| Show NAVY DOB NOT REALLY EXIST SINCE SAMPSONS SQUADRON AND DEWEYS FLEET PUT AN END TO THEIR BOATS copyright by cartis brown 1003 madrid sept it were not BO said it would be the funniest of nil in t jokes this spanish navy As the spaniards themselves frankly admit t it exists only on paper yet this non existent navy not only costs more than L when it existed in fact before the united states destroyed it but it has just caused the downfall of a cabinet and provided spain with a new premier cna with a problem that may prove too s lug for him this cipher cuta a bigger roure at present than any ot the other numerals in finance officially the spanish bleet is at present composed of one birst class ironclad of 9 tons burden four first class cruisers of toni altogether two third class cruisers of tons two one smaller vessels including tor boats torpedo boat destroyers gun i boata dispatch boats etc and ten train F ing chipi resides these there arc two cruisers not quite finished the queen ke efat second class and the general K nicas third class this much t hut unfortunately little as it is it is not anat it seems the only ironclad which figures in the lisi is the charles the film built fifteen kaars ogo its floating line is BO low and it bishes so much that it would be dan to undertake a long voyage sn ina ship especially in a rough sea ot the tour first clans cruisers mentioned above two the catalonia and the prin caia of asturias which were launched four or five years ago are not yet prop fitted out and it is not even possible to tell awen they will be quite ready for navigation nai gation the third the cardinal proe only serves for short passages thanks to its age of thirteen unlucky the fourth the pelayo the only cue in a comparatively serviceable con alu i in so frequently suffers damages th t having been built in toulon and alvys being taken to that french port whenever it was in feea of repair tho s i inwards often observe sarcastically that if were got up in the pel avo and it were dis embarked it would amonn instinctively ana without the aid of any pilot make straightaway for the lort of toulon one of ane two third class cruisers the aitio d la plata to spain by the ih colony of the Rep when the war wim the united kiaei broke out has cost for repairs le pairs which is sufficient to give an idea of its condition the other lacot ich little worth that it is only utilized for in its hald the anarchist who are constantly causing dh tur bances in some town or other of the kingdom the thir tyone vessels when not being repaired in tho dock yards are employed only in witching the coasts in order to prevent the landing ot arms by the carlista Car lists a work in which they are not supremely useful on account of their lack of speed and fighting power As for the training ships they answer so badly tho purpose tor which they are intended that according to what tho sailors say the youths who are sent on board of them to be instructed only learn to thank the lord for permitting them to disembark with a whole skin we spaniards cannot even hope to see our miserable fleet strengthened and improved by the addition at an early date of the new cruisers queen regent and general laniera Lin iera luc of these cruisers was begun ten or twelve years ago taking into consideration the extraordinary progress which has been made of late in the building of battleships it is likely that when the queen begent and the general linders liniers are finished spain will be lucky it they can be utilized even as guard ships they have already cost the spanish rate pay era six 0 o seven million dollars each A CIPHER in agite of the actual fleet being such a mockery its maintenance costs spain annually no lesa than of which sum tour millions arc spent in paying the personnel only of a small part of the bame being embarked and navigating only when the state ot the vessels permits it nearly two millions are consumed in the maintenance and repairing of j the ships whose cost of building is now nearly duplicated through the expense of repairs two millions are employed for the ships which are being built and a million more is expended on the arsenals THE ance OP i ot to jtb carre of vata onar on tant n saji kot be to go oa baird saip and shipwrights ship wrights yards the uselessness of which ia notorious irom all tah it appears that the royal navy costs the rate payers every year more than when the four cruisers and the various minor vessels destroyed in the american war also formed part of afie fleet inasmuch as i 1893 before the way with the united states the 0 the navys estimate of expenses came to less BE discharged but the most ridiculous part of this vast national farce is yet to come throughout the sixty or years past when spain really biad a navy there were never less than twelve or thirteen thousand workmen employed today their remains ann figure was excessive even in times when had a considerable fleet the government has repeatedly attempted to discharge some of the men but always in vain the men themselves have threatened to provoke serious dis turban cei if interfered with and the and senators of the three shipbuilding provinces have insisted that ahe government must respect the rights acquired by those workmen in this situation to aboia avoia riots and incidentally not to lose the support of the aforesaid deputies and senators the government has continued to use millions and millions of the money ot the naval depart roen in paying the workmen unearned wages this farce was played again only the other day the last of afie funds des lined for the payment of the workmen of the cadiz dockyards dock yards having been used up ibe council of ministers decided not to appropriate any more money tor that but na soon as this resolution became known in caez the laborers rose in rebe uon the corporation resigned en masse as a protest against the government the deputies of the respective provinces threatened the ministry with all kinds of vengeance at the reopening of parliament and the cabinet promptly surrendered and new sums for atio gallant men of cadiz besides promising to ask