12 PINE NAVY A COSTLY THING WASHINGTON.— A cal culation of the an nual cost of main t a i n i tig individual types of craft in the British navy was re cently made by Admiralty Secretary Edmund Robertson. By this it is shown that it costs $1,157,500 to keep IJ. British battleship in commission one year. A destroyer involves an annual outlay of $88,500, a torpedo boat $30,- EOO. It was with cable brevity that these figures were transmitted. The enor mous sum required to maintain a bat tleship for a year makes one wonder if there lias not been some error in transmission. That a vessel costing, say, $6,000,000 should in the course of less than six years equal its entire original cost in the mere matter of maintenance would seem inconceiv able at first glance. But when one compares the figures given with our own expenditures in this direction the calculations do not seem to be so much astray. The flat cost of main taining an American battleship in com mission in no Instance equals, or near ly equals, the sum which the admir alty secretary finds is necessary for I ~ ATiMGAJID CTiUtfL'R 7)Yc~'AcyWTor ruC ''JUVi JWAISR •' c%A66. Hie maintenance of n Brftish battle ship. Tint it is likely that ho has in eluded in this estimate the cost of the establishment which maintains the ships. Xo mathematician has yet fig ured out tin cost of our ships of war •on lines which would include the cost of yards, docks, etc. If this were done it would be found that under our present very absurd system, or rather very absurd lack of system, in con ducting naval affairs, the cost of main taining a British battleship would be a poor, cheap, and tawdry thing in com parison with the cost of maintaining s:n American war vessel of the same type. Over a Billion Since Spanish War. The new navy, which dates from the Spanish war, has cost to date $1,244,- 651,000. Oi this sum $309,000,000 has been expended on ships. The rest has gone to the maintenance of the naval establishment. The cost of mainten ance of individual types is shown in a series of tables prepared by the bu reau of supplies and accounts and in corporated in the annual report of the paymaster general of the navy. Dur ing the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, the cost of maintaining the 10 battleships which are now in the Pa cifle was as follows: Months Cost of in Name. Maintenance. Com. Alabama sr ( .iti.i!."l.'>) 12 Illinois 479.212.45 12 Kearsatxe 510,931. 11 12 Kentucky 520.138.78 12 Ixmlsluna C26,4M.fi!> 12 Ohio «3(i,r>57. 12 12 "Rhode Island 520,830.00 12 Virginia fiS2.HOB.9S 12 Missouri 5fi5,1X8.97 12 Wew Jersey 570.295.41 i 12 Maine 650.484.65 12 Connecticut 410,531.02 9 Georgia 325,915.28 9 Kannats 57.578.X0 3 Vermont 130,858.X0 4 Minnesota 147,t55.0'J 3 These figures show that it costs considerably more than $500,000 a year to keep a battleship in commis sion. The Connecticut, flagship of the fleet, may be chosen us an example of the various directions in which the money is expended. During the nine months of the fiscal year the main tenance of that vessel cost $410,531.02. Of this amount $232,749.88 was for the pay of her officers and crew. Com muted rations amounted to $18,876.90. For pilotage and postage the sum of $1,617.71 was expended. The value of (stores expended in the various depart ments was as follows: Ordnance, !$11,645.09: construction and repair, $7,339.62; steam engineering, $33,- ,829.45; equipment, $7,287.09; supplies *uid accounts, $42,233.45; repairs to hull, machinery, and equipage, $54,- 000.29. Gun Practice Is Costly. The $11,645.09 expended for ord nance was mainly for the powder anil shell used at target practice. A corre spondent who is with the fleet esti mates that the cost of the ammunition expended at target practice in Magda lena bay alone foots up to a total cost of $150,000. "That expenditure," he says, in giving the views of the offi cers, "is not expensive. On the con trary, it is the best money spent by the United States navy. It is the pre mium of insurance paid annually for efficiency, and it will prove its value if these ships ever get into war. There'll be no hit or miss or reckless helter-skelter shooting then." Congress and the navy itself have long been divided over the relative value of the battleship and the armored cruiser. In spite of much op position on the part of those who be lieve that battleships, vessels which cost but little more to build, are in finitely superior to the armored cruiser, ten vessels of this type having been recently added to the American navy. The opponents of the armored cruiser can now point to the vast sums which it requires to maintain them. The tables prepared by the paymaster general ■ show that, while the battleships average a little more than $500,000 a year, the armored cruisers average more than $700,000. The