The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-03
IN TIME OF PEACE, PREPARE FOR
WAR.

WAR.
Among the many interesting objects
which will engage your attention, that Of
providing for the common defense will merit
particular regard. To be prepared for war
is one of the most effectual means of pre-
serving peace" So said the great and
wise Washington in his first inaugural mes
sage. or, as it was then called, address, to
Congress- Jan. s. 1870. The second sentence
in the extract is generally quoted Ia time
of peace, prepare for war" The sentiments
are somewhat different. The expression
used by Washington made the preservation
of peace the main object while the common
form makes preparation for war paramount
The advice is good, however it is put, but
it was not until comparatively recent years
that the United States began to put it in
practice 1t has been rather too much our
practice to depend on ilnprovsed armies
and navies The government has always
had a small nucleus of both, but in every
considerable war its regular army and
navy have had to be supplemented with
volunteers and improvised war ships Hap
PLY this resource has never failed, and the
patriotism and courage of the people have
been equal to every emergency. Manifestly
however, an occasion might arise when
they would not be. Land forces would be
useless in a naval war, and improvised ships
would be powerless against modern steel
clad ships. Coast defenses too, are an
imperative necessity. Until comparatively
recently we were very weak in these re-
CARDS. Until within few years a foreign
fleet could have bombarded any of our sea-
board cities and ravaged the entire Allan
tic and Pacific coasts. To prevent this a
navy and coast defenses were necessary.
AT last Congress realized the fact, and now
we are rapidly getting into fairly defensi-
bic state. Our navy, counting the vessels
under construction and including fighting
machines of all classes, now consists of
141 ships. That is about the number of
English vessels which destroyed the Span
ish armada of 210 ships, yet any one of our
sixty war ships could have sailed through
both Of those fleets unframed and perhaps
sunk most of their ships. While our navy
is by no means the strongest in the world
it is much stronger than ever before and
our coast defenses are being strengthened
at a remarkable rate Under an act of the
last Congress $780, OO, 600 are being spent this
year for coast defenses. By the terms of
the appropriation act that sum became
available on the first of July last. On that
day the treasurer of the United States was
authorized to pay out not exceeding IS, H.
144 upon acquisitions from the secretary of
war, showing that it was to be paid for gun
or mortar batteries; sites for Notifications
or seacost defenses; for their repair; for
torpedoes; for armament of fortifcations,
and for additions and repairs for arsenal
and proving grounds. This will be much
the largest sum the government has ever
expended for coast defenses in any one
year, and larger than any other country
will spend this year for the same purpose.
1t will be spent chiefly for guns and mortar
batteries, torpedoes and ammunition. No
more stone forts are built. They are obso-
lete. A third-rate modern war ship carries
guns that can batter down the most for
midable stone walls in few hours. The
government has fine-looking stone forts at
Portland Me-, around New York, Phiadel-
phia, Baltimore Wilmington, Washington,
Charleston, Pensacola, st. Augustine,
New Orleans and some other sea-
coast ports-all obsolete and worthless
for coast-defense purposes. The new de-
lenses will consist of holes in the ground,
called emplacements. Over these holes are
steel roofs from ten to eighteen inches
thick. Down in the pits are machines for
loading, lifting, raising and firing eight,
ten and Observation-Disclosures rifed guns.
These guns will be so mounted that they
can sweep the ocean in any direction to a
distance of eleven miles. They are loaded
down in the emplacement, lifted and fired
by machinery and then automatically sink
back into the holes again. The points of
vantage in the vicinity of Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington
and Charleston will be occupied by these
works, and in addition to that exposed riv-
ers like the Delaware and the Potomac will
be thickly planted with torpedoes which can
be exploded by electric wires carried to a
long distance No foreign war ship can
ever again ascend one of these rivers on a
hostile GRAND. and no fleet can get within
ten miles of one of our seacoast cities after
the defenses now under way are completed.
These are the means the government is
now using to provide for the common de-
Tense and preserve peace by preparing for
war.