Of the sum required,
only two millions need be appropriated for the next fiscal year. It is
not expected that one of the monitors will be a match for the heaviest
broadside ironclads which certain other Governments have constructed at
a cost of four or five millions each, but they will be armored vessels
of an approved and useful type, presenting limited surfaces for the shot
of an enemy, and possessed of such seagoing capacity and offensive power
as fully to answer our immediate necessities. Their completion having
been determined upon in the recent legislation of Congress, no time
should be lost in accomplishing the necessary object.
The Gun Foundry Board, appointed by direction of Congress, consisting
of three army and three navy officers, has submitted its report, duly
transmitted on the 20th day of February, 1884, recommending that the
Government should promote the production at private steel works of the
required material for heavy cannon, and that two Government factories,
one for the Army and one for the Navy, should be established for the
fabrication of guns from such material. An early consideration of the
report is recommended, together with such action as will enable the
Government to construct its ordnance upon its own territory and so to
provide the armaments demanded by considerations which concern the
national safety and honor.
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