The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-05
OUR SEA COAST DEFENcEs
Mr.. HARRIS TALKS INTERESTING
LYOF WAR PREPARATIONS.
The Art of Killing People Keeps Pace
With the Other Arts and
Sciences.

$t@ta~NSH
Mr.. Thomas G. Harris has the reputa-
ton OF being one of the best informed
and most versatile men in North Carolina.
There seems to be absolutely no subject
about which he does not know something
interesting, and about anything Of gem
eral public interest he always manages
to know a great deal that is worth know
ing.
A most innocent looking and peacea-
BILE man / was surprised yesterday at
the great fund Of information he has
in reference to war and war preparations.
We were discussing the Cuban situation
and incidentally the recent movement
looking toward n reconstruction Of our
seacoast Notifications.
Though wonderful advances have
been made in the arts and sciences dur
ing the last % or 80 years" he said, "the
art of killing people has kept up with
them. In electrical matters, discoveries
and improvements have followed SO fast
that it is impossible to obtain a text book
that will be up-to-date. BY the time such a
work can be published much of its matter
will be stale or discarded by improved
means and methods. So in the art of
war, all civilized countries have come
to adopt improved means and methods,
widely differing from the ways of a pre-
vious generation. Indeed our late civil
war was carried ON in q way that would
now be considered as antiquatod and
entirely cut Of date"
''What are some Of the principal
changes and improvements that have
been made in this direction | asked.
We need not look back further than
so or 40 years" he continued ito find the
rough. cast-iron cannon and the forts Of
brick and masonry. which were consid-
cred as the highest type Of defensive
equipment nation could have. Expert
euce gained in the late war, and still
greater improvements since that time,
have totally altered the character and
equipment Of the military branch Of our
GOVERNMENT. Wooden war ships, with
their light and short range guns, are to-
tally discarded Forts of masonry are
found to be no better, as protection
against modern guns than wooden
building. Fort Sumpter was actually
stronger, after being pounded into dust
heap by the guns of the Federal vessels,
than before a shot was fired at it, Such
forts as Sumpter was and oar Fort Macon
were considered impregnabe by assault.
but they offered but slight resistance to
the artillery of even that day.
"At one time a cannon was almost
any sort Of rough affair, made, as the
freshman said, by taking a long hole and
pouring the melted iron around it. Now
the breech-loading guns are wonderful
and complex pieces of mechanism, as SUI
perior to the old-fashioned artillery as
shot gun is superior to a bow and arrow.
I'm recent visit to the great gun shops
in the Navy yard at Washington, | had
the opportunity of seeing hundreds of the
latest improved cannon in the process Of
manufacture, as well as acres Of the old
style. such as were in constant use during
our civil war The latter were being
broken up or sold as old metal.
The great II and 10 inch guns were be-
ing set up and finished by an expert ma
chinist, who, 10y the way is a brother Of
our weather man, Mr.. G. II. Won Herr
mann. Mr.. John Won Hermann has a lit
tie shop of his own. The butt end of one
of these monster guns is put through the
side of his shop, and he with his assist
ants. fit in the brcech mechanism. It is
a long and tedious job. requiring the
highest skill. and is done with as much
care and accuracy as the work on
watch. Such guns are from 40 to 80 feet
long and weigh, I don't remember how
many tons, but are so enormously heavy
that they require a special car TO move
them In finish, insiue and out, they are
as neat and polished as a fine pistol So
accurate and smooth do they work that
Al, fb1,reartI
pounds, may be opened or closed by one
hand
1.-THE breech mechanism is a complex
system Of cranks, levers and cogwheels,
all fitted to a hair breadth, and polished
like q mirror. 1t is said that the best
13 inch gun viii endure about one hun
dred discharges before it is worn out, and
that one shot takes one-hundredth Of a
second to leave the barrel of the gun. AT
this rate. the active lifeservice of gun,
costing about 100000 dollars, is just one
second time.
These great breech-loaders are equal
to any made by Krupp at Essen, Prus-
STA, and will penetrate any iron clad
afloat. They are intended for the larg-
est vessels Of our navy and for seacoast
Notifications,
hundreds Of cannon Of the latest design,
from the smallest to the largest, and in
every stage Of construction. Indeed the
activity displayed in this department
would look as if Uncle Sam was getting
ready for lively time somewhere.
''In the matter of seacoast forts and
batteries the modern style is an entire
change from the old-fashioned fort. The
latest development of defensive batteries
may be briefly described as a line Of
sunken pits, behind a heavy earth work.
In these pits the guns are out Of the
enemy's sight. At the moment Of firing
the gun rises on a system Of pivoted
levers, until it clears the earth work and
at It's discharge the recoil causes it to
sink again into the pit where 1t is re-
loaded This arrangement is called
the Monerief carriage and is likely to
be much used in this country.
"On the side toward the enemy the
fort shows nothing but a long green
slope with no prominent object for the