armor was never made in
it.
Mr.. Money (Miss.) inquired as to the in
formation available on the soft nose pro-
jectiles.''
Admiral O'NeiHs Memorandum.
To this inquiry Mr.. Hale presented
memorandum from Rear Admiral ONeii'
chief of the naval bureau Of ordnance, CIV
ing the latest available information on the
subject Of armor and particularly on soft
ncse projectiles." The memorandum stated
in part: mo armor that exists today, re-
gardless of its thickness or quality, can
resist the power of the modern gun at
short range. Therefore. the fact that
armor can readily be perforated at snort
range must not be considered an indication
that it is of inferior quality 1t simply
means that 1t is overmatched by the gun
Naturally, that which is the most difficult
to perforate is the most desirable
All tests of armor, the memorandum
states, are made with uncapped proJect1les
randum adds: 1T is a well-known fact
that soft steel cap attached to the point
of an armOr-ptercing projectile increases
its efficiency to a marked extent, anywhere
from Is to 20 and often to % per cent and
all such projectiles for the United States
navy are fitted with caps. A few days ago
at Indian Head a 6-inch capped shell was
easily driven through IA inches of Harvey
lied armor and the same has been done
through 8 inches of Krupp armor.'
Mr.. Money made a speech, in which he
said he would support the proposition OF
Mr.. Tilmdn for a government armor plant
believing it the best way to solve the prob
lem.
Tillman's Amendment Advocated.
Mr. Chandler earnestly advocated the
amendment of Mr.. Tillman. He pointed
cut that the proposition of the committee
was to pay s445 per ton for $4,000 tons of
armor, and if the companies would not
agree to that, to pay s545 per ton for
armor for the three battleships now await
ing arnor, and then proceed to build an
armor plant. The proposition he favored
was to pay $545 per ton for armor for the
battleships Maine, Ohio and Missouri, and
build an armor plant at once.
He would venture the assertion, he said,
that the United States could build an ar
nor plant and manufacture armor cheaper
than 1t could be made by the private con-
Germs and we would not have to pay royal
ties to anybody. If the United States was
thought, 1t might be we'll to accede to the
demand of the armor com pa pies; but If We
were to become Il world power and builI
ships for the next twenty years 1t would
be, far cheaper to make armor at the gov
ernments own plant. He was satisfied
that the government needed an afmor plant
as much as we need navy yards. The navy
yards were protection against eNtortion by
the combined ship building concerns of the
country, and to the same extent he be-
leved government armor plant would
protect the government from the extor-
ton of the armOr monopoly.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Chambers re-
marks the bill was laid aside for the day.
joint resolution authorizing the selec.
ton of site and the erection of bronze
statue in this city In honor OF the late
Henry Wadsworth Longfeilow was passed.
After brief executive session the Sen
ate, at 5:15 pm, adjourned