Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-10-03
Bat Il Costs More Monay Than
The Ono American Guns Sent
T0the Bottom Of the Sea.
WORgNsN WHO WILL NOT QUIT
Fave q Good Time aud Brighten the
Government When 1t Talks of
Discharglng Them
sneelal Correspondence.

Madrid, Sept25,-If 1t were not so sad
IL would be the funniest Of all inter-
national jokes--this Spanish navy. AS
the Spaniards themselves frankly ad-
NIT. 1t exists only on paper yet this
non-existent navy not only costs more
than when itexisted in fact, before the
United states destroyed It. but II has
Just caused the downfall Of cabinet
and provided Spain with new premier
and with n problem that may prove
too big for him. This cipher cuts 4
bigger figure at present than any OF
mits It; nearly s2,0OO,OOO are consumed
In the maintenance and repairing of the
ships, whose cost Of building is now
nearly duplicated through the expense
OF repairs 81 600 are employed for
the ships which are being built and a
81 100000 more Is expended on the arr
senals and shlpwrights' yards, the use-
lessness Of which Is notorious.
From allthls II appears that the Roy
al navy costs the Spanish rate-payers
every year 100000 more than when
the four cruisers and the various minor
vessels destroyed In the American war
also formed part Of the fleet, inasnuch
as In 1898. before the war with the
United States, the minister OF the
navy's estimate OF expenses came TO
less than s6000,000!
WOULDN'T BE DISCHARGED.
But the most ridiculous part of this
vast national farce is yet to come.
Throughout the go or 10 Years past,
when Spain really had navy. there
were never less than 1900 or 10000
workmen employed. Today their NUM-
Der remains undlmlnshed. This figure
was excessive even IN those times when
Spain had a considerable fleet.
The government has repeatedly at
tempted to discharge some OF the men,
but always IN vain The men them
selves have threatened TO provoke serl-
Gus disturbances II intorfered with and
the deputies and senators OF the three
shipbuildng provinces have insisted
that the government must respect 1.-The
rights acquired by those workmen." In
this situation. to avoid riots and Incl
dentally not to lose the support of the
aforesaid deputies and senators. the
government has continued TO use mil
lions and millions Of the money of the
naval department In paying the work.
men uneaned wages.
This farce was played again only the
other day The last of the funds des-
tined for the payment Of the workmen
OF the Cadlz dockyards having been
used up, the council Of ministers de-
| cided not to appropriate any more
money for that object. But as soon as
this resolution became known In Ca
diz the laborers rose in rebellion. the
corporation resigned en- masse as a
protest against the government, the
the other numerals In Spanish finance
Officially the Spanish fleet Is at pres
ent composed OF one first class iron
clad of 9,9ls tons burden, four first
class cruisers OF 30,2S5 tons altoseth-
er. two third class cruisers of 3,S47 tons,
two guardships. 81 smaller vessels. in
| Guiding torpedo boats, torpedo boat
| destroyers, gunboats, dispatch boats,
| etc. and 10 training ships. Besides
these, there are two cruisers not quite
| finished, the Queen Regent Second
cass) and the General LINERS (thrl
| class. This isn't much, but, unfortu-
nately. little as it Is II Is not what 1t
seems.
The only ironclad which figures In
| the list IS the Charles Fifth, built
| 10 years ago Its floating line Is 80
| los and II pitches so much that II
| would be dangerous to undertake Ions
voyage In this ship especially in a
| rough sea. or the four first class cruls-
| tfN lntNllONVu ABOVE lMO-lut Ndltl-
| lona and the Princess Of Asturias,
| which were launched four or five years
| ago-are not yet properly fitted our.
| and It Is not even possible to tell when
| they viii be quite ready for navigation.
| The third, the Cardinal Cisneros, only
| serves for short passages, thanks to
! its age Of 10 unlucky years. Tho
/ fourth. the Pelayo, the only one In
comparatively serviceahle condition
so frequently suffers damages I az
having been built In Toulon and al
ways being taken to that French port
whenever IT was In need of repair, the
Spaniards often observe sarcastically
that, ~ steam We're got up In the Pc.
layo, and II were dsembarkcd It would
alone, instinctvely and without the ait
OF any pilot, make straight away for
the port OF Toulon."
one Of the two third class cruisers,
the Rio dc la Plata, presented 20 Spain
by the spanish colony OF the Argen-
tine Republic when the war with the
! United states broke out, has cost $780,
600 for repairs, which is sufficient to
give an idea of its condition. The Other
Il OF such little worth that II Is only
| utilized for imprisoning In It's holds the
anarchists who are constantly causing
disturbances In some town or other or
the kingdom. The 81 smaller vessels,
when not being repaired In the dock
yards, are employed only In watching
the coasts In order 10 prevent the land
ing of arms by the Carllsts-a work IN
which they are not supremely useful
on account OF their lack OF speed and
fighting power As for the training
chips. they answer so badly the pur-
rose for which they are intended that.
according 20 what the sailors say tho
youths who are sent on board OF them
30 be instructed only learn 20 thank tho
Lord for permitting them 10 dlaemhark
with q whole skin
We. Spanards cannot even hoDe TO
see our miserable fleet strengthened and
improved by the addition az an early
date Of the now cruisers Queen Regent
and Gen. LINERS. The construction "
these cruisers was begun 10 or - years
ago, Taking into consldcra ton the eK-
traordlnnry progress which has been
made Of late IN the building Of hattie
ships, II Is likely that when the queen
Regent and the Gen Llnicras are I'M
ishcd Spain win be lucky II they can
he utilized even as guard ships They
have already cost the Spanish rate
rnyers from $4,000 coo 20 $1,000. 600 each.
a COSTLY CIPHER
In spite OF the actual fleet being such
a mockcry, its maintenance costs Spain
annually no less than 100000, of
which sum Si,000,000 are spent IN paying
the personnel only small part OF the
same heinz embarked and NAVIGATING