FIFTY-THIRD CON GRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 186. 1895. 84] purchase and repair of public wagons, purchase and repair of harness, purchase of public horses, services of veterinary surgeons and medicines for public horses, purchase and repair of hose, repair of fire extinguishers, purchase of tire hand grenade , purchase and repair of carts, wheelbarrows, and lawn mowers, purchase and repair of cooking stoves; ranges, stoves, and furnaces where there are no grates; purchase of ice, towels, and soap for offices; postage stamps for foreign postage; purchase of books, newspapers, and periodicals; improving parade grounds, repair of pumps and wharves, laying drain, water, and gas pipes, water, introducing gas, and for gas, gas oil, and maintenance of electric lights; straw for bedding, mattresses, mattress covers, pillows; wire bunk bottoms for enlisted men at the various posts; furniture for Government houses and repair of same, and for all emergencies and extraordinary expenses arising at home and abroad, but impossible to anticipate or classify; in all, thirty thousand dollars. ' Inc1zEAsn or rim Nsvr. I¤·=r¤¤•¤·>f Mw- That for the purpose of further increasing the naval establishment ,_,_Q’_‘{;?;_°“*"‘“° l"' of the United States the President is hereby authorized to have constructed by contract two seagoing coast-line battle ships designed to carry the heaviest armor and most powerful ordnance upon a displacement of about ten thousand tons, to have the highest practicable speed for vessels of their class, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not C°•°· exceeding four million dollars each- and six lightdraft composite gun- Sk ¤¤b°¤*•· boats of about one thousand tons displacement, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Navy, and no one of which shall cost more than two °°"· hundred and thirty thousand dollars, or in all for said six gunboats, one million three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, exclusive of armament, and not more than two of said gunboats shall be built in one yard, or by one-contracting party, and in each case the contract shall °°"“`“°*°‘ be awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to the lowest best responsible bidder; and three torpedo boats, at a cost of not exceeding one '·“"°°*°’¥’°‘1°”°’·*'· hundred and seventy-tive thousand dollars each; and, subject to the provisions hereinafter made, one seagoing battle ship and one of said torpedo boats shall be built on or near the coast of the Pacific Ocean, rim or memsor in the waters connecting therewith, and one torpedo boat on the "°“‘ Mississippi River, and one torpedo boat on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico; and in the construction of all said vessels all of the provisions céopsmcegg. of the Act of August third, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, entitled ° ‘°""‘ ’
- ‘An Act to increase the naval establishment/’ as to materials for said
vessels, their engines, boilers, and machinery, the contracts under T which they are built, except as to premiums, which are not to be offered M P’°‘“’“’“" _ the notice of any proposals for the same, the plans, drawings, and speciilcations therefor, and the method of executing said contracts, shall be observed and followed, and said vessels shall be built in compliance with the terms of said Act, save that in all their parts said vessels shall be of domestic manufacture: Provided, That if it shall Puma appear to the satisfaction of the President of the United States, from ,,,,Q}_ g °° the biddings for the contracts for either of said torpedo boats, and for one of the foregoing battle ships to be built on the Pacific Coast, when the same shall be opened and examined by him, that the said torpedo boats or battle ships can not be- constructed at a fair cost at the places iixed in the proposals and biddings, he may authorize the construction of said torpedo boats, or any of them, or the battleship the biddings for which provide for building upon the Paciiic Coast, elsewhere in the United States, subject to the limitations as to cost hereinbefore provided; and any of the ships, unboats, and torpedo boats provided for “E¤° °* ¤*°°*· ““°Y· in this Act may be constructed of steel or other metal, or of alloy, except ems ship to he Where it is otherwise provided in this Act, and one of said battle Ships ‘""°°" K°"”°"°‘ shall be named Kearsarge. `
