New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-20
women to their CHASTITY end he will be not I'M
like the garruous prisoner now under arrest
irresponsible and demented.
WON ro DEFEND THE sEABOARD.

wow T0 DEFEND IHb cbA oV9hD
No county which has facilities Tor produc-
ing modern guns at short notice can Justly be
considered defenceess War never comes
without warning. There is always an interval
between the raising of a burning question ana
the final conflagration. Diplomacy ordinarily
fills the earliest pauseS in war excitement, ana
there is invariably period before the opening
of bostilities which can be employed for prepa-
rations on a large scale In sudden enler-
gency the chief harbors on the American coast
could he placed in toerable condition OF de-
fance nv the erection Of earthworlxs, provided
heavy guns were available for hastily construct
Cd Notifications. Little time is required to
make sand-heap and to mount big gun be-
hind it, and such eathwork defences, as was
shown in the siege of Alexandria by the British
ironclads are more formidable than elaborate
Notifications or masonry. But modern ord
nance cannot be manufactured at moments
notice IF the Government be without the
nlant required for building up big guns and
furnishing the forgings and metal no amount
Of excavating and trenching will render the
seaboard secure against hostile naval opera
tons.
II is this aspect of the matter that imparts
National importance to the successful establish
ment of a naval ordnance foundry at Wash
ington. The expenditure of S1,000,0OO in
nlant and mechanism has practically rendered
the country Independent of foreign gunmakerS,
at least for the smaller calibres. The fofglngS
for many of the guns in the armament OF the
Roach vessels were ordered in England; but
benceforth ordnance of ordinary cabre can
no nroduced without serious delay at Washing
TON. The industries required for the manulact-
ire of gun metal have been established on
American soil at Bethlehem, Penn, and else
where. and the buildings, travelling-craneS,
enormous lathes and mechanism needed for
turning out twelve-inch guns are now in work
ing order at the Washington Navy Yard. The
new cruisers and battleships will be armed
entirely with American guns; and so marked
has been the progress in the line of the recon-
mendations made by the Gun Foundry Board
in 1883 that it will not be many years before
the country is provided with ample facilities
for producing modern ordnance on scale com
mensurate with an adequate system OF National
defence
It will he the duty and privilege of Repub-
lican Congress to multiply and complete these
facilities for the manufacture of heavy guns.
The Watervliet Arsenal in West Troy should
he converted into an establishment under mil
itary control for supplying the army with the
most effective of modern field and fortifica-
tons guns The Washington Naval Foundry
should also be enlarged in scope and perfected
in all the details of mechanism 1t is credit
able to the Ordnance Bureau that it should now
be able to furnish twelve-inch guns without
difficulty; but heavier calibre is required by
the conditions of modern warfare. Guns OF a
caibre less than sixteen inches are compare
lively useless for harbOr defence against power
full battle-ships If the seaboard is to be de-
Tended with twelve-inch guns it might almost
as well 60 unprotected. A beginning has been
made with siXteen-inch guns at the Washing
ton Navy Yard, but most of the operations have
been confined to ordnance Of smaller calibre.
What the country needs in order to be put in
defensible condition in any unforeseen emer-
gency is ornaments that are not behind the
times The Nation will be laughing stock
for European military engineers ten years hence
If it have nothing better than twelve-inch guns
to show for its expenditures in establishing ord
nance factories.