squadron of this type, which is under the command of Hear Admiral Dayton, and known as the "Hig Pour," is composed of the West Virginia, the Colorado, the Pennsylvania, and the Maryland. For the fiscal ended June 30 the West Virginia cost. $755,151.47, the Colorado $706,057.16, the Pennsyl vania $735,111.49, and the Maryland $685,526.06. Cavalry of the Navy. The armored cruiser has been com pared to cavalry. A distinguished naval ollieer says that it is not com parable to cavalry. "Moreover," he adds, "no one has proved that a navy needs anything comparable to the cav alry. It. is not comparable to the cav alry for the reason that it has not nearly the same speed, relatively to the other vessels of a fleet, that the cavalry has to the other branches of an army; and because it has not near ly the same power, either offensive or defensive, relatively to the other ships, that ' the cavalry has to the other branches. And a person would have to labor hard to prove that a navy needs something comparable to cavalry; for how can one find on the open sea, and within the restricted space which even the largest enemy's fleet can cover, any opportunity for those quick surprises, or those sudden attacks on exposed lines of communi cation, stretching away for miles, which is one of the principal employ ments of cavalry; and can one even imagine a squadron of armored cruisers making a charge in battle against battleships at all comparable to those charges of cavalry which again and again in history have been hurled with irresistible violence against a vulnerable point?" This officer does not wish to be mis understood as questioning the useful ness of armored cruisers; he merely questions the logicalness of an oft-re peated argument. "But at the same time," he says, "it may be well to point out that, though we can find a use for our armored cruisers, now that we have them, yet nevertheless, if we had ten battleships instead of our ten armored cruisers, our fleet would be much stronger." Cost of Establishments. As has been said, no one has yet fig ured out just what our ships cost when the cost of tha establishment is CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1908. included. The one who has made the nearest, approach to it is Hay Inspector John A. MuiJil. In a paper which is published in the naval institute, this distinguished officer says that of the hundred millions annually appropri ated for the navy's support $18,000,000 in round numbers is spent to pay the wages of labor in navy yards. This amount, says the pay inspector, is nearly equal to what it costs to sup port the lleet in commission. The ac counting for the actual disbursement of these eighteen millions is thorough, too thorough, perhaps. The accounting for why the money was spent, is simply the unregulated and generally unexamined show of results, with lit tle or no proof that the results equal the values expended. For the fiscal year of 1906 he adds that the cost of maintaining all ships then in commission was $23,(>55,950.41. Returns for this year show that there was spent for repairs to hulls, ma chinery, and equipage of the ships $5,550,309.01. Thus the total cost of the floating part of the establishment during the year, excluding cost of new construction ($31,764,550.58 alone) was $29,200,259.42. It cost during the same fiscal year to maintain all the navy yards and other shore stations $11,115,080.81. Besides this there was expended for buildings, chattels, etc.. and for machinery at these places the sunt of $9,589,183.09, making the total of the real maintenance cost of the shore part of the establishment siio, 694,263.90. Of course this latter fig ure does not include the work done at the yaids on or fur ships; it is aoiely the cost of keeping the yards in such shape as to fit them for doing their work for the floating part of the estab lishment. This cost alone of main taining the shore plant was more than two-thirds the cost of the floating part, the fleet. Extravagance of Shore Plants. Enumerating the various other ex penses of the yards and stations, the pay inspector makes the flat assertion that over half of the total appropria tions for the navy are absorbed by the shore plants. Of the finished product, the warship in commission and be yond the control of the land establish ment force, there is, he says, little to say. Admitting the absolute necessity for that product, finished as it is to day, its administration, away from the navy yards, is apt to be economical enough, comparatively speaking. It is about the accounting for the necessity for the expenses of the huge establish "KTAIICJUICM-"S\KD "r/JJN. JS" BAITUSHIP6 OF TH£ TYITo O/* /<SSd ~/<S9 9 ment that supports the fleet that there should be concern. The paymaster thus pays his re spects to the bureau system of