The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-23
SEATTLE. FRIDAY. OCT. ss.
AN UNARMED NATION.


just issued, strongly urges the necessity
of coast, defences, and General Schofield
in his report points out that our army is
wholly inadequate to prevent great loss Of
life and property, If a great Indian out
break, such as was threatened in the Sioux
country, should take place, and recon-
mends the fertilization of San Diego, Cal.
1t would be very easy to show that we are
in every respect an unarmed nation. Our
arms and ammunition are obsolete. The
new conditions Of war would tell most
severely against our new leyies armed
with obsolete rifles of inferior range and
penetration. In artillery we are
equally at disadvantage. for the
foreign army with its long range maya
zine rifles could pick off our cannoniers at
a distance we cannot reach with our pres
ent small arms. In service rapid-fring
cannon we are completely behind Europe,
as also we are in the use of shells charged
tive power. Until we subtitute the Euro
pean improvements in small arms, smoke
less powder. rapid-fring cannon and de-
structive explosives we cannot expect to
repulse a European army with a raw
American army of double its number. In
deed with equal arms we could hardly ex-
pect our raw levies to be victorious. Our
army is but $4,000 strong, or one soldier to
every IA square miles of territory inhab-
tied by So, OOO, 900 of people.
None of our national seaports could
resist modern line-of-battle ship. In
two weeks after a declaration of war En-
gland could place fifty gunboats on the
lakes and more than thirty armored YES
sells in the harbors of our leading cities, and
place 5000 regulars in Canada, backed
by at least 250,000 Canadian militia, COM
posed of as sturdy, gallant, well-drilled
well-armed and well-disciplined citizen
soldiery as there is in the world. Under
the treaty of 1917 our naval force on the
lakes is limited to four vessels Of 100
tons burden, each armed with an eigh-
teen-pounder cannon. No shore de-
fences could save Chicago from bonn
bardment if such defences existed, and
they do not exist No army in the world
could protect Chicago from bombardment
by modern fleet. England, through her
Canadian system of canals, can send from
the sea to the lakes 100 gunboats of con-
siderable tonnage, armed with heavy
guns, so that in event of war our lake
shipping, commerce and cities would be
completely at the mercy of an English flo
tilla. Chicago would be placed I'M
der contribution or be subjected to a
bombardment that in twelve hours would
burn the city to the amount of at least
$500, 900. We have no means of plac ing
warships on our lakes. The Canadian
militia are as good as ours, probably a
good deal better. The veterans of our
civil war average 56 years of age and are
worthless for the field. England has an
abundance of fast troop ships with battle
ships for convoy. and Canada is well stocked
with military stores and arms. In less
than thirty days from declaration of war
England's Asiatic squadron could be in the
harbors of San Francisco; of Puget sound
and before the mouth of the Columbia.
England's light-draught, but heavily
armed gunboats could go up the Columbia
and destroy Portland.
To remedy this situation requires so
much time even with our ample financial
resources, that if we knew in October that
England would declare war the next April
we could not possibly make an effective
defense Of our lake frontier, our Atlantic,
Gulf or Pacific seaboard against the naval
force that England could bring against us
in thirty days. England has seventeen
battle ships and seventy-two cruisers cap
able of starting from a European port and
of attacking our seaboard cities without
recoaling, and thirty battle ships and
ninety-nine cruisers capable of doing so by
coaling on this side, all ships of recent
construction and great power. But all
these ships would be continuously efFec.
tive, for England has vast coaling
stations at Halifax, Bermuda.
st. Lucia and Jamaica, and in our pres
ent defenseless condition resort to these
near coaling stations would hardly be
necessary. for the English feet could
speedily capture port where it could coal.
To resist such fleet as England could
bring against us would require navy of
TO armored ships of all classes. costing at
least $500, 0Oo, 900, and il could not be built
in less than ten years. The harbor de-
fences, with armament. of New York city
would cost SIS, 900, 600: those of San Fran
cisco, SIC, 600. 900; those of Boston, 10000.
600. The defenses of our lake cities and
the cities of our Atlantic and Pacific sea-
board, not already mentioned, would cost
not less than s125.0oo 600. The quickest
defence we could make of our harbors
would be by mortar batteries, but it would
take not less than two years to complets
these batteries which are, however, only
sble to prevent a fleet anchoring at the
mouth of harbor; they are not equiva-
lent to horiEontal-fre guns, which are
necessary 10 destroy fleet.
To make our national militia efficient
would require about $4,000 a year
appropriated by the government in nation.
alizing the state militia of the various
states. To place our country in state of
complete coast defense and 10 create the
navy needed would require 500, GO. 90.
To spread this amount over fifteen years