Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-26
They Are Not Smoothing His
Ruffled Front
BUT BUILDING ANGEL MAKERS
AT a Rapid Rate-Secretary Proctor Tells Of
Big Guns and Little.
How to Make Good Indians and How to
Improve Our Infantry Service - The
Pension Bureau-Coast Defenses


dent short time ago was made public
to-day. The report reads:
To the President
In submitting 70 you this report it seems
proper, rs Il preliminary to such comment
as they may require, TO refer briefly to the
new legislative and administrative meas
ures affecting the department which have
been inaugurated during your administra-
ton.
In the line of coast defense sites for for
tiicatiOns have been procured, and engi-
neering work has Ueen begun on batteries
for mortars and emplacements for guns at
New York. Boston, San Francisco, Hamp-
ton Roads and Washington. The north
wing and cenver section OF the gun factory
al Watervliet has been completed and is
nearly equipped. A south wing, doubling
the capacity, IS now being constructed.
Provision has already been made for the
manufacture by the government of ninety
eight breech-.JadinS, steel riffed guns of
high power and 100 more have been con-
tracted for with private manufacturers. A
supply of sub-marin mines and seventy
three twelve-inch mortars are slso under
construction.
For the improvement of the enlisted
force new methods of recruiting have been
adopted. 1t Is carried on more in small
towns and rural communities, and the re-
crultS are held on probation and their ante
cedents carefully inquired into. The ration
has been increased by the addition Of one
pound Of vegetables daily. Soldiers are
entitled to discharge at the end of three
years of faithful service, and are permitted
to purchase their discharge at any time
after one year. Summary courts have been
established for the speedy trial of petty
otenSe6. If the men desire 1t, competent
officers are assigned TO defend them before
courtS-martiai. Punishments under the
articles of war in time of peace have been
do nd rod If1C1
and tattoo roll-call have been abolished;
schools and gymnasla established. These,
together with the specific measures under
take. for that purpose, have reduced the
percentage of deSertlonS to lower point
than ever before in the history of the
army, and in the last year have reduced
the number of inmates in our military
prisons over 20 per cent.
A system of examination of officers for
promotion has been established, and their
promotion, with the exception of one grade,
has been put upon 4 liEeal basis throughout
the army. The retired list has been re-
lieved by appropriate legislation. An eff
fciency record of officers has been kept, en-
Rbing their selection for special duty to be
made on that basis.
In pursuance of policy of concentrating
the troops in larger posts, about one-fourth
Of the mum Der of posts occupied in 1889 have
been abandoned, and the reservations
turned over to the interior department. The
employment OF contract surgeons, in addi-
ton to the regular medical corps, has been
nearly dispensed with. The licenses
Of most poSt-tradcrS have been re-
voked. The enlistment of Indians
has been successfully undertaken. The
detail of officers to colleges has been
increased and new rules adopted. The re-
bellion records have been published much
more rapidly under increased appropria-
lions and reorganization of the work
'hf NJ 10 Of
late war have been brought together in the
record ana pension division, the settlement
OF pension claims has been expedited, and
the preservation OF these valuable records
for effective use is well toward completion.
When finished 600 clerks can be discharged
or transferred to other departments
COAST DEFENSE.
The problem of adequate coast defense
has practically been settled. Fortunately
1t has moi been question OF party politics.
There hos been much discussion and some
differences of individual opinion in respect
to the rapldity with which the work should
pc executed and as regards details 1t has
been generally recognized, however, in con-
gress and by the public press as national
concern-a thoroughly American policy.
Nor Is II new departure. The report of
the Endicott board under the act of congress
OF March ), 1858, states that III 1850 our
coast defense were not surpassed by those
offense or defense, and We're entirely COM
peteut TO resist the vessels of war of that
period" But after the close of the war
there was most rapid development i'll the
means of offensive warfare, while the forth
dcatious which we had were not kept up,
and much less was new work undertaken
Our coast cities, which in 1850 were well
protected, in 1880 were defenSelesS.
In 1883 congress provided for q Joint
board of army and navy officers to examine
and report what method should be adopted
for the manufacture of heavy ordnance for
the use of the army and navy, and the cost
OF buildings, tools, anu the implements
therefor. This board. after visiting the
chief ordnance establishments of Europe
and the principal steel manufactures of
this country, submitted report in 1854
which recommended the establishment of
two gun factories, one for the army at
Watervliet arsenal. West Troy, N y, and
another for the navy in this city, and that
our steel manufacturers should be encour-
aged by suitable legislation to incur the |
large expense of erecting the plant neces-
ssry for producing such gun metal as is re- |
CURED. |
In 1855 congress provided that 4 board |
composed Of army and navy officers and |
civilians, Of which the secretary of war |
should be a meflber and president, should |
examine and report at what ports fortifica-
lions or other defenSeS were most urgently |
required, ana the character ana KIND OF de-
lenses best adapted TOR each with reference |
to armament and the utilization of torpe- |
does. mines or other defensive appliances. |
This board submitted systematic and Ella |
b0rate plan for the defense of the sea coast |
nj the twenty-siX principal ports, and with |
less detail provisions for the defense of the |
Lake frontier. simultaneously with the in |
vestiGations of this board the two houses |
of congress independently considered the |
subject, the senate by select committee |
on ordnance and war-ships, of which Gen.
Hawley was chairman, and the house by a
commission on ordnance and gunnery, of |
which Mr.. Randall WAS chairman. The re-
ports of these committees, made in 1886,
are replete with valuable information. The |
conclusions reached by these various |
boards, so different in composition and so |
well qualified to consider the subject from
every point of view. were Harmonious and |
their several reports furnish all the details
needful for an intelligent consideration of
the subject. They have afforded the basis
of legislation and appropriations of congress
which have inaugurated our present definite |
policy in respect to coast defenses.
This policy necessarily contemplates a
system of land .defenses as its most impor-
tant feature. We have some 1000 miles of
sea-coast, exclusive of Alaska. No great
naval power has more than 4 few hundred
miles of coast to defend, and yet even they
protect their harbors with heavy fortifca-
tons and high-power guns. The cost of
land defenses has not increased as rapidly |
as the cost of the means of attacking them.
They are not only the cheapest to build.