The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-25
DEMOCRATS PLAN
 NAVY ECONOMY Appropriate Money for Only
 One Battleship MUCH SMALLER CRAFT Democratic House Not in Sympathy With Secretary of Navy's Report That Two Huge Dread
 naughts Be Constructed
MUCH SMALLER CRAFT
By JONATHAN WINFIELD

| Democratic plans for governmental econ
 omy and a desire to improve the navy
 along the line of auxiliary and secondary
 vessels. will result in the refusal of Con-
 gross at this session to make appropria- | ton for the construction of more than
 one battleship. It is even possible that
 battleehips may be eliminated entirely
 this year from the authorized naval
 building programme. particularly in view
 of the fact that the House has passed
 the Sherwood dollar a day. pension bill,
 which, it is estimated, will increase the
 annual expenses of the government from
 s2S.0o0,000 to s35,O0o.0O0.
 The Secretary of the Navy in his an-
 nual report has recommended the con-
 struction of two huge and costly battle | ships. At the same time he has shown
 the necessity of having many additional
 auxiliaries and accessories which consti- | tute what is known as the secondary and
 defensive navy. These auxiliarles con-
 sst of colliers, repair ships, ammunition | ships, hospital ships and so forth, while
 the defensive types are the scout crui- l sers, destroyers and submarines.
 The report of the Secretary of the Navy
 shows that there is a great deficiency
 in these secondary vessels, as we'll as
 a shortage of men with which to man
 the great battleships, but in effect he purposes to make this deficiency greater
 by urging the construction of two more
 costly battleships.
 It is the purpose of Congress, at least
 so far as the House Is concerned-and | it is the House which initiates all of
 the big appropriation bills-to accept what
 the Secretary of the Navy says about
 the smaller craft, and to equip the navy | with these rather than 10 follow his rec | ommendation for battleships. Secretary
 Meyer, they point out, recommends the construction oe battleships, but makes | an argument for auxilaries and access sories. They intend to take his argu-
 ment rather than his recommendation, particularly as in doing so they not only effect an economy, but they believe that they will improve the efficiency of the naval establishment for the reason that ! the battleships now in the navy are in- effective and incapable of doing all that is expected of them and all that they
 are capable of, unless they are supple
 mented with the secondary ships of the | smaller construction.
 A Dreadnaught Sich as the secretary of the navy recommends, is the name given to a giant battleship which carries all big guns; that is, she relies almost ex- clusively on her main batteries to the ex- clusion of guns of smaller calibre al- though few rapid fire guns are carried. Formerly, naval vessels carried what Is known as intermediate batteries, but these have gone out of style with that suddenness which cnaracterizes navy whms. eta | The cost of a Dreadnaught has been a | frequent source of speculation on the 1 part of members of Congress, as the navy | department, whether Intentionally or oth- erwise. has made 1t almost impossible to delve into the complicated estimates car- ried mostly in large totals, to arrive at tine figures for a particular item. Secre- | tary Meyer, however. has estimated that the two Dreadnaughts which he recont- mends will cost in the neighborhood of | S25 0O0 GOO, or approximately s12500,00O each. This is the target simple single item for which the government appropriates, ana 1t has staggered the democratic econo- msts
 In consequence the plan is for the con-
 struction of smaller craft, particularly
 ag their need is pointed out by the sec
 retary of the navy, and also In view of the shortage of men necessary to man
 new ships. In his report the secretary
 of the navy publishes an interesting ta- ble showing the manner In which the navy has grown top heavy by the build ing of big battleships to the neglect of
 the auxiliaries such as scouts, coliers. de- stroyers, submarines, repair, ammunition and hospital ships. There are now in l commission 8 battleships which, in or- der to be effective require certain num- | Der of secondary vessels. On the basis | oi B battleships Secretary Meyer shows that the deficiency in other ships is 12 | collers, So destroyers, p submarines, , l hospital ships and in like proportion va
 rious other supply repair ammunition | and miscellaneous vessls. Like painted | ship upon a painted ocean" Is what Sena- | tor Hale, for many years chairman or | the Senate committee on naval affairs
 characterized battleship without col | Hers, and in like manner, it is maintained
 these great battleships are ineffective un- | less they have the picket ships such as
 destroyers and submarines which are cal
 culated to guard and protect them from | the enemys torpedoes.
 l The House members have also gone into | the matter of cost of maintenance, and | made comparisons between battle ships | in this respect and the smaller craft which come under the classification of | auxilaries and accessories. They have | found that the upkeep of battleshp an | nually. with it's scores of officers and l 1000 to 1900 enlisted men, is $1,000,00O year. The destroyer which costs origi- nally only s750,000, Is manned by four of- l fcers and so men, costs for maintenance | only about $S5,00O a year, and the sub
 marine, which costs originally only s5Oo,- 1 GOO, is manned by one officer and about twelve men, costs about $25,000 for main- l tenance.
 | Notwithstanding the recommendation Of | the Secretary of the Navy for two dread | noughts, there never was time since | the democrats came into power that they were willing to authorize more than one of these big ships a year. and many re-
 publcans have joined with them and | taken the same position In view of the | fact that the navy is always popular l with the people, it has been thought that
 one battleship might be provided for, but now, in view of the heavy drain upon ! the treasury incident to the pension bill, | it is said that there may be no provision ! for batteships at all Instead, those in charge of the matter are talking of mak- | ing the navy more effective and providing what they believe to be better defense | by building smaller boats. which effect
 economy in construction and also in main- 1 tenance.
 Killed in Quarry Accident
 Anniston, December 24.-(Special.)-
 News has reached here of the death of | 1<x..