NAVY OF THK TNITKIt STATES. 



NEBRASKA. 



4*3 



.mil compound. The foreign plates were 

 either perforated or broken up liy tin- projectiles 

 fn.m si ('.-inch -mi. The same projectiles \\.-re 

 broken into fragments against the hard face of 

 i he llam-y plate, scarcely indenting it. Ay-inch 

 gun was then employed, and, although the plate 

 i-aekcd through, the projectiles failed to 

 air it, and the bucking was uninjured. All 

 the plates were 10 inches thick. The results of 

 this and other recent trials have had a marked 

 iiilluenceiipoii nasal ordnance policy. The tend- 

 ency for the past two or three years has been in 

 fa\or of limiting the size of guns to a caliber of 

 aliout 10 inches. But the resisting power of the 

 llarveyi/ed armor is so great, that it is now seen 

 t hat any large armor-clad can readily carry armor 

 invulnerable to a 10-inch gun at any range, and 

 with any velocity that is likely to be obtained in 

 the immediate future. Upward of 7,000 tons of 

 armor for vessels now building will shortly be 

 contracted for. The requirements will be more 

 severe than those formerly specified, and much 

 more so than the requirements abroad. The 

 latest reports indicate that all foreign govern- 

 ments are ordering plates made by the American 

 process. 



Armor-piercing Projectiles. Recent tests 

 at the pro v ing-ground have shown that the 

 American shells manufactured by the Carpenter 

 Steel Company are superior to the last shells re- 

 ceived from abroad. The patents, secrets, etc., 

 of the Holtzer process, with the right to manu- 

 facture, have been acquired by an American com- 

 pany, and it has begun production. The Ster- 

 ling Steel Company, of Delmar, Pa., have begun 

 the manufacture of armor-piercing projectiles by 

 a process of their own, and the shells offered for 

 test have given excellent results. They are now 

 furnishing a considerable number under con- 

 tract. 



Small Arms. No effort has been made to 

 obtain a suitable rifle for the navy, though all 

 available information of existing arms has been 

 collected. The authorities are awaiting the final 

 action of the Army Board. This board has pro- 

 visionally approved the Krag-Jorgensen, but defi- 

 nite decision is delayed until some recent Amer- 

 ican inventions have been examined. It is not 

 expected that the same gun will be selected for 

 use in the navy, but the caliber of both services 

 will be the same, and the ammunition inter- 

 changeable. 



Naval Stations. A naval station has been 

 established at Point Turner, Puget Sound, and 

 a dry dock is under construction there. It is the 

 intention to fit this station with tools and appli- 

 ances sufficient for all necessary repairs to snips 

 and engines. A dry dock is also building at the 

 naval station near Port Royal, S. C. A small 

 outfit of tools, sufficient for ordinary repairs, 

 will doubtless be kept there. A new dry dock of 

 large dimensions (660 feet long) will be built at 

 the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Work will be begun 

 as MII in as possible. 



Auxiliary Naval Vessels. Under the con- 

 trails made by the Post Office Department, as 

 provided in the postal subsidy bill, a large num- 

 ber of fine seagoing mail steamers have been built 

 or are under construction. On condition that 

 the company would build several fast ships of 

 approximately equal tonnage in American ship- 



yards, and comply with exist ing Mamies in other 

 respects, the two In man Line steamers " < 

 New York "and "City of Paris" have b< 

 mittcd to registry by special act of Congress. 

 The new line thus formed will be called tin- 

 American Line, and the two steamers 

 mentioned will hereafter be known as the " New 

 York " and the " Paris." The contracts for 

 building the new ships of the line have been let 

 to the Cramps. 



The value of the auxiliary nav> thus being 

 built up by the operation of the postal subsidy 

 act, and of the recent act referred to above, will 

 be very great in time of war. 



NEBRASKA, a Western State, admitted to 

 the Union March 1, 1867 ; area, 77,510 square 

 miles. The population, according to each de- 

 cennial census since admission, was 122,993 in 

 1870; 452,402 in 1880; and 1,058,910 in 1890. 

 Capital, Lincoln. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, John M. 

 Thayer, Republican, succeeded, on Feb. 8, by 

 James E. Boyd, Democrat ; Lieutenant-Governor. 

 Thomas J. Majors ; Secretary of State, John C. 

 Allen : Auditor of Public Accounts, Thomas H. 

 Benton ; Treasurer, John E. Hill ; Attorney- 

 General, George H. Hastings ; Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, Alexander K. Goudy ; 

 Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings, 

 A. R. Humphrey; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Samuel Maxwell ; Associate Justices, T. L. 

 Norval and A. M. Post. 



The Governorship. At the beginning of 

 the year the case of John M. Thayer vs. James 

 E. Boyd, in which the eligibility of the latter to 

 the office of Governor was the question at issue, 

 was pending before the United States Supreme 

 Court on appeal from the State Supreme Court. 

 The latter tribunal had decided that Gov. Boyd 

 was ineligible on the ground that he never had 

 been naturalized, and had awarded the office to 

 ex-Gov. Thayer. Arguments in the case were 

 heard by the Federal Court at Washington on 

 Dec. 8. 1891, but no decision was rendered till 

 Feb. 1, 1892. The court then reversed the de- 

 cision of the State Supreme Court, and declared 

 Mr. Boyd entitled to the office. It appeared from 

 the records of the case that the father of Gov. 

 Boyd, an alien, though he had duly declared his 

 intention of becoming a citizen during his son's 

 minority, had never taken out his final naturali- 

 zation papers according to law. But he had ex- 

 ercised all the rights of a citizen for many years 

 without question, and the son had exercised tin- 

 same rights from the date of his majority, and 

 had held public offices. The court were of the 

 opinion that such evidence, showing that a person 

 otherwise qualified had in fact for a longtime 

 voted and held office and exercised the rights 

 belonging to a citizen, would be sufficient to 

 warrant a jury in finding that he was duly nat- 

 uralized, although he could not produce his 

 naturalization papers, and that, accordingly, both 

 the father and the son must in this ca-e l>e con- 

 sidered as fully naturalized. By another course 

 of reasoning, leading to the same result, a por- 

 tion of the court decided that the act of Congress 

 admittiiii.' Nebraska to the Union by its term 

 had naturalized all persons then in the State 

 who had declared their intention of becoming 



