The Navy Preferred British Coal. Seattle Wouldn’t Let It Go.

The following special from Washington City shows that Secretary Herbert’s decision to have the Bering Sea fleet take Comox instead of Seattle coal is not to be allowed to pass without question. Senator Squire and his colleagues propose to carry the matter into the Senate.

Probably in consequence of their continued protests, two vessels of the fleet have been ordered to coal here and make thorough tests of the several kinds of steam coal produced in this district. In purchasing coal for such tests the government is always careful to see that it is exactly what it is represented to be, and the local coal companies are prepared to furnish it and comply with all the conditions imposed by the Navy Department.

The dispatch referred to reads: “The fondness of the present administration for everything that is British is again exemplified in a letter written by Hon. H. A. Herbert, secretary of the navy, to Senator Squire refusing to issue orders to the Bering Sea fleet to coal at Seattle. There seems to be no just ground for this decision. The secretary of the navy based his action almost entirely upon a report of the engineers of the United States steamer Charleston in favor of the Nanaimo coal. This cold-water response was communicated by Senator Squire to the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and to those interested in mining and selling coal on Puget Sound. As a result he received a telegraphed protest against the decision of the Navy Department from C. J. Smith, manager of the Oregon Improvement Company. Several other senators have received urgent dispatches on the subject from well-known and responsible persons requesting them to unite with Senator Squire in asking the Navy Department to give further and more favorable consideration to the question of accepting Puget Sound coal, before deciding formally in favor of throwing the business of supplying coal to United States vessels into the hands of foreign competitors.”

Manager Smith’s dispatch, which sets forth the matter very forcibly, is as follows: “All Coast steamers and government lighthouse tenders have used this coal for several years with uniform good results. The tests given it by the steamer [Hang?] last year show its superiority over every domestic and foreign coal on the Coast, except English Cardiff and Comox. These identical coals have been used without recognition on relative values. The report from the steamer Charleston is indefinite and at worst only indicates lack of knowledge of the best methods of firing. Many coal vessels use this coal under forced draft and high rate of speed without damage to boilers. I refer you to Senator Perkins, whose vessels have used this coal for years. Our navy on this Coast cannot afford to depend on foreign products, which may fail in certain emergencies, when they can use and develop those at home, equally good and always available.”

This dispatch has been sent to the secretary of the navy by Senator Squire with the following indorsement: “The above statement seems to me to be worthy of consideration by the department. I have shown it to Senator Perkins, and he has assured me of its correctness. He states that [the company] have used these coals with unfailing success in their fleet, which consists of more than twenty steamers. Senators Dolph and Power are also well acquainted with the officers and the others at the Oregon Improvement Company. I have their permission to say that they all most earnestly concur in requesting the department to reconsider its present unfavorable decision and give to the American coal mining interests on the Pacific Coast their just and due recognition. Particular attention is invited to the question of ‘knowledge of the best methods of firing’ with Puget Sound coal. The discrimination against this coal by the United States navy would do great injury to the commercial interests of Puget Sound, and it would seem humiliating to have our fleets on the Pacific Coast so constructed that they must necessarily take their coal from a foreign nation with which we may in the future be at war.”

“Senators Dolph, Perkins and Power have written to the secretary that they heartily concur in the above statements. If the matter cannot be settled otherwise it will be brought up in the Senate, and the secretary will be required to show why naval vessels are ordered to use foreign coal when just as good can be obtained in this country.”