3, if $80,000,000 were to be appropriated, and so on.

Each plan being concisely and clearly stated, and accompanied by drawings, sketches, and descriptions, Congress could easily and quickly decide which plan it would adopt.
This scheme would have the obvious advantage over the present scheme that the professional questions would be decided by professional men, while the financial question would be decided by Congress, which alone has the power to decide it.

At present, the laymen on the House Naval Committee spend laborious days interrogating singly, and on different days, various naval officers, who naturally do not always agree.

Finally, the House Naval Committee decides on a programme and recommends it to the House.

The House discusses it most seriously (the professional points more seriously than the financial point), and decides on something.