The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-02-08
Tour of World
Costs $27,S0O,OO0

WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-This week
the mammoth fleet of ocean bulldogs
that have gathered at Gibraltar will
begin the final lap of the world tour,
which will end with the triumphal en-
try Of the fleet into Hampton Roads
IA days hence The trip across the At
lantic will be marked by races and
maneuvers on q scale seldom before
attempted by the ships Of the navy.
and which are expected to demonstrate
that the fleet of Uncle Sam is still in
as good condition for "a fight or a froI-
ic" as when it sailed out of Hampton
Roads with Fighting Bob" Evans in
command
The return of the vessels to Amerf-
can waters, after their record smash
ing cruise, will be momentous epis-
ode and will add final sun burst of
glory to the administration of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, whose active brain de-
vised the details Of the grand adven-
ture.
Meanwhile, some carping persons
have begun to count the cost of the
cruise, and the figures they present are
staggering in their immensely 1t is de-
clared-and these are apparently
among the figures that do not belong
to the AnaniaS club-that the world
cruise, at its completion on February
%, will have cost no less than $780,
600. When the ships enter Hampton
roads they will have burned up that
amount fortune vanished in the air
with the smoke from the tunnels of
Admiral Sperry's sixteen bulldogs and
the auxuiliaries accompanying them.
Careful estimates show that it costs
about 7,107 900 to maintain the bat
tleships of that fleet, and that the
maintenance charge on account of the
auxiliaries is not less than 100000.
The ships will be gone for substantial
ly one and a fourth years. In round
numbers therefore, the cost will be sub
stantially $27.5OO,OOO.
The estimate as to the cost of the
cruise does not include charges that
could reasonably be put to the main
tenance account. To make the cost ap-
pear just as it should would neces-
state an estimate to be made of the
proportionate share each ship should
bear of the whole expense of having
and maintaining a navy. Under such
system Of accounting the cost would
probably run well on to $60,000,000
because the fleet constitutes nearly
two thirds of the entire navy. 1t en-
braces more than two-thirds of the
real fighting strength of the navy, but
there is a good deal of ineffective ma
terial in the establishment to which d
careful accounting officer would assign
considerable of the cost
The cost Of maintenance according
to the classes of ships that comprise
the armada is as follows:
Larger battleships, $3.76T125; the
medium sized battleships, $S,245,315;
larger sized armored cruisers, $685.
236; larger sized protected cruisers.
$1,4S5,0O0; medium sized cruisers,
$295,000; and gunboats, $175.000.
These figures make the total of ST.
102,676.
The estimate of $415450O for repairs
to a number of ships is called rou-
tine thing by the offic ers on duty at the
bureau Of construction and repair.
They made it, not because the ships
are in need of extraordinary repairs.
but simply because nearly all of them
need new boilers
No ship can have a new set of boil
ers without congress first making pro-
vision for it. Boilers for battleship
cost considerably more than 100000,
laid down on the docks alongside the
ships needing them. It costs fully
100000 more to put them in. The law
says not more than 100000 shall be
spent on ship without specific ap-
preparation. 1t also says that no ex-
penditure shall be made amounting
to more than 20 per cent. Of what it
| would cost to build a new ship of a
similar design.
| That 20 per cent restriction makes
| 1t necessary for the department to tell
congress every time it finds it neces-
| sary to put new boilers in a tug, be-
| cause they are the most expensive part
of a tug