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t NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES SOON
4 TO BE OF ENORMOUS STRENGTH
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Is the United ( States destined to
become the greatest maritime power
in the world ?
Secretary 1\lortoll's estimates for
the navy for the fltjcal : year ending
June 30 , 1IOG ! , are $114,5:10,638-an : increase ' ,
crease oC $17,372.J.I8 over the appropriation ) - i
prlatlon for 1IOii ! , an Increase of $3.1 , .
713,8.17 over that of 1O.I ! ) , and the
largest ever IIIIUlo In the history of
the COUlltJ. " . Of the recent estimates ,
.ti,2IHiS:3 ( : : Is set apart for the 'In-
crease of the IIIlVY , " including construction .
structlon and machinery , armor and
armament , and equipment ,
'I'o.day the United States Is hulldlllE
four more battleships than Great
Britain-now the greatest war nation
-nllll the total tonnage or our first-
class warships III course of construction -
tlon exceeds the tonnage of similar
vessels being built hy each of the
other four great 110WCl'S
In order to show how It Is proposed )
to expend the millions It will ho necessary , -
r.nry briefly to review the progress of
the American na\'y. For years thc
na'y'aa equipped with only 7,500
mcn. This state of affairs continued
up to the time that the new navy wan
begun In 188G , Then the number of
men hogan to increase , until , In 1888
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to 1890 , there were IOOO to 10,000 I
Since the Spanish Will' , when there
were 10,000 men In our navy , the
authorized number has been : :1 : , GOO ,
with 2,5000 aVImmtlccs Dy a change
that has taken pnco ] recently all men
In training have been consolidated with
the apprentice class so that the authorized -
thorized force In the navy Is 3-1,000
There are about :11,000 : men now
serving , and aooo more are wunted.
\Vith the increase or lIIeu the expenses -
Ilenses of the navy ( domrtmont ) in-
creased. 'rho pay became better ; and
time service was consequently ) bettcl'
Petty officers received more money , especially ,
peclallr the chief petty omcers In
the last year the United States has
put Into the water more tonnage In
battleships and cruisers than ever be-
fore In any one year of Its history ,
amid launched more first-class war ves-
sols than any other nation In the
world.
The battleships now being built
were planned on time best type of war-
ship that existed. The Connecticut
was constructed for instance on the
plan ] or England's Africa , BritannIc ,
and Hibernian , all known as the King
Edward class , which arc of about 16-
350 tons The Connecticut liar a tonnage .
nt1g or 16,000 and horse po\r-ter _ f
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16,500 f as against 18,000 horse power
of the Klllg Edwarll ( ' 11\8s \ , It Was be-
1I0\'od by time American builders that
we had as good , If not a better , shl)1 )
than the hest war vessel In EngllUlIl.
On the Connecticut we are able to get
200 moro tons of coal hall t they arc
on the English ships ; our shIp Is 25
feet longer alld 2 feet less beam than
theirs , 'I'ho speed ) probably / about
the Rume The ships of the King 1 l-
wal'd class make ] 18,5 Knots an hour ,
and It Is expected ) that the Conmeeti-
cut will make 18 Imots , 'rhe draught
of bout classes of ships Is the same
-21 ! feet 9 ! J Inches , UI ) to the present
lime the Connecticut represents the
hest model of a battleship now unoat.
Bllt the war sharks arc looking
ahead of the Connecticut. 'rhe British
warships of the Iimg Edward ( clasH
will soon he superseded by those of
the lord Nelson class , the latest type
now 1II1I1l'r discussion In the English
navy yards. This new class consists
of ships of 18,000 and 20,000 tons ,
with six turrets distributed forward ,
aft IUIII amhlshlls ) , each carrying two
twel\'e-Inch gum , which Is the most
pOWerful ) and effective gun .that has
been made for ships. 'l'hls new class
of ship will , It Is believed , outrank
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PER.CrNTAGF ; 01' NAVAL ,
} TI\.EUGH ( lVILT AND JVIL.DJNC J
jimmy other now afloat , amid , In order to
keep pace with time other nations , th"e
United States Is now planning for a
class to equal It , Limits outclassing its
latest battleship , the Connecticut.
A great advance Is ale being made
In time guns warships , The English
figured on It fOI'tr-callbol' for the King
Edward class , but time Unite States
believes that It has a better gun than
this On ships of the King Edward
class they have four nlne-anll.two.
tenth.lnch guns In the smaller turrets .
rets , while we have on the Louisiana I
for instance , eight eight-Inch guns that
are fully us good 'rhen , the English
have ten slx.lnch guns , while we have
twelve Hovenlnch guns. But while the
six , imlelt gun was rated as efficient In
the past , the recent sea . gift off Port
Arthur fully indicated that It has not
the penetration at the range at which
the Japanese battleships fOllght The
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s'ven.lnch guns reached the Japanese ,
but dill little dn.mago. Time range of
sea fighting that the Japanese ) have
lengthened to seven miles In sonic instances -
stances has rendered many of the
guns now In service In the Amcrlf'an
and other navies practically useless In
battles with up.to.date nations The
old IIIwal battle where ships ham-
nWl'ol1 one another to pieces at It Ills ,
tance of one mile OJ' less has passed
Into ancient history along ] with the
day when Pcrry's flagship was turned
Into a shambles on Law ] Erie
'fho modern battleship must he
equipped with perfect machinery , and
It must he manned by experts capable
of handling it. At the range of five
to seven miles It requires twelve.lnch ,
flftycaliber guns to do the work , and
the six-Inch gun is destined to go out
of existence on battleships in a short
lime The future ship , In the opinion
of authorities , must he twice the pres.
emit weight amid armed ( with twoh'o-
Inch guns In building war vessels of
thIs latest type equipped ! with twel\'c-
Inch guns It will he seen at a glance
how easily the millions will melt awa ' ,
\Vllh the new ships and the new
guns must come expert mal'ltsmanship ,
It now costs the United States navy
$3,500,000 a year for target pmctlce.
