Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-26

| the purchase OF sites Tor fortlncatlOn ana
seacoast defenses were nGde by the last
! congress. Allotments have been made I'M
der these appropriations for sites for gun
and mortar batteries at Glover Cliff, in Bos-
| ton harbor: Point Comfort, Fort Wads-
worth, Plumb island and Sand Point, in
New York harbor; Lasuna MERGED in San
| Francisco harbor, and Sheridan Point, on
| the Potomac Proceedings Of condemna-
ton have been commenced to obtain other
sites near Fort Wadsworth and Fort Ham,
| ilton, in New York harbor; Willoughby
| Spit, in Hampton roads, and Point Lobos,
| in San Francisco harbor. Over one-half of
| the entire appropriation has been allotted
and about $3.50, 600 expended. Other pay
| ments are to be made as soon as the exam
ination of titles by the department of JUS
tice is completed. The balance of the APP
| preparation will probably be expended dur
| ing the next five months, but it will not be
| sufficient to pay the awards of juries in
| cases now pending. | recommend that an
| appropriation of $500, 600 be continued an
| nually until the important sites are secured.
| 1t will require this amount for several
| years to pay for sites as rapidly as they
| will be needed for use, and it IS economy to
| acquire them as quickly as possible after
! their location has been determined upon.
A. its last session congress made an ap-
| preparation for the addition of the south
| wing to the new gun factory at Watervliet,
! and for the substantial completion of that
| plant, except that space has been left to
| add machinery for finishing sixteen-lnch
| guns if their manufacture should be deemed
! advisable. The work of construction is
now well advanced, and the machinery
| under contract.
Certain provisions in the last two fortifi-
! cation acts We're designed to induce private
manufacturers in this county to cooperate
| with the government in fabricating guns as
well as in supplying the steel forgings.
| Advantageous bids We're received and a
| contract made with the Bethlehem COM
| pauy for supplying twenty-five eight-inch,
! fifty ten-inch, and twenty-five twelve-inch
| guns.
| This contract, and the output of the gun
| factory from forgines already under con-
tract. provides for the manufacture of 1913
| breech-loading steel rifle guns of high
| eighty-siX of ten-inch and fifty of twelve
! inch. Four have been finlshed-two eight
| inch, one ten-inch and one twelve-inch-
| twenty-four more will be finished in 1892,
thirty-four in 1893 forty in 1894, when the
| machinery at the gun factory will be nearly
complete. Thereafter there can be manu-
featured about forty-fve per year. and the
deliveries from the Bethlehem 1G0-gun con-
tract will be eight TO fourteen yearly, ac-
cording to the proportion of small or large
caliber. Besides the 19S for which pro-
vision has already been made, if forgings
are supplied to the gun factory $50 more
guns can be turned out within the next ten
years, and mostly of ten and twelve-inch
caliber. / believe these figures to be con-
sentative, and that the actual results will
be greater, for with experience i'll the
manufacture the work should progress
more rapidly.
Two batteries, each for sixteen 12-inch
mortars, and emplacements for two 12-inch,
two lO-inch and four S-inch guns are now in
process of construction for the defense of
New York; also one battery for sixteen -
inch mortarS, and emplacementS for one 10
inch gun, with two more in preparation,
at Boston; and emplacementS for two 10
inch guns, with one 10-inch and three ~
inch in preparation at San Francisco; for
two l0-inch guns at Hampton Roads, and
for two 10-inch guns at Washington. Pro-
greSS has also been made in providing
suitable supply of submarine mines. A
considerable number are on hand or under
contract for the defense of New York, San
Francisco, Boston. Hampton Roads, Phil
adelphia, Washington and Charleston, and
some of the mining classmates for operating
them are completed or under contract at
these ports and at Portland, Me. Contracts
have also been made for the early delivery of
seventy-three l2-Inch castiron rifled mortars
hooped with steel, of a pattern known to
be Servlceable, though probably not equal
to an all-steel construction now under test
The department has been obliged. on ac-
count of the financial embarrassment of the
contractors, to extend the time until Janu-
airy, April and July, 1892, for the delivery
of the ten guns contracted for with the
Pneumatic dynamite gun company for
Sandy Hook Fort Schuyler, Fort Warren
and San Francisco. One of these guns was
to be S-inch and nine of them l5-inch cali
Der. Three of the latter are, by law, to be
mounted on the Pacific coast The chief of
the bureau of ordnance states that
Reports furnished the department of
trials made of a 15-inch pneumatic dynamite
gun manufactured in this country for the
English government are quite favorable to
the performance of the gun and its pro-
jectile.
The point has now been reached when, by
the continuance of the present rate of ap-
preparations for coast defenses, which have
been moderate the work can be carried on
systematically and judiciously. To stop or
check the work now would be to lose much
that has been done; to continue will be both
safety and economy. Each year some part
of it can be completed so as to become
available, and thereafter every gun mounted
will add to its efficiency.
The board of ordnance and fertilization
in their report say:
-Four years continuance of similar legis- |
lation and activity and it can no longer be
said that the United States is defenseless
against foreign powers.
FIELD AND SIEGE ARTILLERY.
Good progress has been made in the pro- |
ductiOn of improved rifle steel ordnance. |
3.2-inch steel field guns.-One hundred |
have been completed and twenty-five more !
are under manufacture. The ten regular |
light batteries are nearly supplied with |
these guns, and they are now being fur |
nished TO the National Guard.
3.6-inch heavy steel field guns.-A type |
gun has been completed and proved by a |
test to be satisfactory. The manufacture |
of twenty-four others and carriages for !
them will soon be commenced.
MAGAZINE sMALL-ARMS
During the year a board has been |
appointed, consisting of officers from the |
ordnance, cavalry and infantry to consider
test and report upon magazine small-arms.
They have examined those in use in the |
principal European armies, but Saitsfac-
tory SmokeleSs powder is an essential ele- |
ment for consideration in fixing upon the
reduced caliber. Their experiments aud
reports of similar trials made abroad indi-
cate that magazine arms are still so far
from our present excellent sngle-loader to
a "lagazine system in too great haste
DISCRETION.
Desertions from the army for the wear
ending September 80 have been less than in |
any other year in the history of the army.
Previous to 1920 there are no reliable
records, but from that time until the begin
ming of the war of the rebellion the average |
annual rate of desertion was AS per cent |
of the enlisted strength, and since the war |
it has been nearly the same. From January |
l, 1861, to June 80, 1891, twenty-four and
one-half years, the number of assertions