Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1912-04-12
Congress Not Likely to Authorize
Two BattIeships.
DEMOCRATS ECONOMY BENT
Vessels Become Antiquated Rapidly
but Majority In House Says Naval
Force VIII Be Kept Up to tho
Fighting Standard.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

present determination of the major
lty in the house of representatives to
deny the request of the navy depart
ment for the construction of two big
battleships during the coming year.
Officials Of the department were con-
vinced some time ago that their re-
quest had little chance of sanction by
a house which is economically in
clined. 1t seems hardly probable that
the senate will insist that the house
accede to the wishes of the navy de-
partment, although such a thing is
within the range of possibilities.
Five years ago Mr.. Roosevelt, then
president, asked congress to author
lie the building Of four big battle
ships in single year. 1t was gen.
orally believed at the time that the
colonel asked for four ships in order
that he might be sure that he would
get two.
The year Of the Roosevelt request
the Republican majority in congress
let 1t be understood that the inten-
ton was to build two battleships a
year each succeeding year until the
Panama Canal was opened, and by
that time it was urged the navy
would be big enough for offensive
and defensive purposes and that 1t
would only be necessary to build
ships as other ships became antiquat-
ed and passed out of service.
Soon Become Out-of-Date.
Ships are becoming antiquated rap
Idly. They seem to get into their
second childhood before they have
reached the age Of youth. The last
report Is that the Kearsarge and the
Alabama, first-class battleships only
few years old, are nearing the out
of-date condition. The navy depart
ment officials say that If no ships
are built for some years we will have
to begin building the navy all over
again, a proposition to which some
men do not accede. The peace ad-
vocates hope that If no more vessels
are built the necessity for future
construction will pass and that with
Hague tribunals and arbitration trea-
60 to the scrap heap.
Some Of the members of the ma
5ority in the house say that they do
not agree with the peace advocates
and that there is no intention Of let
ting the navy go to the scrap heap
and that the Democrats can be de-
pended upon to keep the navy up to
the fighting standard. The program,
however, does not necessitate the
building Of two great ships this year
at cost Of something like thirty
million
Still Quote the Classics.
Northern senators and representa-
tives are rather chary in their use of
classical illusions when making their
speeches. The southerners are fond
Of their classics, though growing less
fond Of them year by year as the new
members with the education that is
broadening in the south, as 1t is broad
ening In the north. come into Office.
At times, however. to hear one Of the
southerners speak Is as good for the
brushing Of the cobwebs from mem
ory as is the re-reading after many
years Of the pages of Smith and An
thon's Classical Dictionary.
The northern men draw compari-
sons and sharpen their points from
modern instances. and yet there Is a
charm about the utterances of the
men Of the south. They pass from
Homer to the Rienzi Of Miss Milford
as readily as II a month rather than
centuries lay between. Ulysses wan
ders In the senate chamber and the
voice Of the siren is heard from the
corridor Regulus again def1es the
Carthagenians. while the domes of
the African city are burning with
the splendor Of MONDAY"
Gems From John Tyler.
Searching the records one finds
that in the elder days the classic
habit was stronger than 1t Is today,
so strong, indeed. that man Of sixty
years ago, writing OF one Of the
speeches Of John Tyler of Virginia,
delivered some years before, said
that there were more Greeks and Ro.
mans than Americans in the speeches
The writer set 1t down that this was
"a fault Tor virtue) common to his
state"
During the debate on the 'force
bill" Of Jackson's time the records
show that John Tyler brushed up his
classics, his Shakespeare and his Col
ley Cibber and delivered himself o!
this:
Rather than give my aid I would
surrender my station here. for / as
pire not to initiate the rash boy who
set fire to the Ephesian dome. No
sir. will lend no aid to the passage