Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-11-30
STRENGTH OF THE ARMY.

| Secretary Lamont Issues His Report
He Recommends an Enlistment OF
Three Years Instead of Five-work
on the Coast Defenses.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29.-The annual re-
port of the secretary of war gives the usual
| review of the condition and operations of
the army, and in addition is devoted e.
pecially to the progress of the works on
the sea coast defences.
Secretary Lamont reports that 1t may be
assumed that Indian warfare is practically
at an end in the United States, that de-
mands for the employment of the army to
preserve order within the states must be
come infrequent, IS state authority, on
which that obligation properly rests, dem
onstrates its complete ability to discharge
1t, and that, in consequence, the gradual
and the frontiers is prescribed by the con-
ditions of the time. ANY considerable in
crease in the numbers of the army would
not meet with popular favor and is not
suggested by any contingency, immediate
or remote; but the work of fertilization at
thirteen of our large seaports, already be-
gun OF projected for the near future, rem
ders the conversion of portion of the
infantry to the artillery arm a manifest
necessity of the period directly ahead of
US.
The total strength of the army on Sep
TENDER 80, 1898, was 2,144 officers and
%, IT'S enlisted men. For various causes,
discharge, purchase, desertion, etc., the
army lost 9,456 enlisted men during the
year and gained 9.074 recruits. Trans-
portation was furnished for 367,5 per-
sons, 6,943 animals and so, 8s2 tons of
fright. The new quarters, barracks and
buildings at army posts campsre fsvorsbly
with military structures abroad.
The discipline, health and general con-
dition of the army are reported good.
The secretary recommends strongly the
repeal of the law fixing ten years as the
maximum period of enlistment, and favors
a reduction of the period of first enlist
ment to three years instead of five. The
prosecution of the experiment of enlisting
Indian companies will be continued only
on the present small ecsls until it's success
or failure has been proved. The three
battalion organization for infantry regi-
ments is recommended.
The adoption of the new magazine rife is
the most important step taken for the in
fantry since the civil war. A limited num-
the Springfield armory, and the entire in
fantry force will be equipped with the new
arm before the close of the coming year.
The issue of the new 3 2 steel field guns to
the militia and in limited numbers to col
leges and schools which manifest q special
interest in military instruction is suggest
ed.
One. third of the report is devoted to the
progress of the last eight years In the man
ufacture of heavy ordnance and In seacoast
defence under the project of the Endicott
board of 1855. Progress already made
warrants the belief that within the time
specified, thirteen years from the first ap-
preparation, the essential features of the
plan will be carried out.
The mounting of the first 12-inch gun,
with its lift, in it's emplscement at Sandy
Hook is the evidence of remarkable prog
ress during those eight years, signifying
the ability of our manufacturers to pro-
duce heavy forgings for high-power
guns, the completion of an army gun
factory at Watervleit, which takes rank
with the best in the world, the invention
and manufacture of gun carriages and lifts
able to sustain the weight and recoil of
these great guns, and the completion of
modern emplscements. The cost of the
type battery at Sandy Hook is 1924, 121.
By January 1, 1894, there will be ready for
mounting nine 12-inch guns, twenty 10
inch guns, thirty-feur S-inch guns and
seventy Ave 10 inch mortars. The engi-
neer corps is preparing at Portland Maine;
Boston, New York, Washington, Hampton
Roads and San Francisco emplscements in
all four 12-inch guns, twenty 10 inch guns,
five 8-inch guns and sixty-four 12-inch
mortsrs; also twenty-fou classmates for
submarine torpedo operations.
Work on the coast defences of Nara
gansett Bay, Charleston, Tybee Roads and
the Savannah river and Pensacola will be
begun during the year. Work will be pro-
twenty-eight ports proposed for fortifca-
ton by the Endicott board. The annual
output of the Watervleis gun factory is
fifteen 12-inoh guns, fifteen 10-inch and
twelve S-inch guns, and the frat of the 100
large guns contracted for with the Bethle-
hem Iron Works Is due next year.
To keep pace with the manufacture of
guns, Secretary Lamont recommends
ample appropriations for emplacsments
and batteries and for the purchase of sites
for Notifications, all in accordance with
the scheme adopted in 1888. The expen-
ditures for seacoast defences for the year
ending June 80, 1898, were So, 163, 094.
The invention and manufacture of Amer
lean brown and smokeless powders for
heavy ordnance and for the magazine rife
have made slow progress, and the secretary
of war urges manu- fscturers to solve this
problem for their own profit and our ma
tionsl pride.
The report pays much attention to the
education of officers and men of the army
| and the instruction of the militia and mil
itary schools, holding that the short durs-
| ton of recent wars demonstrates the i'm
| portant part of the exact sciences in mod
ern warfare, and that progress in the war
| department must be along the lines of a
| national university.