The morning times., 1896-10-19

. ,
OF appropriations required by the War De-
partment for the next fiscal year. The
aggregate is $o2 ,S7o o,63S27.
1ne estimate IUr tue running expenses
OF tie " ar once in Washington is > .4o-i,-
236, showing u reduction III the annual
expenses lor salaries and contingencies
in InaUoffice OF So . - from Ine ESTIMATES
OF Tour years ago. The other estimates
in detail are as follows:
Pay vi Lne Army, as fixed by law, Sl3,-
90, ,sS0.5u; subsistence OF the Army, ST.
659 ,S37 80; quartermaster supplies, 81
200, 600; incidental expenses OF the Army,
100000; barracks ana quarters, Inc!uuinS
hospital construction, SS3o, ,000; shooting
ranges, S.o,uuu; cavalry and artillery
horses, $l30,o00; Army transportauoA.
So, 800 1000; clothing, 81 900, me,ii-
cal supplies, S14G,2uo; ordnance depart
ment, 81, l3l 200; Military Academy,
S521 ,Sl2 SO; arsenais, S139,IS6, military
posts, national cemeteries and national
parks, 81 ,55S, $3.50; national soldiers homes
80 o,443, ,2l423; artificial limbs for soldiers
of the late war, S19l, ,009; public buildings
and grounds in Washington, Sl39 ,aS2.15;
miscellaneous items, S402 coo; rivers and
harbors, $5,34S 900, to meet payments ON
existing contracts the department at this
time being unable to say what sum VIII DE
required by future contracts for which
authority exists.
In connection With the coast ue!ehSes
the Secretary says:
COAST DEFENSES.
ION the lst of July, SS3, but one
modern gun had been placed in position.
On the lst of July, 1887, We shall have
completed defcnScS with armament US
follows: Thirteen l:-!nCh, thlrty-scYcn
IU-inch, eight s-iHch, and four rapiC-fire
guns, and eighty 12-inch mortars.
In $50 was made the first appropria-
tion Isl ,22l ,OUO1 for modern gun and
mortar batteries, followed 10y one of
500, 900 in 1891 and by another of
100000 in 1892. This money was al
lotted by the War Department for con
Siructiun work as follows:
Portland, Me, TWO lO-inch gun en-
Placements; Boston, four l0-inch gun and
sixteen mortar emplaccmentS; New York,
TWO l3-iICn, three lu-lICn, tlve S-.nci, ana
two rapi l-fire gun emplacemCntS, and
thiriy y-iwo l2-lnCh mortar emplaccments;
Washington, two lO-inch gun cmplace-
mentS; Hampton Roads, three 1O-inch gun
enplaCementS; san Francisco, Two 12-inc
and three lO-inch gun cmplaccmentS and
sixteen mortar emplaCcmenLS, making Il
total Of four l2-iuch, twenty 10-inch, five
s-lnch, and two rapid-fire gun emplacc-
meniS' and SlNty-ruur l2-lnch mortar en-
placements.
All tLliplttttileHl Is HOT merely the
ina>lry platform upon Which Il gun with
its carriage is mounted. but all that part
or rorufication which is necessary for
the dliatlon, protection, and service
OF the gun. Thus, in a work designed
Tor four lO-inch guns, assuming the site
to be uniform, the cuplacemcnt OF one OF
the four guns represents unc-fuurth the
cost OF all the parapetS, platforms, trav-
eFSaN. magazines, bombproOfs, shot and
W der ,ts
whole work
This total seems insignificant when
compared with the great work vet to he
done, but ii was tie first step toward the
completion of Il project for our coast de-
fcnSe which, some six years before, had
been SO clearly presented by the report Of
the LGdicott board as to have received the
approval Of Congress and the people These
guns and mortars are of American design
and American manufacture, tLen and now
more powerful, calirer for caliber. than
any carried on shipboard
RANGE OF GUNS.
The extreme range Of an eight-inch gun
is nine and hall miles, Of a ien-inch gun
eleven and half miles, and Of Il twelve
inch gun thirteen miles. The twcive-inch
breech-lOading mortar fires a proiectilc
weighing L 900 pounds, and attains a
range Of five miles for tie caSt-iron mort ~
and OF six miles for the all-steel IN ortar
None OF the emplaccmcntS above men.
toned, however, could lie made ready tC
receive its armament until after the first
small appropriation of $50 GOO was mode
by tue Qualifications act OF February Is,
1893, followed by one Of S1C0,00o III each
of the two succeeding years
practically, therefore. it has dcyolvcG
upon the War Department since 1893 to
make provision for the completion of nearly
all of these emplacements, while the ap.
preparations of 1894 and 1895 raised the
totals to the following figures: Eight
twelye-inch emplacements, nineteen ten
inch emplacements, seven eight-inch en-
placements, two rapid-fire emplaccmcnts
eighty twelve-inch mortar emplacemcntS.
THE expenditure authorized by the
| Qualifications act of June 6, s9G. las been
so allotted by the department as TO provide
| the following additional emplacem entS:
Thirteen twelve-inch, forty-seven ten-inch
| eighteen cight-inch, twelve rapid-firc. and
| Scventy-siX twelve-inch mortar emplacc'
| mcntS.
.of these seven l2-inch, nineteen 10
| inch, fifteen S-inch, four rapid fire ant
| thirty-two 12-inch mortar emplaCement'
| are TO be constructed under contract, whil'
| the remaining ones are now being built by
| the engineer department with hired labor
! ''All OF these emplaCcmentS Will he com
pleted during the year 1897, while priol
to March 1, l S97 there-should he completed
and with their armament, for the mos
part taouuted the following of those now
being built: one 12inch emplacement
| twenty l0-iiich enIplacemcnts, six rapid
| fire cmpiacemcnts and thirty-two 12-inCl
mortar emplacements.
PROGRESS IN ARMAMENT.
| 1.-THE progress in armament has beer
1 snfisfDptnry nnripu the pDlpDn1
| year 1898, and with appropriations ex
| tending from the act of September 22
| l SSS, to that of February Is, 1898, there
| had been completed at the army gun fac
| tory, the West Point foundry (forGing-
\ supplied by the Sovernmentl and the Beth
| lehem Iron Works a total of thirt y-four &
! inch, twenty 10-inch and nine 12-inch gun.
| and forty-threc 12-inch mortars tcast-
iron, stcclhoupedD. Subsequently, but priol
| TO the Fertilization act of June 6, l S96 these
| totals were raised TO siXty-one S-inch
| fifty six lO-inch and twenty-one 12-inci
/ guns and eighty . inch mortars, compiet ed
while there We're twcnty-seven S-inch
thirty-live 10-inch and twenty-nine 12-inci
| guns in process OF construction.
The appropriation OF une 6. sec, while
| leaving the above completed totals un
changed, has raised the totals in process o.
| construction to twenty-seyen S-irch, fifty
six 10-inch, fifty 12-inch, ten 6-poundel
rapid-iire guns and siXty-six 12-inch all
| steel mortars.
Under the appropriation of June 6,
1896, there are now being procured, ol
| viii be procured, the following carriages
At the government factory, five eight
! inch, five ten-inch and five twclve-nch
| disappearing, and eight twelve-inch non
disappearing; in private shops, sixteen
| cight-inch and thirty ten-inch disappear
| ing carriages, and sixty-seven twelve-inci
| mortar carriages.
! by the time new appropriation car
become available all the details of ever,
| type carriage will have been fully deter
mined. With sufficient money, therefore
! the limit TO future rapidity of progress i
1 .Iac -.