ehalf of the Society of the
Army of the Cumberland, the object in view being the procurement of an
appropriation by Congress of the amount of the accompanying estimate.

I commend the subject to the favorable consideration of Congress.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 26, 1884_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_

In my annual message I impressed upon Congress the necessity of
continued progress in the reconstruction of the Navy. The
recommendations in this direction of the Secretary of the Navy and of
the Naval Advisory Board were submitted by me unaccompanied by specific
expressions of approval. I now deem it my duty to advise that
appropriations be made at the present session toward designing and
commencing the construction of at least the three additional steel
cruisers and the four gunboats thus recommended, the cost of which,
including their armament, will not exceed $4,283,000, of which sum
one-half should be appropriated for the next fiscal year.

The _Chicago, Boston, Atlanta,_ and _Dolphin_ have been designed
and are being built with care and skill, and there is every reason to
believe that they will prove creditable and serviceable modern cruisers.
Technical questions concerning the details of these or of additional
vessels can not wisely be settled except by experts, and the Naval
Advisory Board, organized by direction of Congress under the act of
August 5, 1882, and consisting of three line officers, a naval
constructor, and a naval engineer, selected "with reference only to
character, experience, knowledge, and skill," and a naval architect and
a marine engineer from civil life "of established reputation and
standing as experts in naval or marine construction," is an appropriate
authority to decide finally all such questions. I am unwilling to see
the gradual reconstruction of our naval cruisers, now happily begun in
conformity with modern requirements, delayed one full year for any
unsubstantial reason.

Whatever conditions Congress may see fit to impose in order to secure
judicious designs and honest and economical construction will be
acceptable to me, but to relinquish or postpone the policy already
deliberately declared will be, in my judgment, an act of national
imprudence.

Appropriations should also be made without delay for finishing the four
double-turreted monitors, the _Puritan, Amphitrite, Terror,_ and
_Monadnock_, and for procuring their armament and th