The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 19, 1898, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1898. HOT WAR TALK | IN THE SENATE \(E S HURLED AT SPAIN Sensational Speech Made by Mason of Illinois. Denounces the Treachery and Trickery of the Spaniards. Grave Statesmen Talk Most Solemnly of War That Seems Near. DEMAND INVESTIGATION. But the Only Taken Is an Appropriation to Congressional Action Raise the Maine. Spectal Dispatch to The Call. Call Office, Riggs House, ‘Washington, Feb. 8. Soon after the Senate met to-day Hale of Maine introduced the following joint resolution, which was slightly amended, and adopted: “Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be and is hereby authorized to engage the ser- vices of a wrecking company or companies having proper facili- ties for the prompt and efficient performance of submarine work for the purpose of raising the remains of the officers and men lost on the United States steam- ship Maine and of saving the vessel, or such parts thereof, and such of her stores, guns, mater- ial, equipment, fittings and ap- purtenances as may be practica- ble, and for this purpose the sum of $200,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby ap- propriated and made immediate- ly available.” RCROROR R R R ORCRCRORORRCRCR R R 3 The resolution was prepared at the request of Secretary Long, who, in for- warding it to Hale, also sent a letter explaining its purpose. He says in this letter “it is deemed proper and im- portant that steps should be taken im- mediately to raise the remains of the officers and men lost on the occasion of the most deplorable catastrophe; to raise the vessel or to save such parts of her armament and equipment may be practicable.” retary adds: The Secretary inclosed a table show- ing the cost of a number of items of the ordnance outfit of the vessel, aggregat- ing $502,152. Allen thought it very desirable that a provision be inserted in the resolution for the transportation and burial of the remains of those who lost their Iiw—s‘ in the disaster. Hale called attention to the fact that reference was made to the transporta- tion of the bodies in the letter of the Becretary of the Navy. In many cases, he said, it would be impossible to bring to this country the remains of the men killed, as the bodles were 8o badly mu- tilated and the facllities for embalming 80 inferfor in Havana, that already the remains ¢f many of the dead were de- composing, and it would be necessary, probably, to bury them at once. Mason hoped that provision would be made for the transportation of the bodies to the United States and for their burial in this country. To that end he proposed an amendment to the resolution as follows: “After the word ‘thereof’ and before the word ‘and’ insert the following: “And for the transportation and ‘burial of the remains of the officers and men so far as possible.” The amendment was agreed to, and the resolution, as amended, was passed. The resolution offered yesterday by Allen of Nebraska directing the Com- mittee on Naval Affairs to make an in- vestigation of the disaster to the Maine was then laid before the Senate. It precipitated the most furious debate. Chandler of New Hampshire thought that if the word “immediate” be strick- en out and the matter be left within the discretion of the committee there would be no objection to the resolution. Mason if Illinois proposed an amend- ment striking out all after the word “resolved” and Inserting the following: “By the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives concurring, that a joint committeee of five, consisting of three members of the House of Representa- tives and two members of the Senate, be appointed to investigate the disaster to_the battle-ship Maine.” Mason followed Hale in a speech re- plete with sensational utterances. He sald In beginning that he had no dis- position to inflame a situation already so exciting, but he felt that his substi- ADVERTISEMENTS. Pears’ Get one cake of it. Nobody ever stops at a cake. as | To this the Sec- | OF ILLINOIS. nunuNw 23 %5 2% 2 | | o : THE GOVERNOR ORDERS gg | %8 {8358 A DAY OF MOURNING. :: 833 154 3 g0se Governor Budd was in San Francisco yesterday, accompanied by e Adjutant-General Barrett. He m:t quite a number of citizens during ?:3; the day, and ths talk naturally turned to the great disaster to the 523 battle-ship Maine in the harbor of Havana. T The Governor was so much impressed bv a suggestion from THE 388 CALL that som= public tribute of resp:ct shou!d be pail to the memory g:rx of the American offi.ers and sailors whose lives were sacrificed at 83;:‘ Havana that he decidsd to procleim Monday, February 21, as a day for 3'“ public expression of sympathy. Accordingly this proclamation was 8 issued by the chi=f ex=cutive of California: gtg‘ EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, FEB. 18, 1898. 