Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1916-02-17

naturalization Of the national guard
under militia pay act. probably will
be before both houses OF congress
within three weeks. A building pro-
gram for the navy, however, will not
be ready before May, although Chair.
man Padgett Of the house committee,
urged the members today to speed up
examination of witnesses.
The house military committee will
begin work tonight on the military
LIBERALIZATION bill, and il strong
measure is produced, influential mem
bers OF the senate committee say 1t
will be accepted by the senate. The
senate committee continued work to-
day on its bill for the regular army
increase. 1t is understood number
OF items, such as provisions for bet
ter manning of the coast defenses, up
on which there is no disagreement
lave been written into the new bill,
leaving only the points on which there
is difference Of opinion to be worked
out. Maj. General Carter, retired, and
officers from the war college OF the
army, are aiding in drafting the meas
ure.
The house ways and means commit
tee, to which will be allotted the task
Of finding money to meet increased
military and naval expenditures, has
taken no steps as yet. The increases
needed have not been estimated and
it is said the committee will not. at
tempt to lay plan for financing the
expenditures until these estimates are
forthcoming.
r,I tlrt ~. A., -,
in the preparedness fight in the house
will rest with the two committee chair
men, Representative Hay of the mill
tary committee. and Representative
Padgett Of the naval committee. There
has been some talk since Speaker
Clark has come out strongly for pre-
paredness that he would engineer the
whole matter. 1t was stated positive.
ly tonight, however, that while the
speakers aid was counted upon, the
committee chiefs would lead their own
forces.
The naval committee struggled
again today with the problem of sub
marines. Rear Admiral Grant out
lined further his plan to establish
submarine shore bases along the
coasts and repeated his statement that
1S3 underwater boats with 80 reserve
craft were needed. He said American
submarine builders, public and private,
could produce 4S of the S0O-ton boats
lie recommended, within II months.
Representative Galloway questioned
the admiral as to the relative strength
OF the American navy among those Of
the world. Admiral Grant said he be-
lleved the German, as well as the Brit
ish navy, was considerably stronger
There is today" he said, lone pow
or that has enough navy to land on
our coast, even if we had the 1873
submarines and our present fleet"
And only one?" interjected Repre-
sentative Kelly.
II think only one" agreed Admiral
Grant.
"And you think it would not be nee
essary to build a navy as large as
that power?" asked Representative
Galloway.
The admiral assented and to Repre-
sentative Callaway's demand to know
why he thought so, said:
"The relations between the coun-
tries are pretty close. My personal
impression is there never will be
war between this country and the
power | have in mind"
Admiral Grant declared any enemy
fleet must be considerably larger than
a defending fleet to force q landing.
We played that very problem on
the game board this summer at the
war college, and was beaten" he
said. "The enemy landed. This fleet
was larger than ours and heavier. We
lost because he had battle cruisers
which destroyed our scouts and left
us without information"
Every maneuver or board game the
department had worked out, Admiral
Grant said, had shown the need OF
battle cruisers and scouting craft. 1t
was for that reason, he added. that
while he believed the dreadnaught to
be the basic fighting unit of any fleet,
attention had been concentrated on
building battle cruisers and scout
ships, in addition to submarines be.
fore more battleships were authorized.
Representative Galloway sought to
show that the battleship was useless
element of a fleet in water where sub
marines lurked, but the witness did
not agree. In recent target practice
with submarines, the admiral said, it
had been found very difficult to sight
the target through the periscope at
a greater distance than a mile. The
periscOpe of submarine was clearly
visible at two miles to lookouts aloft
on the battleship, he declared, and
it was not any great task to hit it
with gun fire.
Experiments with aeroplanes to de.
tect submarines while submerged had
shown disappointing results. Admiral
Grant said, because at greater depth
than 20 feet aircraft could not follow
the movements of the submerged boat
except under most favorable weather
conditions.
Admiral Grant thought Great Brit.
ain, France and Germany now had
more than 100 submarines each in
commission as against 81 in the Uni.
ted States navy. Russia and Italy
also had added to their flOtilla. he