the navy department: "The bureaus," he says, "do not represent principalities within clear, uncrossed dividing lines. There are portions of the personnel re source that, directly or indirectly, are under the influence of more than one bureau, and there are portions of the money resource that cannot be ex pended properly by one bureau with out. advice or suggestion from another. This necessitates co-ordination in or der to accomplish. What an accept able, inspiring word co-ordination is! The mention of it brings one's thoughts to peaceful achievement, to modern triumph over that business demon, waste, in the navy it means something like the general peace in Europe, where the dusty boundary stone is hot needed to mark division between neighboring mighty states, the demarkation being more clearly shown by unbroken lines of waiting bayonets. Such is co-ordination to-day among the bureaus. Defects in Present System. "Knowing that, navy yard work, even under businesslike administra tion, cannot be done, with the neces sary government, methods to contend with, as cheaply as similar work in commercial shops, let us be liberal minded. Then, also knowing that for every boat tiller made there are thou sands of pick handles and lawn mow ers, let us admit that the minimum price of boat tillers made at the yards, one dollar, is a just and proper value. Does this give excuse for manufactur ing others at three doliars each? When 40 metal stateroom boxes, for officers' uniforms, were made at one yard for $567, was it good policy to manufacture 40 more, at the same time, at another yard not many miles away and with the same resources, at a cost of $1,250.76? Where one yard was able to make 808 ditty boxes for $1,899.77, was it just to the 'Money for the Navy' to spend $1,259.66, at the same time, at another yard, in making a similar number? Prices Vary Greatly. "The boats for the battleships are built, as to kind, on the same model and of the same material. Re cently, at one yard, it cost $1,890.63, to make a 30-foot steam cutter, while at another, not many miles away, it cost $2,684.62 to build exactly the same kind of boat, to put on board the same kind of battleship. A 30-foot barge cost $071.08 at one yard and $1,151 at another. Several 30-foot cutters cost, on the average, $598.61 at one yard and $848.13 at another. A 14-foot dinghy cost $104.08 at one yard, while at another the same kind of boat was turned out for $153.61. A 16-foot dinghy cost $104.17 at one yard and $196.34 at another—pretty close to twice as much, it. will be observed. A 20-foot dinghy cost $217.89 at one yard and $362.44 at another. A 30-foot gig whaleboat cost $509.38 at one yard, and the same kind of boat, for the same kind of service, was turned out at another yard for the euphonious sum of $BBB.BO. "Turning to furniture: A mahogany desk for a cabin cost $136.76 at one yard, while at another, one made for a sister ship cost $l9O, there being no cents wasted on this latter price. An oak desk cost $112.07 at one yard and $163.30 at another. Toilet racks for officers' rooms, of which there are more than 40 made for each battle ship, cost. $14.60 at one yard, while at another exactly the same article was turned out for the neat round sum of $2O. Curious Variations in Price. "To make and fit into a battleship six galvanized boxes, for fire clay, 30x24x15 inches, cost at one yard, for the job, $167,01, and at another yard, to make similar boxes and to tit them on board a sister battleship, it cost $:;54.12. These same boxes, unfitted, cost, at one yard six dollars each; at another, $5.47, and at still another, $20.84." The pay inspector asks if a change in the method of appropriating money looking to the increased economical efficiency of the shore plant would affect the fleet, and answers his own question in the affirmative. "Yes," he says, "materially, perceptibly, abso- ltitely, at once. Every time a navy yard clerk bungles or shirks his work, the fleet feels it; every time a navy yard mechanic goes to sleep in the bowels of the hull on which he is working, the fleet feels it; every time a supervising authority 011 shore is overcome by a feeling of laissez fairc, the fleet feels it; every time two de partments at a navy yard waste hours in friction, in bumptious quarreling, the fleet feels it. The fleet is as a seismometer, for inefficiency on shore. The shock of the full-paid workman idle at his job may not attract or dinary notice, but it is recorded there just the same, and its mark may be deciphered by those who search and weigh and measure." —N. Y. Times. Bankers Liable for Advice. The highest court in Germany has, in several recent cases, fixed the re sponsibility of bankers when advising investments to their clients. One of the latest decisions was ren dered against a bank