The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-12-28


Chicago, Dc. 27.-H. A Allen. an au-
hority on the matter gives the follow
Ing on the defenseless condition of the
lake cities:
1t is surprising how few people ap-
Preciate the inevitable disastrous re-
suits to our lake cities that would speed
Ily follow in the event Of war. 1t is
well enough to pooh-pooh the idea, but
1t does not lessen the chances of wars
occurrance, Never tempt the devil
Is an old and tried maxim. Why
then leave ourselves exposed to the
1lstchful eyes Of foreign statesmen.
Much is said regarding the greed Of
trusts and corporations that endeaV-
Or 10 enlarge their chances Of business.
AS they grow older and stronger they
need more room 70 work and more
space in which 20 apply their energies.
And just so IL is with nations-they
must expand. AS their popula ton in
creases they must find new channels
for their commerce and trade. Owing
TO the crowded condition of many Euro
pean cities, many men deem that war
would he a benefit, a cleaning out, so
10 speak, Europe is magazine but
awaiting a single spark to cause one
mighty explosion. The United States
IS a great competitor of all the nations
in the markets Of the world, and is fast
gaining trade. II is thus she menaces
other nations, raises national jealous
les, and IN the end invites Of not pre-
pared 10 defend HERSELF spoilation.
Many deem that the investment of
large sums of money in our country by
English capitalists precludes the pos
sioiIty of war. This might be true
We're it Impossible for England to gain
more than this amount, by levying
money, for not bombarding our seaport
and our lake cides. This is another
thing that 50 many Of our coun trynen
deem impossible. Japan whipped China.
Why? Simply because one was pre-
pared for war and the other was not.
To begin with, in what condition are
our country's defenses? In torpedoes
We are weak, as we have but few mod
ern weapons of this kind, and the old
type would be an easy prey to the mod
ern torpedo catcher. 1t is well recog-
nized among military men that the Of
fenses and defenses in modern torpedo
warfare are about evenly balanced. An
other item is that in order TO make
torpedoes effective they must be well
guarded by Notifications we'll armed
and manned. We certainly have no
complete outfits of this kind, even to
guard New York City.
NAVY BY COMPARISON.
Many will here say: But what is
our navy doing all this time? We GER
tainly have some Of the finest vessels
that sail the seas, and also the most
capable and trustworthy officers But
what can fleet of thirty vessels do to
protect cur coast and our merchant ma
rine against ohe 200 vessels of our
threatened adversary? Besides the
large number OF vessels that England
has at her command, she has also the
men to man them; not green men, but
men well trained for just such an emer-
gency- During the last seven or eight
years our general government mas en-
deavored to establish a naval reserve
but, owing To the relations existing be-
tween the federal government and the
states, national reserve is impossible.
Then Were organized the various state
naval militiaS. These the far-seeing
people of the United States expect to
see become force that can supply men
for our battle ships in time OF war.
The army has the national guard TO
draw on, but the navy only the 1000
men that comprise the various naval
militias. All these organizations
should be helped, so that they could be
enabled TO serve their country in time
Of need.
Those who have read the articles of
our ableSt officers regarding the defens-
less condition of our seaports need no
warning of what would occur in actual
warfare. In the various English na-
val maneuvers the method of drafting
from seaport cities has been taken into
account. The success that such drafts
met with shows conclusively what we
could expect.
Now, how about our lake cities? The
Welland Canal is not the only path to
the great lakes. Look at the nlap OF /
Canada; see what great lakes or BAYS /,
entirely under English control. lead in
10 our lakes, That England has war
vessels on these bays and lakes is we'll .
known. There are the steamships of .
the canadian Pacific, all built accord /
ing 10 the plans Of the British admiral
" All the necessary equipments of /
war are near at hand, ready TO be
placed on board of these vessels in or
der to convert them into formidable
cruisers or gunb02ts should occasion
require. This is an open secret Be
sides, England has three gurboats
tso-ca!led revenue cuttersD used by the
Canadian fish commission. The names
OF the vessels are The Constance. Cur
lew and Cruiser No. 5. Their home
station is in Georgian Bay. therefore
they would not have TO pass through
Nelland Canal in order to make their
appearance before Chicago or MilwaII-
kee- All these vessels are fully equip
ped with modern ordnance and are
further provided with ram bows. While
the United States has not made any
- Il. ii
has prepared for any emergency. II
may he an interesting conjecture how
The English vessels would proceed in
,aSe Of war. They would all appear
before Chicago and make a requisition
'oT- "a large sum Of money If their
proposals were not listened tc they
would theraten - first cut off our va
er supply and then bonlhard the place.
CHICAGO Is UNPROTECTED
This could easily be effected a sim
sle charge Of dynamite or gun cotton /
TH destroy the crib. For them to
lno the exact location OF our water
works was accomplished long ago. a
eW well directed shots would soon do /
'nough damage 70 cause months Of re-
latT work al our watervorks stations.
y itlout w2ter.firs and filth would soon !
produce disastrous results ,
Where have Ne anything 10 protect !
with on the lakese The only ,
means Of salvation would be for our !
.eroes - man tusS and other vessels ,
nd make direct Tor the enemy and al 5
empt 10 RAM him. but this would mean F,
he sacrifice OF many lives and much &
property, with bUc little chance Of ac- I
ompliShiug me desired results Mod :
IN ordnance cannot be mounted upon ]
ur lake vessels. as they are uot huii< :
o Withstand the shocks Incident to the
cScharge OF the same Even had we
ONE vessels that were stanch enough.