St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-05

part Of the German army After CIV
ing this order SO the story goes, Won
Moltke turned over and went to Sleep
knowing that when he awoke in the
morning the whole German army
| would be prepared to move The Eng
lish probably have similar plans for
their troops in Canada and for the &C
| ton Of their forces and f1eets.'
ENGLAND'S FORTIFICATIONs.
What Is the condition of the Eng
fish Notifications on this side Of the
| water. Senator Squire?" I asked
| Il don't think any me knows, replied
Senator Squire. '"They are probably In
a very good condition The English
have been steadily increasing their
Notifications about the United States
for years. They have, have seen it
stated, so dredged the st. Lawrence
river that war ships drawing twenty
six feet can now sail right up to Mon
treal, which, in the case Of war with us,
would be one of their bases Of supplies.
| They do not allow Americans to go
| through their forts. Not long ago my
| secretary, Col. Hilder, who was former
ly connected with the English army in
India, was visiting some officers near
Esquimault, on Vancouver'S island. He
| asked to be taken through the fort
| there, but was told that it would be
impossible, as orders had been given
that no one outside Of those immediate
| ly connected with the fort We're to be
allowed within 1T. This great English
| fertilization practically controls the
| straits of Fuca and the entrance to
Puget sound. 1t is within few miles
| of our coast. Port Townsend Is just
| across the bay, so near indeed, that
| the morning and evening guns from
the fort may be heard there. Gen.
| Miles, who has examined closely into
the subject, says that in twenty-four
hourse the British fleet at Esquimault
could take absolute possession of Puget
sound and destroy its cities and towns.
| We ought to have at least 200 guns and
mortars on Puget sound, and there
! should be 500 guns and mortars on the
| Pacific coast to properly protect it.
THE UNDEFENDED WEST.
| "But San Francisco is well protected,
is it not?"
"By no means as we'll as it should be-"
replied Senator Squire. "It is the only
Pacific coast port that is at all provided
with means of defense. Seattle and Ia
coma and the ports of Puget sound
could be easily destroyed. San Diego
| is defenseless. The great Columbia
river is practically open to foreign war
vessels. They could sail up it and de-
stroy Portland. They could send small
Ell boats further and ruin the canal
which we are building about the Cas-
cades, and upon which we are spending
millions of dollars. We ought to have
a canon factory on the Pacific coast.
| We have coal and iron, and we could as
easily build guns there as in the East
l have introduced bill appropriating
81 900, 600 for such a factory"
| CANNON NEEDED.
How many guns are wanted alto
gether for coast defenses, Senator
| Squirrel" / asked.
"It is estimated" replied the senator,
that it will take at least 1900 cannon,
| that is, guns and mortars, to give us
the proper protection. At least half of
these should be eight, ten, twelve and
siXteen-inch guns, and the remainder
/ should be mortars. These guns need
| carriages, machinery and Notifications,
behind which they can be raised and
| lowered. 1t will take at a low estimate
at least $S7, 600 to put the ports in
good shape, and my bill proposes that
this expenditure be begun and carried
on until it is completed.
/ This expenditure ought to begin at
once" continued Senator Squire. There
is one thing the people do not seem to
understand, and that is that it takes
time to build the great modern guns
The contract was awarded to one of the
great American companies for building
100 guns in 1891. 1t is now 1895 and they
have only twenty guns which are any
where near completed. There are, be-
lieve, none in actual use, though some
are ready for trial In building great
guns, works have to be made for them,
and the actual construction of the guns
| requires months AS to earthWorkS and
defenSes, they could be erected in
short time by putting large number
Of men at work, but it takes time to
make all kinds of arms and munitions
of war. AS to small arms, they can be
| turned out very rapidly. During the
Franco-Prussian war the Remington
works made 1,200 new rifles day. They
made 200 revolvers day in addition to
remodeling 200 other guns, making an
output Of 1000 small arms every day.