The San Francisco call., 1908-04-23
PRESIDENT IN fight
FOR NEEDED SHIPS
Danger of Foreign War Said to
Be Shown in Letter TO
Speaker Cannon
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

WASHINGTON, April 22.-The fight
between the president and the senate
for four new battleships in this years
naval bill is now in full swing. Sew
eral senators were in conference with
the president this morning and one of
them, Senator Flint, assured the chief
executive that no missionary work was
necessary to make him appreciate the
necessity for four battleships.
'I presume the president will talk
to some senators on this subject" said
the California senator afterward. but
l told him before he had mentioned the
subject to me that 1 was willing to do
ali / could for four ships. 1 think the
prospects are good for passing an
amendment
All six Pacific coast senators are
industriously working for the admins
tration program. They have an idea
that they are better informed as to the
intentions of Japan than others, and
without exception they hold that
trouble with Japan is not SO remote as
eastern senators appear to think.
HINTS OF WAR DANGER
In the private letter which the presi-
dent wrote to Speaker Cannon for the
information of leading members of the
house were hints of danger of a for
eign war 1t is declared that in this
letter the president furnished some i'm
mediate reasons why more than two
battleships should be provided. The in
formation in the letter may be laid
before the senate
President Roosevelt will veto the
naval appropriation bill should the
senate, as did the house. fail to make
any appropriation for the two battle
ships which are authorized in the meas
ure. The prompt announcement of this
fact to senate leaders today is regarded
as responsible for the announcement
by Hale that he would propose an
amendment appropriating S7,000.000
toward the construction of those ships.
The president stated his position on
this point with unusual emphasis and
suddenness today upon learning that
the bill as passed by the house was
simply a paper" provision for naval
increase. Authorization of the ships
was made, but no money carried to
make the provision effective. Such
legislation as this, the president made
known to his numerous congressional
callers, was a travesty as to effective
ness, as well as bearing all the ear
marks of legislative legerdemain, in
tended to make ridiculous his campaign
for the greater navy.
HALE TO AMEND Bill
That the presidents quick and Wig
orous action is to be effective is evil
ueHCeu ny the action Oh Chairman Hale
of the senate naval committee IN an
nouncing that at the proper time he
will propose the S7.000,000 amendment.
Hale, referring to a publication "in a
New York paper, which. he said, an
nounced war outside and inside the SEN
ate, explained why this appropriation
had not been placed in the bill.
The house, he said. voted the appro-
priation down on the ground that 1t
would not be needed until next Decem-
Der, and the senate committee had put
none in the bill because no esti-
mate of the amount that could be ex-
pended had been received. Since the
bill was reported. he said, the estimates
had been received, and he would add
$7.000,000 as an amendment to the bill.
Il say this" added Hare sin order
that senators and newspapermen and all
others may possess their souls in
peace"
AS to his threat of veto, the presi-
dent made it plain that should the wis
dom of congress result in the passage
of a bill providing for no naval increase
whatever he would have no ground
whatever upon which to veto the meas
ure. Any attempt at what he regards
as travesty on legislation by author
izing and not appropriating for ships,
ne declares, he will defeat by the exer-
else of his constitutional power to veto.
There is not the slightest indication
that the president has ceased his fight
for four new battleships, according to
the evidence Of senators who talked
with him today. Senators who are with
the president in his fight on this prop
osition admit tonight that a careful
survey of their strength in the senate
gives but a vote of 26 in that body in
favor of the presidents naval program
for four ships.