Good marksmanship Is the keynote of
success to a navy , Time Japanese , imave
demonstrated this Between two ships
equally equipped and of the same tonnage .
nage , they defeated their enemies on
account of their superiority In gun-
nel'y The only war to maintain ex-
pert marltRmanshlp Is by constant
pracLlce It will he readily understood
, why target. practice is so expensive
when It Is known that It costs $1,000
every time a twel\'e.lneh gun Is fired
The projectiles of the most power'
fug twelve-inch guns have an angle ] of
fall of about ] ] % degrees at six : miles ,
and therefore time danger space of a
battleship forty feet high is about
slxty.slx 'ards , In order , then , to
make a hit with 11 perfect gun and
perfect ) aiming the range must be
known within one-half of this amount.
With reliable pointers at the guns
long-range tiring becomes principally
a training In range-findlne-N'ew
York 'fmes ! ,
Horse Wins $90,595.
The largest winner In the English
flatracing . season is Sir James Miller ,
who won stakes of the value of $13J" :
910 , of which Rock Saud's five races
represented $90.595. .
, .
OIL SHOT TO CALM SEAS. c
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Bottle Gun the Invention of an Admiral .
mlraln / the Brazilian / Navy.
While the process of quieting the
troubled waters by scattering oil on
the surface has been known and practiced .
tlced for a long time , there are constantly .
stantly new means being devised for . . ; tf'
the application of the all. The latest -
thing of this character Is the "bottle '
gun , " which has been Invented by Vice
Admiral Gulmares of the Brazilian
navy who proposes to scatter all on
the water ahead of the boat by Us m
means , -
'rhe gun Is a handy little piece ,
mOllnted on a pivot carriage , which
'is bolted ! clown to the deck , so that
there Is no recoil It Is made of
bronze , hut the chamber at the breech
which contains the propelling \ charge
is I of steel. The charge , In a brass -
central.llre cylinder , Is loaded Into
the gun from the rear , as It Is a
Ineech-Ioadlng piece , with n.n inter-
rupted crew plug to close it .
The bore of the gun Is of much - .
greater diameter than the powder
chamber , and the projectile , which Is
nothing more Utan an ordinary wine
bottle filled with sawdust steeped In
all , Is entered at the muzzle and
rammed home The advantage or thir
Is obvious , since Ulero would never
he any difficulty In providing a supply
of these fragile projectiles
- When the gun Is discharged the bottle .
tlo Is , of course , broken , and with its
contents scattered over time water for
a considerable distance If fired
ahead to form a smooth pathway for
the advancing vessel , It requires to
he discharge every five minutes , but It
the vessel Is stationary or lying 1 to ,
one round every twenty minutes Is
said to be sut1lclent.
When Theater-Goers Smoke Most.
"YOI1 wouldn't Sl1)1)10S0 ) ) on time first
thought that there is any connection
between the state of the drama and ,
the retail tobacco trade , " says a man _ . , . ' , y .
who runs a cigar store close to one or ' ' !
the downtown theaters , "bnt there Is :
\
such a connection , and it Is a close
one On any night when the theater . , . , .u
has a musical comedy show or anything "
thing of that kind I get twice the bust-
ness I do when the performance Is a
comedy , drama or tragedr Now that
I have pointed the thing out you
see the reason for it , -of course. The ,
lighter forms of entorialnmont In
which the hl1nchlng of good looking
chorus girls Is a feature is attended
largely by men who go by themselves
They go out LJetween the acts In
crowds , aud during the play and after
It Is over my business Is good
"But with the othel' kind ot show ,
even though the house bo crowded ,
the bulk of the audience consists of (1
couple lien take their wIves or
their sweethearts and , as a general r
rule , sit still between the acts to discuss -
cuss the plar. The difference Is 60
marked In my business and the fact
Is 80 well established that I make It a
rule to know the coming shows as
long beforehand as possible and gov
el'l1 the kind and amount or stock 1
have on hand accordlnglr The the-
ator naturally rllllS largely to cigar-
elLes.-Phlladelphla Reeol'd
Fools in Bucket Shops.
The bucket shop will \ undoubtedly
have its patrons as long as sheep have
woo ] , Revelation after revelation
counts for nothing In face of that ancient .
clent adage , which time never con ; : "
tl'lldlcts , that a fool Is born every.
haUl' ) , Dealing In stocks on a margin . . . . . .
to a concern of which you know even
less ! ! than you do of the market Is
' and ' ridic-
malting yourself your folly -
ulous after it comes to light. People
who lose In bnel\et-sbop speculation
usually keep mum about It. When
anybody : makes a dollar there the fact
Is very sure to come out ; It helps busl
ness It Is time lottery ticket and the
policy shop spirit In another form. '
Making something out of nothing is i
against the law of the universe , and
, those who give themselves to delusion
. do It almost invariably
that they can _ . . . .
; pay for their cxprieuc © a ruinous .
l.rlce.
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