Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-04-15
HARDING FAVQRS
NAVAL FORCE Of
NOT LESS THAN
$4,000, STATES
President Makes His First
Public UtteranCe Regard
ing 1923 Bill Now R..
ing in Congress-, ~
VIEWS ARE GIVEt$ $ I
REPLY TO A, $IUEST
Vote on Enlist Provision
Section WIZ /ne Today;
Both 81 Still Are
Claiming NIytOryn
tBy The Associated p. ess.)

(By The Associated P.ess.)
| Washington, April 14.-President
Harding in his first public utter
ance on the 1928 naval bill. de-
, clared in a letter presented today
to the house that while the decision
must lie with congress. he would
he greatly disappointed, as he be-
| lieved the country would be, If the
enlisted force was cut below $4,000,
The opinion was not sent gratu-
| itously. 1t was given in response to
request for the presidents view
by Representative Longworth, re-
publican. Ohio, one of the leaders
in the fight to defeat the proposal
in the bill limiting the force to 67,-
900. There had been unofficial
statements to the effect that the
president opposed a drastic reduc-
ton in personnel and that he stood
for the figure proposed in the Nc
Arthur amendment.
Glad TO Accept Challenge.
In presenting the letter toward
the close OF an all-day debate, Mr..
Longworth said he was glad to ac-
cept the challenge from friends OF
the measure as framed, to find out
what the president wanted and to
let the house know
The vote on the enlisted proVl-
sion section will come tomorrow
On the eve of the battle both sides
tonight still were claiming victory,
"Everything is fine and the bill,
as written will pass" said Chair
man Kelley, who is in charge oil
the bill.
1--WE will win unless too many of
our supporters leave town ior
Easter" said Representative NC
Arthur of Oregon, republican mem
Der of the naval committee. ready
with an amendment providing Tor
SO. 900 men the moment the section
is reached.
Fight Rages.
Friends of the "big navy had
planned early today to force the
fight over until next week, put
Chairman Kelley resisted all at
tempts to delay When the meas
ure was called up to be read, item
by item. the clerk had barely turn
ed n page when the fight started on
the enlisted question and 1t ragted
INCREASINGLY until night. In the
end the house. worn out by hours
of talk, quit nine pages ahead OF
the disputed provision. ..,a
One amendment was accepted
and one was voted down. IheFe
was no objection to the first. by
Representative Towner, republican,
Iowa, for an increase from S2oo'-
600 TO s343,000 for the govern
ment of the Virgin Islands. but
the other, for increasing the ap-
propriations for the Great Lakes
naval station from $l60,OOO 10
S260,000, offered by Representa-
tive Chindbloom. republican, IN
nois, the home state of the station,
was rejected, sc to so. But the llg,
ures did not represent the full
voting strength on the floor.
Telegram From MacNidcr.
Bitter at times, the debate otten
took a lighter turn. A telegram
from Commander MacNider OF the
American legion, received today by
Mr.. Macarthur, and read to the
house, urging n full man force Ior
ships protected by the treaty, de-
veloped that the representative
members of the legion were not
behind the bigger navy fight.
Representatives Rankin, demo-
crat, Mississippi and Arntz, repub-
lican, Nevada, declared the COM
mittee bill sustained the 5-5-3 ra--
ito. which they contended was all
the legion asked.
ot ttonkS th6
accuracy of the figures supplied by
the intelligence bureau OF the
navy with respect to the enlisted
treaty strength of Great Britain
and Japan. Naval experts We're
included in the criticism, Repre-
sentative Mann, republican, 1lli-
nois, saying they had insisted on
building the Great Lake station,
which they said now was not need
ed. The station, he said, virtually
would be wiped out of existence by
the bill.
Data From DENLY.
Representative Rogers, repupil-
can. Massachusetts,, one of the
leaders in the fight for $4,000 men,
and who obtained the views OF
Secretary Hughes which were sent
to the house early in the week,
submitted today letter from Sec
retary DENLY with a table shoW-
ing how the various forces pro-
posed would be placed.
The letter prove+Sed a fresh at
tack on navy estimates by Chair
man Kelley, who produced letter
written by the secretary to the
rif,rv h Elh