The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-04
PHILIPPINES NEXT ON
 THE JAPANESE PROGRAM

, such as the Oregon, Indiana and others of the same class on the retired list."'
 Stewart Likes the Oregon.
 "I hope they won't retire the Oregon" said MT. Stewart.
 well. they ought not to-" replied Mr. Hale. But she has not the state room facilities that meet the fancy of naval officers. She has the same number of thirteen-lnch guns and the same fighting capacity. Nothing suits the navy of- ficers except the largest battleships."
 He expressed the opinion that the present war in theOrient would show that other vessels are more valuable than large battleShips, but admitted that no definite conclusions could be drawn until the smoke lifted.
 MT. Hale said he had no censure for the officers of the American navy, but the naval officer is the naval officer pure and simple, and the American navy bounds his complete horizon. To him the navy is everything and the naval board had run too much in the direc- tion of enormous ships. In some res poets. the naval officers are like the far mer who wants to raise the biggest pumpkin. They don't want Great Bri- tain or Germany to excel the United States"
 6S Battleships; 24 Cruisers.
 The naval board program contemplated 6S battleships and 24 armored cruisers. and when that stage was reached an appropriation of 1000 a year would be necessary for the navy. He thought 1t probable that the appropriation re- quired next year would be $12O,0OO.OOO. If, however, the scale could be kept down to the present rate of increase, the ap- propriation would not be increased. We should" he said, 'get along with hun dred millions a year."
 MT. Perkins defended the officers of the navy, saying they were entitled to great credit
 MT. Hale admitted that the American officer was a man of merit but Congress has it's responsibility and should know where the money Is going.
 T am," he said, mot to be deterred by criticisms of want of patriotism. want a powerful navy. It is necessary. on account of the conditions. We have got to have ships in the Philippines, for instance It Is different from what 1t is with Japan, who will do her fight ing at home. In case of war, we should have to spend hundreds of millions In the Philippines. But there is danger of go- ing farther than necessary"
 Made Necessary by Philippines.
 MT. Hale admitted that the last ex- tensive additions to the navy have been made necessary by the acquisition of the Philippines, and said that he for one would like to get rid of those islands. Still, so long as we have those islands, we must protect them. Likewise, he said. it now would be necessary to maIn- tain a navy sufficient to protect the Panama canal.
 Mir. Lodge spoke at some length on the need of a good navy to protect our trade and uphold the Monroe doctrine. He did not believe the torpdeo boats would supersede the battleships and said that in our war with Spain the torpedo ves- eel had been a complete failure. There had been one very successful attack by the Japanese torpedo boats. but this was due largely to the poor gunnery of the Russians and the darkness.
 MT. Money then said that if we were to persist in our policy of subjugation we would find necessary a greater navy than the people were willing to support l lGs. Nn"ay Gnoks of tho proWees eH she