The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-12
TO ABANDON
 NAVY YARDS Purpose of MT. Llley's
 Resolution. MUCH MONEY Is WASHED Aims at Charleston, Key West and
 New Orleans. Connecticut Consressman Presents Fig ures to Prove That Maintenance of Plants is Useless--Provides
 For . Commission.

Washington. April 10--The investiga- ton of the navy yards at Charleston, Port Royal. Mare Island. Portsmouth. N. H., New orleans and Key West by commission appointed by the Presi- dent with a view to their abandon ment. was urged by Representative Lilley, of Connecticut, before the House today.
 MT. Lilley offered a joint resolution providing for the appointment or this commission and for improvements In other yards. so as to eliminate tue waste of public moneys ip tho main tenance of the same"
 MT. I.ilIey quoted from reports made by boards of officers and former Sec retaries of the Navy as far back as 1885, to show that the condition or the navy then was opened to severe critt- cIsrl and in fact that tho reorganiza- tion of the Navy Department ttself was desirable if not absolutely necessary:
 The navy yards mentioned in ms resolution were taken up separately and discused by Mr. Lilley. The Mare Island yard he said, has cost the pVo- pte ST .0OO, ,000. It has a magnincent ctone dry dock which cost Sl,l75.o0o, "hut the Secretary of the Navy states thit this dry dock will not permit tho docking of a battleship," and not only is this true, but battieshtp cannot ket to the yard. Although Rear Admiral Endicott, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. ten years ago practically recommended the abandonment of this yard since that time $72S,S66 have been spent in dredging alone and ke,. 124.7l2 have been appropriated ana spent on the yard.
 Key West in Expensive.
 "Key West Is place, said Mr; i Laa- ley. that has cost us about Sl,SSS'O"s. . It ia SIX miles from the Straits and tra Inw water depth in it's channel IS twenty-sfx feet, and si0l,000 has been snent there for. dredging. At this yard in the nscal year ending 1907. s94.31s ma a axuendod for labor. and the valuo os thsir total product was but s7a2e. .Portsrnouth. N H., or kittery, Me- 2h d piant that has cost us over tlv.' 300 .eGo., he said.
 continuing. Mir. Laliey said that last .ummer when he visited the perts- rnonth navy yard with the other mem. neTs of the House Committee on Naval Aerairs aboard the Dolphin, the cap tain of inc vessel told him t was not safe to take even so small craft az tha Dolphin up to the yard. because ot inc danger of the swift current and saav sarrnr, channel. The expensive dock hss never docked a frst class battle ship he added. and yet t2449oo more was Appropriated for this place the last session of Congress. >,
 tsoncerning the navy yard at New orleans, Mir. Lilley said that In 1907. s7s 274 was spent by the government for labor and the total product was S)'' JAS.
 u,o,,ld fail to comprehend" he ccntln- ued 'sis that $i0,000 was appropriated at both sessions of the last Congress Cor tha new construction at New Or leans, for what advantage to the Unit nd states Navy. God only knows
 Charleston. he said, has but twenty. i've feet of water in it's channels. Yet Congress has appropriated yl,lsS'Ss4 to build there a magnificent dry dock.
 Mot only is the channel too shall low" he said, but ther Is no berth ing room for vessels and no snip or any description has ever been docked there. The total establishment has cost S3,3s4.30o and the dredging Slos,, ana AZ inc last session of Congress, a2S7 co more was appropriated Tor this yard at Charleston.
 .sThe naval station at Port Royal, .onttnued MT. Lilley, was removed to Cnarleston In l900-1s0a. but as late as 1907. s14,724 was spent here Tor lapor and although abandoned. these expend- itures will go on to the end or tune unleS IH6 pEOpSihJ AS 0' or blown up.
 MT. I,ilIey criticized Congress for not establtshing a naval training station at Annapolis and moving the academy seventy miles below Annapolis. thus saving the $10.0O.O0O that Is going |" the Great Lakes.
 Annapolis, he said, for which Con presg has seen fit to appropriate sums that will reach a total of $lO.OOO'Oo" Ia sunk m the mud.
 "Battleships cannot reach the acao- on,v and the United Coast and Geologi- cal Surveys show that the upper Chesa- neake is fast filling up he declared
 Mfr. LiIIey's Resolution
 Mir. Iilley's resolution reads as fos- lows
 'Whereas. there has been gross ex' and lamentable misappro- pristIon of public funds to the extent of more than $10O, 900. 900 in expenditures in our navy yards and naval stations in excess of what business men would have expended to produce the same result: and,
 whereas. great economies may he effected by the Federal government by the abandonment and sale of certain