New Britain herald., 1916-08-26

to degenerate until, in 1913, it had class of five students and nine in structOrS. Two courses at the college were established in April, 1914, and now 32 officers are taking the regular course, while the new correspondence course is being taken by 499 officers. This new course brings the instruction and study of the war office into close touch with the officers of the fleet. In
 his hearings before the house naval committee in February, 1916, Admiral Knight said :'"The recent development of the war college, which has been rather striking, has been due in large measures to the interest which has been taken in it by our present secre- tary of the navy. The war college has been in existence since 1885, and dur ing a large part of that time it has had to struggle for existence. Its ideals have always been high and it's methods of work have always been admirable, but never until this pres ent administration has it found any active, aggressive support from the navy departm Very early in his administration, MT. Daniels came to the war college. He saw at once what
 it was and what its possi bilities were and he said, I am friend of the war college From that time on he has done everything possible to sup port the war college and strengthen it, and the work that we are doing there now is very largely due to him."
 General Economies Effected.
 Economy has been the watchword
 of this administration of the navy and it's purpose has been to concen- trate expenditures to the widest ex- tent possible upon the navy afoat, to which the country must look for pro- lection in case of attack Insistence upon competition among armor plate manufacturers saved $1,110,084, and
 $6OO,0O of this was on one ship alone, the Arizona. The same policy amongst the projectile manufa cturers saved $1,077,210, and the navy, by increasing the capacity of it's powder making plant at Indian Head, reduced the cost of powder from 53 to 34 cents pound, including overhead charges, while the capacity of the plant was raised from 30OO,OOO to 6,OOO,OO0 pounds annually. The say ing on this additional powder per year will be $570,000. The cost of manu- featuring torpedoes was reduced from $4,2O2 apiece to $3,245, a reduction which has easily saved $3O0,O0O. In other words, five torpedoes can be manufactured for the s2O,O0O which must be paid for torpedoes purchased. The navy makes all it's own mines l at a saving of $145 on each. In smaller economies of various kinds, l $2,000,000 was saved, of which, in 1915, $1,000,000 was reappropriated by congress for aeronautics and sSO0.- OOO for submarines. The old "mis- | ht' battleships Mississippi and Idaho 1 were sold, after about 6h years of 1 service for SIP, 5,27596, the orig inal cost price of both together, and 1 with $2,00O,000 additional appropriar- ed by congress a modern new dread naught, the Mississippi, now building at Newport News, was added to the navy As the result of carefully watching the transportation expenses of the enlisted men between naval stations and ships, a saving of $176,- 649.56 was effected. Smaller savings have been effected elsewhere.
 Economies at Sea.
 By care and vigilance in utilizing naval colliers to bring from distant E'CA ! ties by the navy, such as hemp for auxilaries, sodium nitrate for pow der, tin, shellac and the like, and l for the transportation of coal to West l coast stations and to the Philippines; | by insisting on competition in the pur- chase of steaming coal; in the saving by remelting of scrap metal; and ln the purchase of provisions, the De- partment has effected economies at sea amounting to $1,342,595. The l thus saved has been availa ble l for obtaining stocks of other supplies 1 or making repairs to vessels of the l navy. In other words, were it not ] for these economies, the current work ing appropriations would have suf- tered to the value above mentioned, 1 or congress would have had to appro- priate the above additional sum to l meet the need of the naval service.
 Increased Wages at Navy Yards.
 The number of employees in the