St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-05
This was, believe, the fastest work Of
the kind that has ever been DONE"
DANGERS OF NEW YORK.

Speaking of our sea coast cities.
Senator. New York is well defended, is
it not?"
NO." was the reply. cit has only
about one-tenth the protection that it
should have. The other cities on the
Atlantic are practically defenseless I
visited the defenses Of New York not
long ago. Our principal works are sit
uated at Sandy Hook, where we have
two guns and sixteen mortars. The
guns are twelve-inch guns. They car
ry projectileS weighing over 700 hun
dred pounds, and it takes four bushels
OF powder for a single fire. They have
range of twelve miles, and they are
only exposed at the time of firing They
are protected by an emplacement or
fertilization made of cement and sand
The strength of this fertilization is
equal to that of 100 feet of sand, and
it is so great that no modern gun can
send projectile through it. The guns
are loaded behind it, and then by hy-
draulic pressure are raised and fired
Twenty-one seconds later they have
dropped behind the Notifications
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 thousand pounds dis
lance of six miles. They are fired from
pit, and they shoot their projectiles
two miles UP into the air. By modern
invention known as the range finder
they have been known to be very ac-
curate 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 be
| strange, indeed, if some of them did
| not hit her and carry her to the bot
| TOM"
| TORPEDOES WILL NOT DO.
| How about torpedoes? Why can
not 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 wire or rope.
A 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 eff
fective, and then there is always the
danger to our own boats. Some Of
the Chinese ships were, you know,
blown up by their own torpedoes. They
could probably be used for the defense
of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore
and Washington. They could also be
| used for places like Portland, Or, but
the would not be Of much value 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, supplement-
ed by our navy"
How about torpedo boats?"
THAT is a matter that comes under
the navy. Such boats would undoubt-
eddy be Of great value, and they will
| be largely used. All the great nations
are adding torpedo boats to their naval
| forces. England has large number,
| and is building more. France, Ger
many and Russia all have scores of
torpedo boats. The advantage of 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 fast
est torpedo boat of the world.
These torpedo boats are very de-
structive," said Senator Squire. "At
a test of torpedo boats as against gun
boats and cruisers in the English naval
maneuVerS not long ago 1T was shown
|
much damage in proportion to their cost
as the battle ships and cruisers"
NEW THINGS IN WARFARE.
| But, senator, would there not be
number of new things brought forth
by our people in the event of war
with Great Britain?"
Speaking of new Inventions" replied
Senator Squire, these are being made
all the time. The rapid firing gun has
! changed warfare to a large extent.
Some of these will send shells weigh
! ing 100 pounds at the rate of six a min
ute, and there are guns which throw
streams Of projectiles like water from
a hose. One of the Maxim guns dis
charges rifle bullets at the rate of 800
a minute, and by the machines now
connected with the big men-of-war con-
tinuous streams of cartridges can be
sent out from one gun managed by
| two men. One form of the Calling gun
! shoots 1,200 shots a minute. These
rapid firing guns were used during the
| fight between the Japanese and Chi
nese Ships within a mile of each other
were exposed to a hail storm of shot
and shell from them. = The enormous
power of hte armOr Of the ships was
shown in this war. The twelve-inch
guns of the Japanese, though they sent
projectiles Weighing 800 pounds, could
not sink the Chinese battleships, 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 power.
| The powder used in the ChineSe-Jap-
anese war was largely smokeless pow
der. We are making improvements in
powders right along, and new inven-
lions are being made in all kinds of
munitions of war.
EXPLOSIVES KILL BY SMELL.
"The next war will determine many new
things to high explosives" continued Sen
ator Squire. There is an explosive known
as infinite, which is said to have some of
the properties of the old stink pot used by
the Chinese. l recently read an account Of
the of this explosive The article stated
| that the stuff three times powerful as
| gunpowder but that its fumes even dead
ly. 1t cited instance in which infinite
shell had exploded on vessel on which were
some sheep and goats. All the animals not
Then there is Emenste, which is another
| high explosive of wonderful power, and there
is material called explosive gelatin, which
! is said to be fifteen times as strong gun
powder There are numerous other means of
defense than these which l have spoken of
which might be adopted as to our seacoast
cities. There is no telling what new war in
ventions may be made in electricity. Mines
under the waters could be exploded by this
means upon the approach of war vessels,
and there are other ways, it is said in which
new science, and its enormous force will be
largely developed by the wars of the future -
THE COST OF WAR.
81 suppose the next great war will be the
most costly of the wars Of history, Senator"
said l
YES" was the reply. "a number of our
battleships have cost between three and four
millions of dollars. We appropriated IS, 600 goo
for two such ships last year. 1t costs an
enormous amount to run these ships in time
of Deaee and half-hour's naval acton