CONGRESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



191 



an exorbitant price, but, as I called to the atten- 

 tion of the Senate at that time, we established a 

 most unwise and dangerous precedent when we 

 surrendered and abdicated legislative power and 

 responsibility and invested it in the hands of a 

 secretary or the head of a bureau. 



" Now, Mr. President^ we are in for it for $10,- 

 564,550, when a good price to these companies for 

 the same armor would be at least $5,000,000 less. 

 Here goes a donation, a contribution to this 

 armor trust of the modest sum of, at least, $5,- 

 000,000 above a fair a good profit. I say that 

 because the official reports of the Secretary of 

 the Navy on an official investigation authorized 

 by Congress show it. 



" I admit that the price paid for the armor of 

 the Kearsarge and the Kentucky was $589.13 per 

 ton, but the armor for these vessels was contracted 

 for by the act of March 2, 1895, before this ques- 

 tion had been brought squarely to the attention 

 of the Senate. There seems to have been very 

 little discussion of the subject in Congress up to 

 that time. But since that time the matter has 

 been fully discussed at each session of Congress, 

 and since Congress has been informed as to the 

 facts it has each time decided that $300 a ton 

 was a fair price. We have done that year after 

 year, and yet, strange to say, every year since 

 that time we have paid more than $400 a ton. 



" Now, that is an anomaly ; but yet it happened 

 in this way : The Senate would say, ' The armor 

 trust is holding us up because here are three bat- 

 tle-ships in the stocks waiting for armor; but if 

 we do not finish them we are subject to fines and 

 penalties which we have fixed in a contract; we 

 may need these vessels; there may be a war, and 

 we had better be held up by the throat by this 

 armor trust and let them rob us for enough for 

 these three battle-ships for the present ' ; and the 

 Senate then would solemnly vote that ' hereafter 

 we will not pay more than $*300 a ton.' The Secre- 

 tary of the Navy would go on and make contracts 

 for the next vessels authorized, and then report at 

 the next session of Congress that he could not get 

 armor at $300 a ton, and therefore the vessels 

 were on the stocks; the vessels were finished ex- 

 cepting the armor, and that we ought to submit to 

 this robbery one more time to get enough for 

 these vessels waiting for armor. 



" Mr. President, that same thing has gone on 

 over and over every year for the last five or six 

 years. Now, why is it that the Senate and the 

 Congress has allowed itself to be put into this 

 ridiculous attitude has allowed itself to be 

 played with by this great armor trust? Is it a 

 fact that we have been powerless? Is it a fact 

 that we did not have the power or the capability 

 to prevent it? No, Mr. President, the whole 

 trouble lies in the fact that Congress has never yet 

 had the courage, when fixing the price of armor, to 

 say in the same law that if they will not furnish 

 the armor for $300- a ton, which is a profit of $75 

 a ton on every ton to the factories, then we will 

 build an armor-plate factory and make it our- 

 selves. 



" Every Senator on this floor knows that if we 

 had put a clause like that in the first bill, six 

 years ago, we would have got every pound of 

 armor that we needed for $300 a ton. And yet, 

 for some reason, some strange reason never ex- 

 pressed, for some inscrutable purpose, by some 

 mysterious method of reasoning, or refusing to 

 reason, we have each year said, ' the next year 

 we will not pay more than $300,' but voted down 

 the provision that if they do not make it for that 

 price we will build an armor-plate factory. Our 

 action in refusing to provide for a Government 



armor-plate factory, in tho event 1! trust, refuse* 

 to furnish armor at $:iOO a ton, h;i- IK en ;ui invi- 

 tation to the ; armor-plate trust ,\t, ivm (., turni*li 

 the armor and wait for us to sunvmirr io 1 hem. 



"Those of us who have tried to >usr the (Gov- 

 ernment from being robbed by this 'jif;i1 (rust 

 have each year pointed out that we would never 

 be free from their clutches until we did m;ik<> ~ue!i 

 a provision; and we pointed out, as far buck as 

 five years ago, that we might have a war in tin: 

 near future, and in the case of a war we would 

 still be more at the mercy of this trust than then, 

 because in that case we might have to pay a much 

 larger price on account of the exigencies of the 

 situation, and not having time to build an armor- 

 plate factory. The only reason why they did not 

 make us pay more a ton than we have in the last 

 war is because the war did not last long enough 

 for them to get a pull at us. 



" Am I justified in saying this about the men 

 who own and control this great trust? I do not 

 know a single one of them personally. They 

 may be good men to their wives and children; they 

 may be model husbands; they may sit in the amen 

 corner of the church on Sunday and say ' Amen ' 

 as piously and more so than anybody else in it; 

 they may be as upright and correct in their daily 

 lives as most men, but I do know that their judg- 

 ment is worth nothing, or that they deliberately 

 tried to rob Congress with a false statement of 

 facts." 



Miscellaneous. Two important measures 

 were passed for the allotment of Indian lands, and 

 both were approved March 1, 1901. They pro- 

 vided for the distribution of land in severalty, 

 town sites, municipal corporations, and various 

 reserved tracts. The act dealing with the Chero- 

 kee tribe set forth the main purpose as follows: 



" All lands belonging to the Cherokee tribe of 

 Indians in Indian Territory, except as herein re- 

 served, shall be appraised at their true value, con- 

 sidering location and fertility of soil in each case, 

 excluding improvements placed by allottee on the 

 lands selected by him: Provided, however, That 

 in cases where a citizen holding lands in excess 

 of his rightful share has failed to sell or remove 

 the buildings and fences from said excessive hold- 

 ing on or before the 1st day of July, 1901, the 

 value of the buildings and fences shall be added 

 to the value of the land by the appraisement com- 

 mittee. The appraisement shall be made under 

 the direction of the Dawes Commission by such 

 number of committees of appraisement as may be 

 deemed sufficient to expedite the work, one mem- 

 ber of each committee to be appointed by said com- 

 mission and one by the principal chief, and if 

 the members of any committee fail to agree as 

 to the value of any tract of land, the value thereof 

 shall be determined by said commission. The 

 committees shall make report of their work to the 

 commission as may be required. The commission 

 shall prepare reports of the same in duplicate, 

 and transmit them to the Secretary of the In- 

 terior for his approval, and when approved one 

 copy shall be furnished the principal chief and one 

 copy returned to the office of the commission for 

 its use in making allotments as herein provided. 

 All lands of said tribe, except as herein provided, 

 shall be allotted by said commission among the 

 citizens of the tribe entitled to share therein, so 

 as to give to each an equal share of the whole, 

 in value, as nearly as may be, in manner follow- 

 ing : There shall be allotted to each citizen 80 acres 

 of land (boundaries to conform to the Govern- 

 ment survey as nearly as may be) which may be 

 selected by him, so as to include improvements 

 which belong to him. Eighty acres of land, 



