New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1916-09-09
DEFENSE SOCIETY NEWS
SERVICE.

Washington, Sept. 1.-Colr
cidcntly with the signing of tn
Army aud Navy bills, carryin
aggregate appropriations @
$5S2, ooO, 900, a disclosure has jus
been made that the Navy Act pei
mits the President Of the Unite,
States, be WHO he may, to su>
pend construction Of any or al
of the proposed new ships if
limitation of armament can b.
arranged with other powers a
the close Of the European war
In other words, the building o.
the greater navy hinges on &
President S willingness to accept
the mere words Of other nations
that they will limit their arma.
ments.
BY patriotic and far-sceing
statesmen and laymcn this pro-
vision is viewed with distinct
alarm, and efforts will be made
to bring the efficiency of the
present navy up to even Il rea-
sOnablc standards. in fear that
advantage may DE taken of the
provision mentioned and the pro-
posed enlargement Of the navy
be precluded.
First and foremost demand
has come to Washington that the
present vessels Of the navy, now
lamentably shOrthanded. be
manned to at least a practicable
minimum; also, that modern and
disable guns and torpedOes be
placed on the ships, and finally
that the craftsmanship be great
ly improved through target prac-
tice and the publication Of the
scorcs,As it is, the foreign pow
ers know the exact scores of
American warships in target
practice, while the Navy Depart
ment conceals them from the
American people and doctors"
such results as it docs give out
at the demand of Congress.
In the recent division target
practice in Cuban waters, the
battleship Nebraska fired SO,
shots without once hitting the
target, while the Michigan fired
~ shots, every one of which
missed it's mark. Instead of
putting zero marks in the column,
Number of Hts" for these
ships. the report as printed in
The Congressional Record on de-
mand 'bv the Senate from the
Secretary Of the Navy gave only
as. indicating that the :,
number had not been reported.
1ncidently, out of 1907 shots
ired by fourteen ships in the
'pring division yractice of 1916,
'nly So were hits-a percentage L
# .O526. Next to the Nebraska !
md Michigan, which scored moi :
tits, the low marks were: Louis =
ana, hit out of II shots; Kan
as. 2 out of rs; Florida, 3 out
4 70; New Jersey. 3 out of ~, n
nd South Carolina, 3 vt of Sc.
In another target practice, the ;,
hips made 81 hits out of 756 l
ctual shots fired at actual tar s
'ets 80 feet long and 80 feet t
Ugh. The Navy Department {
nlarged a hypothetical target to r
90 feet long and 30 feet high :.
nd by using photographs of the :, =
splashes" made bv shots which q
ad missed the real target credit II
d the ships with 1O7 hits and v
ave these figures to the public :
> accurate and authentic.
Between the correct figures and |
,e misleading figures given out
official. friends of adequate
Preparedness feel that there is
|enty of work to be done in the
avy as it is, even while such
ew ships are being constructed
a President may permit under
le authority given him to stop
Re building procra marbitrarilv.
Beyond this, there still are 80
bmarines authorized but un-
lished, Of which six were au-
orizcd in 1912. or earlier, while
work has been done on the
'eadnaughts Tennessee and Cal.
'rnia. the DESTROYER Caldwell
ID the submarines OIL and O-2.
though these voted by Con-
ess on March 3. 1915. II
Thus. it is felt that the pro-
am Of "preparpdnpsS' NAV ho