28 Citizens are requested and officers in charge of State buildings and @ armories are directed to place the flag at half-mast on Monday, Febru- gg ary 21, 1898, out of respact to th: memory of those officers and men of g!;' = |e % | wRRuRuRRENNS tute was fully justified by the feelings and desires of the people. { "I understand,” said he, “that the | Navy Department is making an inves- tigation of the disaster, but I also un | derstand that Con, has the author- ity to make an investigation. It is a congressional investigation that people are demanding. They are fast coming to the conclusion that matters concern- ing this Cuban affair, including the De Lome letter incident, and the loss of the Maine, of which they ought to | know, are being concealed from them. The people want to know the and they will know them.” Mason said he did not desire to re- { flect upon the motives or honor of any- {bnd)'. but he suggested that the offi- | cials of the Navy Department, in mak- |ing the investigation would be trying their own case, and would naturally | endeavor to cover up any blame that | | might attach to them. | “The trouble with us is,” declared | Mason, with great vehemence, “that we | have adopted the Spanish policy of | | putting everything off until to-morrow. | | Let the investigation of this disaster | {to our navy and to our country be | | thoroughly “investigated by Congress | {and then shall know that it will be | | done right.” | Hale interrupted Mason to make a | statement. Replying, Mason said there was no | calamity so great as a failure on the part of those in power to appreclate | the -situation, when it was so serious | as it now is, and no sorrow so_profound | as that of indifference to this situation. He was surprised that Hale would ad- | mit the occasion was a solemn one, surprised that the Maine Senator would | admit that anything, any occurrence, | in Cuba was of a solemn character. He had no desire to stir up trou- | ble, but would only insist, as he has| done before, upon the stopping of human slavery and inhuman war- | fare in this adjacent island. He had a letter from Julian Haw- thorne, read to show, as he claimed, that murder was the policy of the Spanish Government in Cuba. He also had De Lome's letter read, and as- serted that the late Minister had been [delended in the Senate until he had confessed out of his mouth that auto- nomy was a fraud, and that he was the author of the letter quoted. This plea of autonomy had been used to se- cure delay on the part of the admin- istration's interference of affairs in Cuba, and it was for this reason that Mason said he wanted an immediate report upon his resolution for inter- ! vention. In view of De Lome's con- fession there was no use for delay. Autonomy he denounced as a sham, a fraud and a delusion, and the De Lome letter only served to emphasize the treacherous character of the Spaniard. As for himself, he would not, if eligible, be willing to serve on the proposed committee, as he would not want to sit at the table with a Spaniard who might have a stiletto under his clothes, unless he himself was iron- clad. The record of the Spanish nation, continued Mason, who ap- peayed to be laboring under consid- | erable excitement, is one of contin- uous treachery, and we have exper- ienced that treachery in our own history for the past hundred years. | It had been made evident that the facts, | ! | the warship Maine who lost their lives through the late lamentable dis- aster to that vessel in the port of Havana, Cuba. JAMES H. BUDD, Governor. By the Governor: L. H. BROWN, Secretary of State. By WILLIAM T. SESNON, Deputy. R R R AR R R R R R R AR A A R BRUBNRUBIRUBRURNRRNS | should now have American divers | | investigating the hull of the Maine | naval board may be able to reach | to-morrow—always to-morrow. That | the intensity of his voice, that he was | very sharply when Mason sought to | pass without comment, had it not been NRNNUNNNRRRRKS 2585 80 % % % % 2 8 N BWpeae 38 8% | Spaniard could not be trusted in nny} capacity, and for this reason we | and not be depending upon those of an unfriendly power. ‘“We are told,” he said, “that the Havana by next Monday. “Manana,” he exclaimed, ‘“means is the Spanish motto, and we are falling into it.” In the meantime who knows but that some more dynamite .will be put in and evidence of the catas- trophe averted? Mason had scarcely taken his seat when Wolcott addressed the chair. “Mr. President,” he said, and the words shot forth like a bomb to be ex- ploded in the Senate. It was evident from the Colorado Senator’s counte- nance and manner, to say nothing of laboring under considerable feeling. He had listened to Mason with ill-con- cealed feeling of emotion, his face growing redder and his brows more and more like a thunder cloud as the Illinois Senator proceeded. He spoke with great rapidity and occupied only a few minutes of the Senate's time, re- fusing to be interrupted and speaking divert him. Wolcott spoke as follows: “‘Mr. President: The Senator from Il- linois, however inopportune it may be at this time, in the opinion of some of us, might well have been permitted to for the remarkable utterance which he has given to the fact that the people of these United States have lost confl- dence in one of the great departments of the Government.” Mason had resumed his standing po- sition and he interrupted to say that the Senator from Colorado was entirely mistaken. “I made no such statement,” he said. Wolcott—I decline to be interrupted. I ask to have the remarks read from the reporter’s notes.” Mason—TI said that some people were losing confidence in one department and—" Wolcott then continued. The Senate would, he said, bear him out that he did not misquote the Senator from Il- linois to the extent of a single word or a single syllable. Resuming, he said: “Mr. President, from the time of Paul