Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-03-05
SPAIN'S ARMY AND NAVY.
Comparison Between Her Fighting Forces
And This COuntry's.

Washington, March 2.-The Cuban situa
ton naturally attracted much attention in
the State, war, and navy departments to-
day. Nothing would be said In the state
department regarding the course likely to
be taken by the administration The COM
plications which might arise were des-
tined, 1t was said, to be settled by the
usual methods. Quite as serious questions
had been presented be fore, and some of
them involved the government at Madrid,
notably the protracted controversy regard
ing the return of the American missionar-
les TO the Caroline Islands, a matter which
even now has not been disposed of. In the
navy department, the conditions were
viewed with much interest, although with
little expectation of conflict.
There was naturally among military and
naval men, comparison of the forces of
Spain and the United States, and, even
natural prejudice aside, It was agreed
readily that the maximum Spanish
strength could not cope with Americas
strength on land or sea-
The Spanish army is not a large one,
as compared with the other European
armies, but such as II is, the Spanish mill
tary force on permanent footing Is more
than -four times larger than the United
States army. The regular force Is made up
of 1l5,7S5 men. This army, known as the
permanent organization, Is classified into
"a regiments OF infantry, 81 regiments of
cavalry and 10 regiments of artillery, with
other subdivisions and corps. 1t is pos
sible to expand this force by making use
OF an active reserve and Of a secondary
reserve. All men above the age of 10 years
are liable to military duty and must serve
three years IN the permanent army, three
years In the active, and six years in the
secondary reserve. The augmented force
will equal 1,0s3.5S5. Most of this army is
located at the port Notifications along the
Spanish coast, but $50 are on duty in the
philippines, 2l.o00 in Cuba, and 3400 in
Porto Rico.
The Spanish navy is of les strength than
our own. 1t has but one battleship the
Pelayo, launched in 1887 of 1890 tons dis
placement. $3.50 feet long, with engines of
$500 horsepower, and with a speed of 1873
knots. There are port defence boats,
8 cruisers, second-class cruisers, 46 third
class cruisers, and torpedo boats, maxi
Ing SO vessels In all. Among the first-class
cruisers are the Infanta Maria Teresa,
ship of 1000 tons displacement and IS knots
speed; the Vizcaya, Almirante Oquendo,
Calatuna, Cardenal Cisneros, and Princesa
De Asturia or smaller ships are the
Reina 'Regenta, which attended our Co.
lumbar naval review; the Alfonso XIII,
and Lepanto, OF 1880 tons and 20 knots.
Another formidable ship Is the Empera-
dor Carlos ", built In 1892, at Cadiz. The
ships are OF modern construction and fine
armament. Among the torpedo boats Is
the Ariete. of 81 tons, built at Chiswick,
which attained q speed of moro than 20
knots on its trial trip
The Spanish navy Is manned by more
than 1900 seamen and petty officers, and
5000 marines, and officered by admiral, 20
vice-admrals, and about $50 other execu-
tive officers The navy, like the army, Is |
recruited by CONSUMPTION, naval districts
for this purpose being formed along the
coast, among tho seafaring population.
Naval officers express no doubt that In a
naval conflict between the United States
and Spain, this country would have no
difhoulty in beating such an opponent Tho
military experts In the war department
are equally confident that victory would
be for the Americans In any conflict on
land, or between tho lapd forces. No one
In other the war or navy departments re-
CARDS war as imminent or probable or
even possible 1t was q ger,srally accepted !
View that should the complications be-
tween Spain and tho United States become
moro strained than at present, the diplo-
matte resources OF tho two governments
would be found equal to the emergency.