hould encourage 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. No action having been taken,
the board was subsequently reconverted to determine more fully the plans
and estimates necessary for carrying out its recommendation. It has
received information which indicates that there are responsible steel
manufacturers in this country who, although not provided at present
with the necessary plant, are willing to construct the same and to make
bids for contracts with the Government for the supply of the requisite
material for the heaviest guns adapted to modern warfare if a guaranteed
order of sufficient magnitude, accompanied by a positive appropriation
extending over a series of years, shall be made by Congress. All doubts
as to the feasibility of the plan being thus removed, I renew my
recommendation that such action be taken by Congress as will enable the
Government to construct its own ordnance upon its own territory, and so
to provide the armaments demanded by considerations of national safety
and honor.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy exhibits the progress which has
been made on the new steel cruisers authorized by the acts of August 5,
1882, and March 3, 1883. Of the four vessels under contract, one, the
_Chicago_, of 4,500 tons, is more than half finished; the _Atlanta_,
of 3,000 tons, has been successfully launched, and her machinery is now
fitting; the _Boston_, also of 3,000 tons, is ready for launching, and
the _Dolphin_, a dispatch steamer of 1,500 tons, is ready for delivery.

Certain adverse criticisms upon the designs of these cruisers are
discussed by the Secretary, who insists that the correctness of the
conclusions reached by the Advisory Board and by the Department has been
demonstrated by recent developments in shipbuilding abroad.

The machinery of the double-turreted monitors _Puritan, Terror,_
and _Amphitrite_, contracted for under the act of March 3, 1883, is
in process of construction. No work has been done during the past year
on their armor for lack of the necessary appropriations. A fourth
monitor, the _Monadnock_, still remains unfinished at the navy-yard
in California. It is recommended that early steps be taken to complete
these vessels and to provide also an armament for the monitor
_Miantonomoh_.

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