Jones until now our ships have sailed in every war, face always to the foe. The records of our naval battles are the most glorious his- tory in the page of our counmtry for the last one hundred years, and from the eerliest 'days until now there has never been a step back- ward. To-days as always, the of- ficers of our navy are honorable, courageous, upright men, and above all, they tell the truth. The captain of this ill-fated battle-ship was walking his deck at 10 o’clock on the night of the 15th, when this awful explosion happened. It may be that his public career is ended forever, but the awful disaster that overtook his ship will count for nothing by comparison with the de- | graded insinuation made here that an officer of our country, with the oath and with the flag above him, would lie and cast responsibility where it did not belong. ‘“Ah, Mr. President, war is grim decision, and when it comes it must come so that the people ot the world, whether they fight with us or not, can at least respect our conduct and our position, and above all, Mr. President, it must come under cir- cumstances which make us respect ourselves.” ‘Wolcott was followed immediately bg' Lodge of Massachusetts, who had sat very restless under Mason's reflections on the Navy Department.. He also spoke with intense earnestness, saying: _ “Mr. President, I have no desire and no intention of saying one word in re- g‘ard to the war which is raging in Cuba. No one could detest the horrors enacted in that island more than I. No one desires more than I to see the Spanish power swept from that island, as it has been from all the States of South. America, but, Mr. President, that question is not here. We are face to face at this moment with a great na- tional calamity. The Americans have received the awful news of the sinking of the warship Maine with a splendid silence and self-restraint, both in Con- gress and throughout the country. They are waiting sternly, quietly, to know the truth, and the truth they will ‘have. This is not a question Which involves Cubans or Spaniards. This is a question which involves brave Amerlcan_ Seamen, gone to their death in a foreign port. In the presence of that calamity what we want is the truth. How are we to get it? By the investigations of a committee of Con- gress which knows nothing, which has no witnesses to summon, which has no expert knowledge, which is miles from the place where the disaster occurred? “There is only one way to get at the truth of this matter, and that 1is through the naval officers who have been selected already to perform that duty. Can any one suppose that the naval officers of the United States, men on whose careers in the past and whose conduct in the present there is not and never has been a blemish, would seek to conceal the facts in such a case as this? I would rather trust this in- vestigation to the officers of the Ameri- can navy than to any other men in the country. Does any one suppose that the captain of that ship, who, wounded, stunned by the explosion, remained until the last upon the sinking vessel, and who, in the midst of that awful terror and excitement, with every duty nobly done, sent a dispatch to this country showing a ccolness and a nerve which are an honor to the American name—does any one suppose that Cap- tain Sigsbee, capable of such splendid conduct, is going to lie about his ship? The Secretary of the Navy is a man of distinguished ability, hcnor and of patriotism., If any one imagines that Secretary Long will not tell the truth, and insist upon the whole of it, he little knows the character of the man who has the honor to fill that great post at the head of the navy, and I for one | trust that Congress will await the ac- tion of the proper department charged with this inquiry, and will not attempt to do anything which could in the least degree derogate from the attitude which the American people and Con- gress should hold in the presence of a calamity so dire and so tragic as that which befell the battleship Maine. “I think those who know Hon. Theo- dore Roosevelt, who is Mr. Long’s right-hand man, would be slow to be- | lieve that he would ask to conceal the truth in regard to this disaster. Mr. | President, I am scrry that any debate has arisen on this question. It seems to me that the attitude of Congress ever since the awful news arrived has been in the highest degree dignified and worthy—worthy of itself and wor- thy of the American people. We have not speculated or talked. “We have waited in a silence of much deeper meaning than any words. We went to know the truth. 1f it was an accident that destroyed the Maine then let us provide so far as human foresight can against a MELANCHOLIA DESPAIR MISERY SORROW DEBILITY | DISEASE WEAKNESS BLUES LOSSES DRAINS VERY MAN HAS SOME AMBITION, some desire to make a _mark or be known as a success in a given fleld. No one wants to be called has been, “failure,”” or weak-knced. Now, to make a success in life, to be at the top, you miust be mentally and physically strong. It you have a known weakness, if vou lack nerve forqg, if you are suffering f;om ner- Vous deniiity. Qou cannot be a grand success. Your life will end In failure. Man, Take Advice. 