which, upon re ceiving an order from a customer to invest $7,500 in certain mortgage bonds, instead of executing the order, advised its customer to buy instead the bonds of another company, as equally safe and possessing advan tages over those ordered. The cus tomer followed the advice, and when the company failed he sued the bank. The court in its decision against the bank, held: "The bank has not done its duty in taking care of Its customer's interests when it recom mended the purchased bonds to be as safe as those originally ordered to be purchased, because the bank should have known that the latter had the quality of legal or trust Investment funds for widows and orphans, wards, etc., whereas the bonds advised and bought for the customer lacked that important qualification." Jpmjrim LJMCTS / 'jpr AND /|= : Baseball is kins again. The big leagues have opened up another sea son and the game started off pro pitiously, with good crowds and fine weather. Only one game was post poned—the St. Louis-Pittsburg game in the National league. The White Sox gave the Detroit champions a terrible drubbing and the Cubs played a wonderful uphill game and won out in the ninth, after Cincinnati had scored five times in the opening in ning. The finest game played was the New York-Philadelphia game in the Americrfn league, where not a run was scored until the twelfth inning. The attendance at all the games was un usually large, the total attendance being considerably larger than on opening day last season. The work of the St. Louis Browns was a very pleasant surprise. McAleer's team had been considerably ridiculed, but it showed a form that may well land the Browns close to the top. Every fan in America will personally re joice in the splendid showing made by old Cy Young. After 19 sea sons of pitching in the big leagues Cy began his twentieth year with a notable victory, pitching as well as he ever did. That a man 41 years old could be pitching about as well in his twentieth year of service as he ever did in his younger days must lie a wonder for years to come. There is 110 man past or present with such a record as Cy himself. 1 The race is now on officially, and for the coming six months some millions of people will give a large part of their atten tion to the great American game. .lohnny Evers, second baseman of the Chicago Cubs, says that after this year he is going to retire from base ball for one season at least. His de termination to do this, he declares, is irrevocable. He planned to rest in 1908, but as the Cubs won the world's championship and his contract ex tended over this year, he decided to play out the season. of health is the reason given by the wonderful little second baseman for his deci sion. He is young, and does not want to take any chances of prematurely impairing his health. If, after rest ing and recuperating one year, he feels stronger, he is willing to don the spangles again, if wanted, but in sists that he needs the rest and is going to take it. No ball player in the game to-day works harder than f" " " this little bundle of nerves and muscles when a battle is on. Ho loves to win, and fights to the bitter end be- i fore he will acknowledge defeat. It j is the nervous tension under which lie j labors that he has undermined hia ; strength, he thinks, and the "rest ! cure," he is confident, will rejuvenate him. "When I joined the Chicago club in the fall of 1902 I weighed only 115 pounds," says Evers. "Now I am up to about 137, stripped. That isn't enough to stand the strain of many such seasons as we have had the last two years when we won the National league pennant, each time followed by a world's championship series. No one loves to play the game more than I do, once 1 am in uniform. I could stay on the diamond all day, morning and afternoon, but I dislike to go get ready. Before I put on my uniform I feel as though I'd have to be driven to get out. Once the game starts I forget everything else and I want to fight all the time. I've got to talk. If 1 can't I can't play | ball, that's all. Chance won't let me chew at the pitchers so 1 take it out 011 him and the umpire, and what a lac ing I do give the manager sometimes. Fortunately for both of us Frank doesn't hear distinctly, and some of my talk goes by without notice. Bong ago 1 made up my mind I was going to lay off one year while still young. lam none too strong. The nervous tension under which I play is telling on me and it 1g my desire to quit for one year at least and have a good time like other young men. 1 had figured 011 quitting in 1908, but the fact that we won the world's cham pionship and that my contract called for one more year caused me to change my plans and play this season. But 1 fully intend tc lay off in 1909.' EVEN SPLIT IN MAJOR LEAGUES AMERICAN AND NATIONAL EACH