parliament to grant them even more money except for those who arc supposed to be employed in clife building bithe general linders liniers and tie queen and in repairing the damage suffered by the ships of the fleet what the remainder of chofe workmen do is an en which no spaniard lias yet succeed r I 1 OTHER PHASES OF THIS JOKE many other cases of waste and abuse in the dockyards dock yards of the state might be cited for example it is well known that every personage called upon to fill the post of minister of the avy gives lucrative places in his department to in friends and although these have no more knowledge of things relating to the sea than they have ot the different species of fishes the new minister senor cobian has proved no exception to the rule and he has bad besides a brilliant and transcendental idea As soon as he had taken possession of his charge he ordered a magnificent chapel to be erected in the ministerial building of the naval department and this bacrad edifice has jut been solemnly and officially inaugurated masses ore to be said there on all holl levs for the personnel of the aforesaid department from among the ex honses of the navy there yearly figure some thousand of dollars for the BO called horses of the navy and it seems strange tant these should consist ol 01 alie horses of the commanders of the regiments of marines another outlay in tue kaval department is occasioned by the maintenance and navigation of alie vessel giralde which presented to the state by a wealthy spanish gentleman at the time of the warin cuba was afterward transformed into a yacht for the royal family which uses it as such without any more satisfactory reason than that it costs nothing As if all this were not sufficient to increase the expenses of the navy it is still the custom to begin paying the officers of a battleship from the day on the ship to which they belong has been launched it therefore results that iiri arp dozens of elioe d fined for the general linicus and the contat th of th aary queen regent for example who are receiving good pay five fix or seven year before rendering any service other officers who for the want of vessels hava not been to sea tor many years hav continued in pay and promotion BO that it sometimes dapena that a naval although ho stays strictly at home readies at the end of a certain number of years the highest degree in hb career in spain everybody knows that when the government sent the ironclad charles V to take part in the last great naval review at plymouth the ship hal to return before reaching its destination because so many of the officers mccama terribly seasick COLUMBUS SEASICK ANT but in all that relates to nobody assuredly can contend for tha palm with senator christobal Chri tobal colon duke of veragua Ver agua who in his quality 0 legitimate descendant of the immortal discoverer of america possesses tha right from the day of his birth to be admiral of the spanish fleet besides receiving annually a pretty large pension which is naturally included n the expenses of the naval department thia gentleman figures among the most eon personalities of the liberal party and having often been designated for the post of minister of the navy ha never accepted the portfolio without first obtaining the promise that he would never be required to go on board of a battleship nevertheless last year ha found himself under the necessity of accompanying compa nying king alphonso on the sea voyage along the coast of asturias but ao and constant was the seasickness which the unfortunate du ka suffered on that occasion that heimas confined to hii cabin during tha whoa voyage and when at last he emerged from his retreat to follow the king ashore hit majesty bueing him look 0 opale and ill kindly bade him go to bed but even leaving aside the incompatibility existing between the ocean and i the stomach of the duke of and other companions of his belonging to the annanda it ii certain that besides the facts previously exposed 1 to provoke the hostility of publio opinion against any bill for the re construction of the fleet the feeling ol 01 opposition on the part of the people is augmented by tha recollection of tha granted in 1892 by parliament to be aed in the building or purchase of battleships battle sKips it ia very difficult r ii r h i j continued on page 10 1 continued from page 0 to fand out exactly how those million havo been spent A kisir in these who ran akrc abb spaniard that even if thy were to devote from 12 lo 10 to the of a new bicet the of 1898 would bot may the lord help youl coolly belc anor floret then colonial in answer to admiral cervera der vera who having received orders tu proceed to cuba from alio canary warned that minister that the north Amr cican neel was stationed in the watt tit of cuba who can eay that even if it were now decided to build a new fleet alio hut spanish gallon would not have to limit to in the help of od especially as it haa known that mariom have been cwg all their po litreal in obder to obtain n contract for building alio new fleet on most advantageous to themselves in case the recent naval appropriation had been approved oft therefore it keenn to bo alie unanimous desire that leavina the reconstruction of the navy for more opportune times the villaverde cabinet should not a day in and improving the administration of naval department it is true enous li that in order to do BO the oah ariet have to begin by transforming tb minister of the xavy hi melt senor lohiau a highly n and eminent lawyer but ho in absolutely all naval mattera mat he adamita alila to be a fact having gone with omo frienda two lays ka to upend the afternoon in the noih borlie park called kl pardo cobian several other friend who in couett oiw manifested their nt seeing nim m that garden of le creation ah you are to fand wo herce replied alic with a frank and beoo d natured emile diore you douht to be to fand nib ig at the head of tha naval department aros of tho why many spaniards not only publicly ask for the of the tion of the fleet hut resolutely demand the botill suppression aup of the whole naval K |