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FREE———_Free talic. FREE———_First remedy treatment. HUDSON MEDICAL INSTITUTE 'chtlv_!' Stockion, Martet and Ells Streels R B RR R R R R WILL VINDICATE THE NATION'S HONOR. DIVERS CAN TELL CAUSE OF DISASTER § i o P - ° 879 GENERAL AROLAS, Military Governor of Havana. UNDOUBTEDLY DUE TO A TORPEDO Captain Brice, a Retired Naval Officer, Has a Positive Opinion as tothe Loss of the Maine. most equal the crime. lutely known. WASHINGTON, Feb. 18.—Captain John J. Brice, a retired naval offi- cer, in speaking about the explosion on the Maine, gave the positive opinion that it was caused by a torpedo. He said he thought the inves- tigation would prove this to be true, and that a torpedo was lowered by men in a boat and suspended from the anchor chain or cable some feet below the bow, and that torpedo was expleded by wires. “From a professional point of view,” he said, “there is no theory that will bear out the supposition of an accident. a crime so heinous would be so unjust, if not true, that it would al- I am sure, however, laid before us in a few days like an open. book and the truth abso- If the explosion was from the outside the undulation of the plates will be in-board, and to the centrary if from the outside. The wires, if any, doubtless will be picked up, and many other indications will be found if the explosion is from the outside. plates will show in-board from the bow and outward from the back, for the detonation from the explosion of the torpedo evidently caused the explosion in the magazine, which caused a second explosion. thing I cannat account for is the smoke and fire. from a torpedo alone, and hence I believe the shock caused the explo- sion in the magazine or elsewhere and gave rise to the flames.” Yet the suspicion of the whole matter will be I think the vessel's The only This could not come $808 082828090008 08 0800 202808880808 00 g8t [eg=F=8-F=3:8:F-3-F-F-F=Rug=F=FaF=Fe/oFuP e oF Pt oFoFut TR ogaPaFotaFal] recurrence. If it was treachery, then the righteous wrath of the American people will take ‘a signal vengeance for the treachery that sent the ship to the bottom, and let no one think to stay it.” Mason replied: ‘Misquotation and general spasm will not drive me from the decision of this question in the Sen- ate.” He shared, he said, in the general ad- miration of the various departments of the executive branch of the Govern- ment, and Wolcott would not excel him in that respect. “I am sorry,” he said, “that while the Colorado Senator is giving us such a lecture about the Navy Department he does not slop over and give the Treasury Department some of his praise.” He (Mason) fully indorsed all that Lodge had sald about the head of the navy, with whom he had served in the House, and whom he knew to be a man of ability, of great head and a warm heart. But, Mr. Long could not himself object to an investigation, and it was no part of friendship to him to try to shield him from such an inquiry as was proposed. If he himself were managing the department, he would. under the circumstances, want the investigation. He denied that his remarks contained any reflection upon Mr. Long’s integ- rity or honor, or the integrity or honor of the officers of the navy. But, while this was true, he also had regard for the honor and the lives of the common seamen. He also resented the intima- tion that he had gone into the slums to find words with which to characterize the Navy Department, and repeated his loyalty to the navy and other de- partments. “I have an unmitigated dread of war,” sald Hawley of Connecticut with great feeling, “and I deprecate all war talk. Do the gentlemen who talk so loudly of war think we are ready for war? They cannot know certainly what it means.” Allen of Nebraska said he desired to secure a vote upon the resolution, but he desired to reiterate the suspicions expressed by Mason, that the investi- gation by the Navy Department would not be satisfactory to the country. “Can the Senator give the grounds for his suspicions?” inquired Gray of Delaware. ‘“His statement is import- ant.” “My statement is important,” replied Allen. “I want to say that I have not in my five !’!’l' experience in the Senate known one of these investiga- tions to result in anything.” Hale rose and said deliberately: “I decline absolutely to follow the Sena- tor from Illinois (Mason) into & gen- eral discussion of the Cuban question. I had hoped that this subject might be disposed of to-day without debate, and now decline to take advantage of the melancholy situation to exploit my- self. 1 have here a dispatch received by the Navy Department from Cap- tain Sigsbee. It shows that there is not in the city of Havana a single dis- cordant note. All are in mourning for the dead. The. city is filled with an atmosphere of pity, commiseration and sympathy.” Hale remarked that under the rules the resolution would go to the calen- dar. Pending a motion by Hale that the Senate go into executive session, Bacon of Georgia introduced the following joint resolution: “That there shall be prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy and placed on the wall of the Statuary Hall in the Capitol building a bronze commemorative of the officers and men of the United States navy who perished in the loss of the battle- ship Maine in the harbor of Havana, February 15, 1898. The said tablet shall contain the names of said officers and men and shall be an enduring me- morial to their honor and a perpetual token of the sorrow of the nation.” The resolution