WIN NINE GAMES PLAYED BEFORE SEASON OPENS. SCORES OF SPRING CONTESTS Johnsonites Won Both Championships in Philadelphia and St. Louis- Other Informal Battles—Records for Five Previous Years and the Grand Totals to Date. Eighteen games were played this spring between National and Amer ican league teams during their train ing trips, including the city champion ship series in St. Louis and Philadel phia. On the total of games played this year the majors split even, each league winning nine of the eighteen. The American leaguers won both spring championships in Philadelphia and St. Louis, although all the games arranged were not played in either of these series. The St. Louis Browns won three out of five games with their civic rivals, the Cardinals, although for a time it looked as if Mc- Closkey's outfit would trim McAleer's again, as happened in the spring of 1907. The Cardinals won the first two games, but the Browns took tii j last three, two games being decldi J of? on account of bad leather. In Philadelphia the Athletics won the title from the Phillies by taking three out of four games, Murray's men winning the third game of the series. Of the informal contests Cincinnati and Washington took part in the great er number of games. The Reds de feated the Boston Americans one game, trimmed the Chicago White Sox in another battle, and won one game from Washington, only to fall down before the Detroit champions in two straight games. The Reds were to have played two games with each of these four clubs if the weather had not interfered in all except Detroit's case. Down in Texas in (he earliest days of (he training the St. Louis Na tionals played Washington four games and won three of them. These were played by the regulars of both teams. The Cardinal and Senators' substi tutes also played a couple of games not included in the records. The even break this spring between the rival major leagues produces no change in the relative number of games they have won from each other's teams since the peace pact of 1903 was signed and the national com mission took charge of organized base ball. Previous to this year the Amer ican league teams had won 112 games from National league clubs and the veteran leaguers had won 92 games from the Americans. That would make the grand total for five and a half years to date of 121 victories for the American league out of 222 games played, leaving 101 victories for the Nationals. The greatest number of interleague games played in any one year was 60 in 1903, the season after the two bodies stopped fighting each other. The smallest number was 24 in 1904, the year when there was no world's series. Following are the scores of the in terleague games played this spring, the totals for five previous years, and the grand totals to date: March 14, at Houston—Washington, f>; St. Louis Nationals, 2. March 15, at Houston—St. Lo-iis Nation als, 7: Washington, 3. March 28, at Houston—St. Louis Nation als, 2; Washington, J. March 29, at Houston—St. Louis Na tionals, 7; Washington, 3. March 30, at Cincinnati—Cincinnati, 2; Boston Americans, i. April 4, at St. Louis—Nationals, 3, Americans, t). April 4, at Cincinnati—Cincinnati, 1; Chicago Americans, 0 (ten innings). April B, at St. Louis—Nationals, 4; Americans, 3. April <S, at Philadelphia—Americans. 5: Nationals, 0. April 7, at Philadelphia—Americans, 7; Nationals, G. April 9, at Philadelphia—Natiomi Ih. 2; Americans, 0. April in, at St. Louis—Americans Na tionals, 1. April 10, at Cincinnati—Cincinnati, 3; Washington, 2. April 11, at St. Louis—Americans, 2; Nationals, 1. April 11, at Philadelphia—Americans, 5: Nationals, 0. April 11, at Cincinnati—Detroit, S: Cin cinnati, 3. April 12, at St. Louis—Americans, B: Nationals, 0. April 12, at Cincinnati—Detroit, 9: <"in clnnatl, 1. Totals, spring 190S series—Nationals won 9, Americans won 9. TOTALS FOR PREVIOUS YEAIiS. Won. Won. 1903—Americans .. 33 Nationals 27 1904—Americans .. 13 Nationals it 1905—Americans .. 20 Nationals -"> 1901' —Americans .. 22 Nationals 7 1907—Americans .. 18 Nationals 22 Grand totals..l2l 101 Morrissey Wins Marathon. T. R. Morrissey of the Mercury Ath letic club, New York city, won the twelfth annual renewal of the Boston Athletic association's Marathon road race the other day at Boston, covering the 26 miles from Ashland to the fin ish mark on Exeter street ;□ 2:25:43 1-5. The time is second only to the record of 2:24:24, made last year by Tom Longboat, the Canadian Indian runner. He Got the Money. When Bill Bradley made those four home runs In four successive days at Philadelphia, in 1902, he was reward ed with a $lO bill which an enthusi astic Philadelphian sent to him: "Make another home run this noon and I will give you a twulfck:- Well, Brad got the coin.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers