The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-01-10

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city could be captured. Probably the
Chilians would not attempt TO dispute pos
session OF the port by means OF their army.
and 1t would soon fall into our hands
Having seized Valparaiso, possession would
be taken of lqulque, which is the port OF
The nitrate fields. At both places coal
would be found. great quantities of the
fuel beng utilized at Iquigue for the prep.
be of the utmost value to our
vessels. and for that reason il would doubt
less be set on fire for the purpose of de-
stroying 1t. The chances are, however,
that most of it could be saved by scattering
It with torpedoes and extlnguishing the
hames with water. The question would
then remain to be determined whether to
invade the country or TO hold the ports and
the nitrate fields, upon which Chilli largely
depends tor her revenue. until she chose to
surrender. In all likelihood the latter
course would be adopted. in view of the
great difficulty of providing for the sub
sistence OF an army In hostile region so
far awav from base of supplies. To march
upon the capital city of Santiago, eighty
miles distant inland. through strange
and excessively mountainous district
would be to invite disaster. The best that
could be dore, all things considered, would
be to retain control of the coast
large fleet of steamers would have to
be purchased Immediately upon the declar-
alton or war for the purpose OF carrying
coal to supply the ships in the southern
waters. Such golfers would be capable of
carrying three thousand tons each, and il is
easy to see that a good many would be re-
quired when IL 10 considered that each OF
the big war vessels consumes while in act
i've service, more than one thousand tons @
month. Supplies of the fuel would bedrawn
from the fields in Wyoming. which would
send mp the price of coal in that part of the
country out of sight and occasion q famine
of the article in Wyoming, Nebraska, Col
orado, South Dakota and all that region.
The problem of providing fleet of battle
ah ina fhnn and flaof
source of supply would be novelty in
warfare. Necessarily the GOLFERS would
have to be conveyed by cruisers to prevent
them from being captured. The difficulty
to be thus overcome would be q serious
embarrassment.
For the transportation Of troops to Chilli
all necessary arrangements could be made
very quickly. Every available ocean steam
ship in Pacific waters would be hired for
the purpose. One such vessel of good size
could carry two thousand soldiers, those
for whom hunks could not be provided
sleeping in their blankets on the decks;
The troops would probably be shipped
over the Southern Pacific railway to San
Diego, where they would be put aboard
the transports. which would be conveyed
by the cruisers Baltimore and San Fran
cisco. Together with them would 60 the
transports of the hospital corps of the
army. For this latter use mercantile
steamers can be transformed into proper
shape within less than week
plans already at the War Depart
ment. fitted mp with beds ana duly
equipped for the reception of sick
and wounded. The hospital corps is an or
ganlzation supplementary to the medical
staff of the army. Its privates serve as
nurses. while for every ten privates there
Is hospital steward, who acts as an apoth-
ecary. compoundlng medicines and also SUI
pervising the preparation and serving of
food. In the field private attends
each surgeon as his orderly carrying q
canteen of water. a knife and pouch con-
tanning surgical instruments, bandages.
etc. Chilli il q member of the Red Cross
League. and her soldiers would. there
fore. In no case fire upon the hos
pital corps. whose officers and assistants
are distin guished by badge and bear a flag
with red Maltese cross on white ground.
TROOPS. ARMS AND SUBSISTENCE.
There are 100000 militia in the United
States. and they would be summoned first
to do duty. Congress would call upon the
States, each for its quota of the number of
soldiers required. In proportion to popula-
ton. Beyond this, If more are needed, it
has the power to create any number of
regiments, and this would be done by es-
tabhshing recruiting stations all over the
country. 1t Is estimated that five million
| volunteers could be secured. There are
| now in the United States 7,7O0.OO avail
| able men for military duty. This is a
fact which Chill probably does not realize.
her own entire population being less than
| three million. Her spunky little regular
army consists of about twenty thousand
| warriors, each one of whom. in his own
opinion. is able to whip at least ten Yam
KEGS. The estimate which these people
| fact that q hull which runs away at one of
| their bull-fghts is called, jeeringly, q
Yankee bull" They actually believe
that we are much less civilized than them
selyes-in fact. that We are comparatively
barbarous.
There are plenty of arms wherewith to
| equip the United States volunteers. In
the arsenals are SOC. 900 SpriD gfield rifles. in
addition to those belonging to the militia,
each man of whom has his gun. There are
| 1000 tons of gunp0wder on hand-enough
| to blow mp all South America-and so. 600, 900
cartridges. The government factory at
| a day. without counting the capacity of
the private arms concerns. In the way of
ordnance. there are in readiness for
use ten batteries. each including six
to mention plenty of heavier siege
| guns. The new Schroeder guns which
| can throw astorm of explosive shells. would
be likely TO seriously demoralize even the
pesting rifles. whereas the Springfield
| weapon is only o sinRle-loader: but the rel
| alive value of the single-loader and the
magazine arm is by no means settled yet
more shots that can be fired the better; but
| the fact Is that soldiers in battle are apt to
| pop away without taking much aim when
they have magazine guns to shoot with,
while the man who loads for each dis
| charge marks down his target every time
| he fires. With the springfield rife six shots
| minute can be placed to advantage. The
| objection urged against the magazine gun
| would seem to apply particularly in the
case of the impulsive ChIlians whose
method is To empty their weapons and then
rush in with their curved knives. In their
| conflict with Peru they gave no quarter
| whatever in battle.
To provide for the subsistence of an army
| six thousand miles from home would be
| likely to prove q serious problem. Ten
| thousand men in the field would require
| each month 1000 pounds of canned meat,
| 100000 pounds of hard bread, leo. 900 pounds
| of baked beans $4,000 pounds of roasted
| coffee and 5000 pounds of sugar. As par
| tlal substitute for hard bread, they would
| have while on dry land flour and yeast,
| carrying Dutch ovens for baking purposes.
| portionate supplies would be required of
salt pork hard tack, flour, preserved meat.
| rice, desicated vegetables, coffee and
| sugar. For the troops great quantities of
extra clothing would have to be carried
1 along, because in active service q suit of
| clothes and q pair of shoes wear out in
| week or two. Soldiers, however, are granted
1 no extra allowance for the unusual wear
and tear OF war, being obliged to paw for
| everything they get that is extra. It is
| worth mentioning Incidentally that in the
| event of hostillties it would be necessary
| to fill mp the decimated engineer corps of