further appropriated a sufficient sum of money to carry the resolution into effect. It was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs. At 2:05 p. m. the Sepate went into executive session. At 2:55 the Senate resumed business in open sesion for the purpose of considering resolutions on the death of the Hon. Ashley B. ‘Wright, late a Representative from Massachusetts. At 3:40, as a further mark of respect, the Senate adjourned until Monday next. In order that the residents of San Francisco and vicinity may attend the Citrus Fair now being held at Clover- dale, the San Francisco and North Pa- cific Railway will sell tickets at one fare for the round trip for $3, good going Saturday and Sunday, the 19th and 20th, with limit of return Monday, the 21st. —_—— The British Museum contains the old- est specimen of pure glass which bears any date.. This is a little lion’s head, having on it the name of an Egyptian king of the eleventh dvnastv, STATEMENT OF ARSENAL EXPERTS If Plates Bulge Out- ward a Torpedo Was Used. Armor Testers Throw Light on the Maine Disaster. They Evidently Believed It Wag Not Due to an Internal Explosion. SHOWN BY EXPERIMENTS. Many Circumstances That Would Support the Public Theory of Foul Play. Special Dispatch to The Call. BOSTON, Feb. 18.—“If the diver who examines the bottom of the battle-ship Maine finds a hole in the bow beneath the water line which has a bulge outward, they will know instant- ly that the vessel was the vic- @ tim of an outside attack.” Thus spoke Major J. W. Riley, com- mander of the Watertown arsenal, to- day. This statement, uttered by an officer of the United States army, who is in a position to know the workings of all modern implements of war, is important at this time, while the act cause of the disaster is still a matter of speculation. An open state- ment emanating from a Washington naval official claimed that if an investi gation revealed a bulging around the outside of the alleged hole, it would prove conclusively that the Maine had been wrecked by an interlor explosion. This impressions seems 10 be alto- gether at variance with established facts in the history of efficient armor plate tests which have been held under various conditions. At the Watertown arsenal, where ordnance of all descrip tions is manufactured, the officers in charge of the various departments scoft at the idea of an interior explosion causing a bulge on the outside of a steel plate, such as was carried by the Maine. “The whole matter will be cleared up in the official investigation,” said Ma- jor Riley, as he glanced over some armor plate drawings. “Any man fa- miliar with the effect of either torpe- does or projectiles upon heavy armor or plates will know the moment he looks at the hole, if hole there Iis, whether or not the boat was destroyed by an interior explosion or by an at- tack from the outside. “This bulge, which the papers say may be on the outside of the hole, and * which they claim may be the result of an interior disruption, can only be found on the side of the armor plate against which the .mplement of at- tack strikes. It is just the.same as though you were to hit a tub of water with your open hand. When a tor- pedo strikes a piece of armor plate 1t causes the plate to spread outwardly, the torpedo not exploding until by the force of its projection it has eaten its way several inches through the steel.” “Could a torpedo exploding in the interior of the vessel cause such a hole as is reported exists in the hull of the Maine?” was asked. “Why, no. How could it? If a tor- pedo exploded the whole side and bot- tom of the ship would have been blown to pieces, while on the other hand either a projectile or torpedo could cut a clean hole below the water line and the bulge would be found on the out- side, while the inside sheet of the plate would be torn and jagged.” Another well known authority on Government ordnance and its modern application is Captain Frank B. Hobbs, who is also stationed at the Watertown arsenal. Captain Hobbs was formerly in charge of the Government armor plate department at the Bethlehem Steel Works at Bethlehem, Pa., and his opinions on the question at issue bears considerable weight. When asked what he thought of the theories ad- vanced on the probable cause of the hole, and whether a bulge would be of inward or outward nature Captain Hobbs said: “It must be taken into consideration that modern battle-ships are not entirely covered with armor; only the vulnerable points exposed to the enemy are given this additional protection. ' “Now in case of an explosion occur- ring in the bow of the vesel such as is reported, the result would be, to my thinking, that the sides or bottom of the boat would have been ripped apart.” “Would a torpedo tear a plate off or would it cut a hole through, supposing that it struck from the water side?” was asked. “An outside attack would bore a hole through the plate,” repiied Captain Hobbs, “and it would eause the steel to bulge on the water side; then the explosion would tear the back out of the plate, leaving the outside almost free with the exception of the marked bulge.” Captain Hobbs also said that it would take but a few hours to plant a mine from a harbor to any point in sight, but as for aiming a torpedo un- der water at any vessel in a harbor, he did not think it wouid prove much of a success, i CE®O [OJOICXOXOYOXO} ®G