Evening star., 1896-01-04

Senator Squire.
gun 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 un-
derstand, and that is that it takes time to
build the great modern guns. The con-
tract was awarded to one of the great
American companies for building one hun
dred guns in 1891. 1t is now 1895 and they
have only twenty guns which are any
where near completed. There are, l 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 a 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. Dur
ing the Franco-Prussian war the Reming-
ton works made twelve Hundred new rifles
a day. They made two hundred revolvers
day in addition to reNnodeling two hun
dred other guns, making an output Of six
teen hundred small arms every day. This
was believe, the fastest work Of the kind
that has ever been done.''
The Dangers Of New York.
Speaking of our sea coast cities, Senator,
New York is we'll defended is it not?''
NO" was thereby. 1T has only about
one-tenth the protection that it should
have. The other cities on the Atlantic are
practically defenseless: r visited the de-
fer.ses Of New York not long ago. Our prin-
cipal works are situated, at Sandy Hook,
where we have two guns and sixteen NOR
tars. The guns are twelve-inch guns. They
carry pro1ectiles Weighing over seven hun
dred pounds and 1t takes four, bushels of
powder for single free They have a range
OF twelve mules, and they, are only exposed
at the time of firing. They are protected by
an emplacement or fortifcation made of
cement and sand. The strength of this
fort!fcation Is equal to that of $50 feet
of sand, and it is SO great that no modern
gun can send projectile through 1t. The
guns are loaded behind it. and then by hy-
drauiic pressure are raised and fired. Twen-
ty-one seconds later they have dropped be-
hind the fortifications ready for reloading
In addition to these guns we have sixteen
mortars at Sandy Hook. These send shells
OF caSt-iron and steel weighing from five
hundred to a thousand pounds distance Of
six miles. They are fired from pit, and
they shoot their projectiles two miles up into
the air. By a modern invention known
as the range finder they have been known
to be very accurate in their aim. By this
invention 1t is ascertained at just what
angle the gun should be shot The gunners
or those who fire them have a map of the
sea or the harbor before them and this
map is divided up into squares 1t is found
In which square the man-of-war Is at the
time of firing. The sixteen mortars are then
trained upon that square and rain of their
massive shells will fall upon it. 1t would
he strange. indeed. If some of them did not
nit her and carry her to the bottom"
T"rpedoes VIII Not Do.
"How about torpedoes? Why cannot all
Of our coast cities be protected by them?'
There is little safety in depending upon
torpedoes." replied Senator Squire; land it
is not everywhere that you can use them
The idea is, you know, to fasten them to a.
wire or rope. strong current would. In
such case, carry them to the top of the
water. where they could be seen. If the
water were very deep, they would not be
effective. and then, there is always the
danger to our own boats Some of the Chi
their own torpedoes. They could probably
be used for the defense of New York, Phil
adelphia, Baltimore and Washington They
could also be used for places like Portland
ue in an open harbor. Besides. the guns
OF these big war vessels carry six to
twelve miles. They can stand out at sea
and shell the cities. The best way to repel
them is by coast defenses, supplemented
by our navy"
How about torpedo boats?'
That is matter that comes under the
navy. Such boats would undoubtedly be
used. All the great nations are adding tor
pedo boats to their naval forces. England
has large number, and is building more
France, Germany and Russia all have
such vessels is that they can be built
quickly and that they are comparatively
cheap. They can go faster than the men,
of-war. We are now building at Seattle
torpedo boat which will make twenty
nine miles an hour. 1t will be the fastest
torpedo boat of the world.
"These torpedo boats are very destruct-
ive." said Senator Squire. "At a test of
torpedo boats as against gunboats and
cruisers in the English naval maneuyers
not long ago it was shown that the torpedo
boats did five times as much damage in
proportion to their cost as the battle ships
and cruisers" n
New Things in Warfare,
But, Senator, would there not be a mum
her of new things brought forth by our
people in the event Of a war with Great
Britain?
Speaking of new Inventions" replied
Senator Squire these are being made all
the time. The rapid firing sun has changed
warfare to a large extent. Some Of these
will send shells weighing 100 pounds at the
rate Of six to minute, and there are guns
which throw streams of projectiles like wa
ter from a hose. One Of the Maxim guns
discharges rifle bullets at the rate of 900 a
minute, and by the machines EoW connect
ed with the big men-of-war continuous
streams Of cartridges can be sent out from
one gun managed ny two men. One form
of the Gatling gun shoots 100 shots a
minute. These rapid firing guns were used
during the fight between the Japanese and
Chinese. Ships within a mile of each other
were exposed to hail storm Of shot and
shell from them. The enormous power of
the armor of the ships was shown in this
war. The twelve-inch guns IF the Japan
ese, though they sent projectiles weighing
800 pounds. could not sink the Chinese hat
tie ships, and we are now making thirteen
inch guns instead Of twelve-inch guns, for
our men-of-war. The shells from such
guns have an enormous penetrating DOW