The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-11
NAVAL BILL
 CONSIDERED An Appropriation Both ESored and Opposed. ]; TWO OCEAN, NAVY PREDICTED
TWO OCEAN, NAVY PREDICTED
Sending of Fleet to Pacific is
 Defended.
Mir. Padsett Declares That American People Were Not Mad On Subject On Navy Increase And
 Urged Conser<atism.

of the program of business mapped
 out by the Republicans through the adoption on Wednesday last of a spe-
 cial rule. the House today began con
 sideration of the naval appropriation bill.
 Under the terms of the rule gem eral debate will close tomorrow at D. m. Chairman Foss of the Commit tee on Naval Affairs. explained the
 details of the bill the main features of which have been published. Discussing the sending of the Att lantic fleet to the Pacific, MT. Foss said that despite the criticisms 1t called forth, it had been productive of inestimable value to the country. "Of what use is It." he inquired, "to build up navy unless 1t can travel in fleet formation on long cruises where the men can be properly trained?"
 Had Admiral Rojestvensky. he said made at least one cruise with his fleet to the sea of Japan in time of peace there might have been different story to tell about the contest with the Japanese navy in that memorable bat tie.
 4 Two Ocean Navy. Mir. Foss commented upon the fact that the trend of American develop ment was westward. and he foresaw two ocean" navy for the country. MT. Foss corrected the committee re- port embodying the naval program Of England Instead of estimating for two battleships, four armored cruis- CTS. one large ocean going destroyer and some small ocean going destroy CTS, England had provided. he said, for one battleships. one large armored cruiser, eight fast protected cruisers l a-t- In the opinion of. Mir Foss. based on information from the Navy Depart ment, there were already in the ser- 1 vice a better class of men than ever before. Desertions, he said were
 growing fewer every year. As regard ed aliens in the service he said the number was decreasing each year. The marksmanship Of the men. Mir.
 Toss declared, had constantly improved and referring to the recent target | practice of the Atlantic fleet at Mag | dslena Bay. he said that if he was to divulge the confidential reports the records would be shown to be better | than those of any navy In the world. Mir. Foss dwelt at length upon the subject of the pay of the officers and men and said 1t should be increased. I The new navy, which dates from the | Spanish war. he said. had cost to date l e1. .244, ,65I, 900 of which s309, ,000. .0O0 had l gone into ships. while the balance had gone to the maintenance of the vessels l and naval establishment.
 I Mfr Foss, referring to the recent Con-. gressional hearings regarding criti-
 cfsms of American battleship construc- | ton, declared that the conclusion had I been reached that American warships
 had been honestly and properly con-
 structed and compared favorably with I vessels of foreign powers.
 I Doctrines of Paternalism. | nafanAfn0 against criticisms which he said had been heaped upon 1t because 1t had
 not authorized larger naval program. Mir. Padgett, (Tenn.) declared the com mittee had taken stand against ex- l travagafce. He believed the commit | tees action had been conservative. l He could not. he said, subscribe to the | principle that because the country was | rich. its wealth would be expended sim | ply for the sake of keeping men em- 1 ployed. That was a doctrine of pater- | nalism which he did not believe Con | gress was prepared to adopt He
 charged the newspapers with having | been industrious in endeavoring to
 mould public sentiment "to get behind
 the committee and the country to urge | us beyond conservative action" | Areference to the Lilley charge that | the committee had been influenced was made by Mir. Henry of Connecticut.
 when he inquired how the committee l could have been conservative in cut- ting in half the departments recom-
 mendation for battleships and doubling | tho values of submarines
 l MT. Padgett replied that the increase
 in submarines involved only a million
 and half dollars, whereas one battle , ship alone would cost ten millions The
 President. he said. further. had called | attention to the woeful deficiency in a
 lack of submarines. The Secretary of
 the Navy had emphasized the necessity | for more submarines. and 1t was made clear that more of these vessels should be distributed along the coasts. Per sonally. he said. he voted against the whol submarine proposition not be-
 cause he was opposed to it. "ont be-
 cause there was anything wrong" but
 because there was limitations placed upon tse purchase. Coming to the question of possible war with Japan,
 MT. PadRett declared it would soon be- come frazzled and agitators would switch off to something else. Mir Padgett declared that the Ameri- can people were not mad on the sub | feet of navy increase. He called at- | tention to the shortage of oflcers and
 men. and insisted that for that reason
 alone Congress should not rush pAlI
 mail into the construction of ships Of
 war
 Economy Opposed. Economy in naval construction was
 vigorously opposed by Mir Favrot. 0a.A | The United States. he declared. had oh- 1 lIgattons in various parts of the world
 which 1t could not repudiate. War was | likely to be forced on the United States
 at any time and the naval strength of | the country should be sufficient to
 guarantee the fullest protection.
 MT Rartholdt. (Mo). opposed any en- | larRement of tho naval program He believed in the peaceful adjudication by
 arbitration of all questions of dispute. | he said.
 The administrations program for four battleshtps was supported by Mir Mckinley. (Cal) He called attention to the steady expansion of the Amer lean trade beyond the Pacific coast and | said a strong navy was needed to give protection to Americans abroad and to American shippers of goods in Ameri- can bottoms.
 The bill was still under consldera-