The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-07-28
SERVICE WITH JEFFERSON DAVIS
PORTRAIT NOT SOLD WITH
BATTLESHIP.
THIRD VESSEL OF NAME
LIKELY TO RECEIVE IT
Subscribers Pleased When They Find
Out From Navy Department What
Became Of the Donation-Inseription
On Pieces Caused Fight In Senate.

washington, July 2S.-Residents of
Mississippi are making inquiry at the
Navy Department as to the eventual
fate of the silver service they pre-
sented, several years ago, to the battle
ship Mississippi. The Mississippi, with
the battleship Idaho, was recently sold
by the United States government to
the kingdom of Greece.
The answer to the residents of the |
state of Mississippi is that when your |
Uncle Samuel" offers bargains in bat
tleships, he does not throw in as spe-
cial inducements the solid silver serv-
ices presented to the vessels by the
| people of the states whose names
these ships bear. The service which
has reposed on the Mississippi will
not be used by Greek officers.
Whereat there is more than ordinary
rejoicing in Mississippi, in view of the
fact that the people of that state had
hard time in getting their offering ac-
| SOPlOu III bno III 81 pihSc. II ptdIS
portrait of jefferson Davis, the head
of the Confederacy.
1t is stated as more than probable
that the Mississippi silver, service,
which is being returned to the custody
of the Navy Department, will be placed
upon the third Mississippi of the Unit
ed States Navy. The ship to be built
to take the place of the battleship sold
will be the third in the navy to bear
the name Mississippi. The Idaho to
be built will be the second in the navy
to bear that name.
Congress authorized at this session,
in all, three new battleships. The Sec
retary of the Navy has designated the
names of Idaho and Mississippi for
two of them.
Method of Naming Warships.
The practice of states presenting
silver services to their namesakes be-
gan about 1898, when the acts relating
to the naming of vessels of war went
into effect 1t was provided that first
class ships should be named after
states, second-class after rivers ant
third-class after cities.
! About that time great argument
arose in the different states. Eacl
! state struggling to tag its name on {
new vessel. Discussions arose in vari
GUS states as to the character of tn,
} engraving on the silver services. Cam
3 paigns to obtain subscriptions for sill
5 yer services were not always market
d by entire harmony.
r Down in Mississippi the silver serv
l. ice fund got into politics as a live
l. issue. The people of North Dakots
/. have not yet paid for their silver serv
II ice. and it has not been presented
IS Cities whose proud names are carried
l. over the seven seas by ships that bea
d them have experienced similar dis
t agreement.
|. Rivers from which ships of the nav
s get their names are of course, immun
It to such discord. The first Mississippi
e launched at the Philadelphia nav,
yard, May S. 1S41, was named for tn
n Mississippi river, "The Father of w,
e ters" gave her nothing but a grave, fo
e she was abandoned and blown up 9
0 Fort Hudson in 1863.
k When the second Mfssissippi-ju
= sold to Greece-was launched she We
named for the state. When the silv,
service given her by the people of tn
g state was ornamented with a portra
be Of Jefferson Davis, president Of t
8 Confederate states of America, So
\ Continued on Page Four.)