The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-26

ing force of the navy as against sse.-
 o0o,0o0 authorized during the lasr tw O years of Tafts; stated in numbers it
 authorized five dreadnaughts instead
 of two; and stated in effectiveness, the
 five dreadnaughts authorized under
 Wilson win mount s6 more 14-inch
 guns than the two authorized under
 Mir. Taft.
 As to the Submarines
 Second, as to submarines: Thesc
 wonderful agencies of war have as-
 tonished the world in the present Eu-
 ropean conflict. The Sixty third Con-
 gress. elected with Wilson. adopted my
 recommendation to give us all the
 money 1t could for submarines. It or
 dered the construction of three sea-
 going submarines, the largest ever au-
 thorized by any country. and 2S suh-
 marines of the same size and type
 which have done such fearful execution
 in tine present war. These submarines
 will cost 16,260,000. Now, what was
 done during the last two years under
 Taft? Twelve submarines, to cost ss,-
 96S,936, were authorized. Some of our
 submarines are not as perfect as they
 should be, nor arc the submarines of any other nation. Under this admins tration, however the board of inspec- tions has adopted strtcter tests before accepting submarines from contract CTS. Nobody has as yet perfected a satisfactory engine or satisfactory bat tery for submarines. Upon my invita- ton Mir Edison last year at the New
 ork navy yard went down into sub
 marine and closely studied It's every feature. He thinks he has a battery that will meet the need Our tests at | the Brooklyn navy yard cause us Ia | believe Mir. Edison has the right prin ciple. Without waiting for the compile l ton of his battery. he has been given l an order for two, one to be put Into | an old submarine, accepted before l March A. 1913, whose battery does not give satisfaction, and one for new | submarine which I have ordered built | in the Portsmouth N. H., navy yard | Private firms building submarines have l not given entire satisfaction. We have | equipped tine Portsmouth navy yard to build submarines and by competiticr | between private and government cen
 struction it is hoped that every oh- stacle may be overcome.
 Third, as to torpedoes statemen, | has been put in circulation that tho navy is not making adequate provi- I sion to supply itself with torpedoes | The only answer can make is to state | the fact that we either have on hand or have placed orders for all the tor l pedoes tho geenral board prescribes. Is l this administration going backward IT. l this respect? It would not be proper ts | make public the number of torpedoos l we have on hand. but this much ma, I be said: For every loo torpedoes which 1 the department had on hand in March l 1913 96 more are completed or in tho | course of manufacture. Therefore within a few months, the supply of tor l pedoes the general board prescribcs. ls my recommendation, Congress has en- l larged the torpedo plant at Newport R. l., more than trebling it's capacity :, and the cost of manufacturing tori e. | ooes has been reduced from S4202.11 to | S3245.72 each. The reduction has al ready effected a saving of $326.700 As to Guns
 The bureau of ordnance has developed
 a 14-inch gun that will shoot further,