The Yale expositor., 1910-03-11

state Commerce Act.
Washington.-Secr of'the Navy
Meyers plan for a 32,000-ton Dread.
nought to be authorized for the Amer.
lean war feet at the next session OF
congress is meeting with strong op.
position. The friends of the plan are
just as energetic as are its enemies.
and II is likely that there will be a
fight worthy of the traditions of the
American navy when the bill for the
big ship gets before congress next De.
cember
Representative Tawney. who is
chairman ot the house committee on
appropriations, objects TO the Dread.
nought. first, on the ground OF its
cost, and second, on the ground that
such great vessel will be largely
experimental and it might not be
found really serviceable after il is
built. In the contentious that the
ship may not prove all that might
be expected, many line officers of the
navy have a part.
II Is maintained by many of the old
timers of the service, that the expe
rience of the years which have passed
since the first modern battleship was
built goes to show that there is q
limit of efficiency which is marked
by a limit Of size. There arc officers.
also, who are opposed to the increase
in the caliber OF the great guns which
are used on warships. Some of them
say that the 12-inch gun is just as
serviceable as the 14-inch or the 16-
inch gun, and that any increase of
caliber from the 12-inch model is
waste of money and tends in no way
10 improve the fighting qualities OF
the ship that carries the big weapons
RooseveIts Naval Program.
II was Theodore Roosevelt's idea
that at least two battleships should
be added to the navy each year. The
former president wanted the United
States TO keep pace with foreign ma
tiOns in the matter of battleship
building and to retain its relative rank
in naval strength. In order to insure
that two battleships at least would
he authorized in one year, Mr.. Roose-
velt asked for -four of the ships. know
ing that in all human probability con
gress would compromise the matter
and give him the two ships that he
really wanted
IT was said at the time that n Mr.
Roosevelt had asked for two ships, he
would have been given only one For
some reason or other congress did
mi trf.
port that apparently the country was
giving him in his various fields of
administrative endeavor When the
Panama canal is opened the voyage
from the Atlantic coast OF the United
States 10 the Pacific coast will be a
comparatively short one, and there
fore it will not be difficult in cases
Of emergency To send huge fleet to
the western waters. AS things are
now, of course. the voyage has To be
made around Cape Horn. following
the track which the battleship fleet
took two years ago I'm making the first
part of its journey around the world
Some naval officers say that il
might be a good plan to build n 81, 600
ton Dreadnought and put into its tur-
rets guns of the largest caliber for
the purpose of testing the sailing
qualities and the fighting efficiency of
such a boat. If Dreadnought OF the
size planned by the secretary of the
navy should be built along the most
careful lines and should prove TO be
inefficient, the lesson taught might be
worth the IA or 10 million dollars that
II would cost to construct II, for III ii
were shown that such vessel we're
impracticable, there would be no more
experimenting, and all the energies
of the department would be exerted
to perfect vessels OF the size that II
was known could be built and oper-
ated safely and with high offensive
efficiency.
Dispute Over ElkIns Bill.
The senate has taken hold in ear
nest OF the bill introduced by Sena.
tor Elkins and which provides for
amendments to the interstate COM
merce act. One feature of the bill, as
is well known, Is that providing for an
interstate commerce court, whose duty
II shall be TO hear cases that are car
ried on appeal from the decision OF
the interstate commerce commission
One of the main reasons advanced
for the creation OF the interstate com
merce court was that II would expe-
dite final decisions in cases In which
the great carrier companies OF the
country were Interested. or course
appeals will lie from the Interstate
commerce court to the supreme court
of the United States. but IL is urged
by friends of the new court plan that
parties to litigation will be satisfied
in many instances with the decision of
the lower court and that anyway. in
asmuch as II has only one class of
cases 10 hear. the new courts work
will be done quickly and that the route
to Justice will be much shorter than
IL has been in the past. There is
strong opposition 10 the interstate
commerce court amendment among
some or the Republicans of the senate
a.