The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-20
THE TALK OF
 WASHINGTON. Dryden Has an Insurance Bill. INCREASE OF THE NAVY. Bonaparte and Congress Op-
 pose the President. Retirement of General oAanee, the Ranking 0nicer of the Uaitea
 states Army.--A Matter
 of Interest.
INCREASE OF THE NAVY
By n. H. watkins.

| ! on insurance In the United States Sem ate. has been to see the President and
 discussed with him at length what l he intends to put into his message on | the subject. Senator Dryden talked with tho President about the advis- ability of the Bureau of Corpora tions investigating the affairs of in- | surance corporations in their inter-
 state relations Tho Senator has n bill along these lines he introduced in the last Congress and which he will again urge at the coming session. The Presidents last December mes- sage had the following paragraphic reference to the insurance question:; The business of insurance vstafiy affects the great mas of the people of the United States and is a national and not local in it's application. 1t
 involves a multitude of transactions
 among the people of the different States and between American compan- les and foreign governments. urge that Congress carefully consider whether the power of the Bureau of Corporations can not constitutionaily be extended to cover interstate trans actions in insurance"
 sfxe of the Navy.
 President Roosevelt is known to fa- | vor a big navy as the most effectua1 \ big stick Uncle sam can carry. His
 
 smooth sailing either from the Secre- tary of the Navy, where help would naturally be expected, nor in the Con- Sressional seas. Secretary Bonaparte has decided to disapprove the recom- mendation of the General Board, of l the construction of three new battle ships of 1s.oo0 tons and the increase | to the same displacement of several battfeships already authorized.
 This idea of the General Board was
 adopted almost directly aft the instance tof the President It was apnrehended.
 that the plan would encounter oppo- sition in Congress. Representative Burton last session. speaking as the chairman of the committee on Rivers and Harbors for the practice of econ | omy that would enable the govern ment to carry to completion a num- Der of approved engineering projects of river improvement. inveighed stout l 1y against the tendency toward ex-
 travagance in navy building. and was strongly reinforced in this attitude by Representative Littlefield. of Maine. Since Secretary Bonaparte has showed the courage to differ from the l head of the administration on the | question, the opposition to the big navy program will be undoubtedly se- riously strengthened. Secretary Bo- naparte Is understood to hold the position that the Navy is quite strong enough, and that 1t will be time enough to add new ship when one of the. older vessels goes out of com
 mission as inefficient or obsolete. In
 other words, the Navy should be kept
 efficient and as far as concerns it's per-
 sonnel maintained as good as any. Evidently it will take the addition
 of considerable number of big-navy
 advocates of the Richmond Pearson
 Hobson type to carry Into effect Pres ident Roosevelt's views. Additions in sight
 The monthly statement of the Bu-
 reau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department last issued shows that when the vessels now building and under contract have gone into commits sion the United States navy. presum- ing the vessels now part of the ser vice are still seaworthy. will about
 double its present strength.
 According to this Information there are twelve battleships in commission with thirteen fin course of construction. The vessels building will be in every
 way more formidable in size. speed and
 armament than those now in commits
 sion Of the twelve battieships now
 representing that class in the United
 States navy seven are thoroughly mod ern and satisfactory to naval experts.
 These are the Maine, Missouri, Ohio,
 Alabama, Wisconsin. Kentucky and Rearsarge. The other five, which were
 built previously to the war with Spain
 are decidedly inferior and will soon be
 relegated to the non-fighting class, ex- cept for training ships and for coast duty The Texas, Indiana, Illinois. 1 oregon, Iowa and Massachusetts are
 of the class which will possibly be re-
 tired when the vessels building are
 put into comulission.
 ! rr1.
 carries 232 guns in the main battery. | The main battery of the battleships
 building will have BOA guns each. with 1 proportionate increase of shooting |
 equipment in rapid-fire cannon of the | secondary batteries.
 l General ChaRee's Retirement. Every time a general of the army l announces his intention of early re- | tirement there Is hutter of agitation i l in martial bosoms in the active service l 1 over the prospect of advancement in | 1 rank The information that Lieuten- |
 ant General Adna R. Chaffee. Chief of | | Stan, will go to the list of retired army | 1 officers next month has started a bug |
 zIng of ambition all down the line. | General Chaffee being the highest | ranking officer in the army, the crop | l of candidates for promotion is unusu- | 1 ally large. Nearly every colonel of the | | line and stan has filed his papers for | | consideration of individual claim for f
 promotion to the grade of brigadier | general. In those cases where the of- fcer would, under the usual circum- stances, go upon the( retired list with | the next higher grade. which is al- lowed to those who have served in the | civil war, the President will not make | inc appointment. It is also announced l
 at the War Department that only one
 more high ranking officer will be made major general. and that is Brigadfer
 General A. W. Greedy. Chief Signal | officer, who will be advanced as soon as General Chaffee goes to the retired | list During the coming year there will be two retirements from the grade of lieutenant general. and for these
 places general officers are anxiousIy laying their plans. There are eight | major generals whose present relative | rank Is as follows in the order named. f
 Henry C. Corbin. commanding the