National Republican., 1878-01-30

Wnlcn TO make them eifectlVe Tor the puf-
pose Of defense, is matter of the high
est importance. Experienced military Off
GERS tell us that If all the available gun
making machinery in the country were to
be fully employed for the next five
years the number of heavy guns which
General BESET says we need now, could
not be furnished. The "only one estab-
lishment," to which the General refers in
his report, has just completed twelve-inch
rifle ordered eighteen months ago. With
twenty eight-inch rifles recently converted
from old ten-inch smooth-bores, the United
States has no large ri1ed guns ashore or
ahoat. The eight-inch rifle is effective
enough for the defense of shallow channels
and harbors, and would be dangerous TO
wooden vessels at mile range, but would
be wholly inadequate for the defense Of
deep rivers and harbors which would admit
large, heavily-armoced ships
Take, for instance, the British man-of-
war, "Inhexible" This ship is heavily
plated, and is armed with four sixteen-inch
rihed guns, weighing about eighty tons
each and capable of throwing proiectilc
of seventeen hundred pounds nobody knows
how far. And then there the two
iron-clads recently completed for
the italian navy, which are armed
with one hundred-ton guns, exrlod-
ing about five hundred pounds of powder TO
q charge, which projects a delicate missile
of twenty-five hundred pounds weight.
Our one large gun to which we have al
ready referred, weighs but forty.scven tons,
which is less than one-half the size and
power Of the armament of the italian ships.
If the millennium were about to dawn upon
our world and its inhabitants knew all
about it, we should say that the English
and italian people would do better 10 save
their money. But this great era Of peace
for a thousand years, with chained devil
for sign, is not at present within the range
of human sight or human imagination.
Therefore If we are wise, We shall keep
along somewhere within hailing distance Of
other nations and be ready for any emcrg-
ency. Ii has generally been regarded
saving operation 10 prepare for war in time
Of peace. In fact, preparation for war is the
cheapest and su,cst way to avoid the calam
ity altogether. We have, in the foregoing
simply offered Il few suggestions and stated
facts. We will add that England has for the
last three years made annual appropriations
averaging S5,OC0,000 for guns alone. ARM
STRONG, the celebrated Ell glish gun-maker,
is now employing 000 men in his works, and
KRUPP, who is the main stay of Germany
and other European powers in supplying
war material, employs 10000 men. The
American foundry, with its expensive and
elaborate machinery, the result of fifty
years earnings and experience, and upon
which the Government relies in time of
trouble, has been practically idle for ten
years, actording 10 General BENET, doing
very little for our own Government, but
occasionally, as we are told receiving orders
from abroad for proiectiles, which are sup
posed to be improvements upon anything
on the other sidc-such as for instance. the
BUTLER projcctilc," invented by United
States officer and for solid shot made of the
gun iron. produced by q combination known
only to the South Boston Iron Company.
Some recent experiments in England with
solid shot, made of this iron, has greatly
astOnished our transatlantic neighbOrs,
and ball Of cast iron recently made by
this company passed through and through
we don't know how many inches of plate
without any material damage to the shot
itself. And Just one more word for our
American producers of war material, for
although their works are, and for half a
century have been, maintained by private
enterprise the fame and usefulness and
good reputation of the concern is national
property. The "UCHATIUs gun," Of Aus
tria which is attracting so much attention,
is the Invention Of Mr.. DEAN, of the old
"ALGER" establishment, now the South
Boston Iron Company" and was
patented by him in 1869, and in
Austria the same year. We are justified in
making this statement by the highest Off
cial authority; and if the celebrated Aus
trian tield-gun was not made from Mr..
DEANS drawings and specifications, their
colonel, UCHATIUs, must have most marvel
ously conceived an idea Identical with the
one which Mr.. DEAN had recorded In the
Austrian patcnt-ofiice several years before.
In view Of these considerations, would 1t
not be well for Congress to reflect upon the
possibility Of running the idea of economy
in the public expenditures pretty well into
tho groundS and is there no danger if we
keep both eyes on the spiggot that we may
lose heavily at the bungr
Amenities Of the Executive Man
sion.
Some time since the Washington cor
respondent of the Buffalo Express commu-
! nicytpd 10 the Dublir ,hroupl its columns a