ARMY & NAVY: Appropriation

The House Appropriation Committee reported out the supply bill for the Navy Department. It carried appropriations of $271,942,867—$23,024,000 less than was appropriated a year ago and $4,453,000 less than was requested in the budget estimate. The provisions of the bill included:

¶ Appropriations for pay to keep the Navy at its present strength of 6,469 officers and 86,000 men, and to keep the Marine Corps at its present strength of 1,002 officers and 19,500 men.

¶ A cut of $410,000 from the budget estimate for naval aviation, making the appropriation $57,174 less than last year’s. The development program for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Coco Solo, Canal Zone, was deprived of appropriations on the ground that it had never been approved by law.

¶ A trip of the Shenandoah to the North Pole, to cost $183,000, was approved, but the expense will be paid out of money already appropriated.

¶ No building of new ships, not already under construction. The Committee deemed it unwise to construct even those types of ships not restricted by the Limitation of Armaments Treaty, on the grounds that it set a bad example to other nations.

¶ About $30,000,000 is included for the completion of one battleship, two aeroplane carriers, six scout cruisers, thirteen submarines, three fleet submarines, one gunboat, two destroyer tenders, one submarine tender and one repair ship, which were under construction on Nov. 30, 1923.

¶ No appropriation for building three new fleet submarines requested by the Navy, on the grounds that the usefulness of this type of craft had not been successfully demonstrated. A substitute appropriation of $600,000 for submarine experiment was offered.

¶ The appropriation for improvements of navy yards and naval stations was cut in half, to $1,916,500.

¶ Recommendation was made that in future appointments to the Naval Academy, its student body be limited to three-fifths of its present number, cutting down the graduating class in 1928 to 254 members.