The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-04

ditio.i they now are in would require
1000 men, ten times as many as now oc-
cupy the artillery posts in the harbor'
And when the New York forts are fin
ished an army of ID, 600 men will be need
ed to care for them and to man the guns.
If the whole of New York's National
guard were to be called out the force
barely would go around. The United
States army itself could scarcely furnish
enough efficient gunners to man the forts
of New York harbor alone, il all the in
fantry and all the cavalry were to be ad-
ded to the present artillery force.
To serve the 300 guns at these harbors
on the Atlantic, the Pacific and the gulf,
requires $4,000 men. That is for one re-
lief only. In war, as has been observed,
three reliefs are needed.
How near does the present artillery
force of the nation come to filling the
need? There are in the United States
army $3.50 artillerymen. There is a
school at Fortress Monroe for their espec-
lal instruction. Every artilleryman in
the army may attend this school and do
--' 49," eeitl y GU 1lOb ueklL vi UllO ALiSiAN~-
product of this school will be capable OF
becoming efficient gunners. That is not
the fault of the school, say artillery Off
GERS, but of the material on which the
school has to work.
OF course, there is a National guard to
tall back upon, though no one would as
sert that the guardsmen technically are
the equals OF the regulars. But what is
the strength of the artillery force of the
guard? Out of liz, OS2 organized and
armed men, only handful of 624 are
heavy artillery; 4, $50 are light artillery
men-that is, mounted; and 300 machine
gunners-that is, men who serve guns
ike the gatling. The total is 5,462. II
every man of these was capable of serving
the coast defense guns this force, with
the capable men in the regular artillery,
would be just about enough to man the
New York forts as they are now, and half
enough to man them as they will be when
finished.
PLANS FOR PROVIDING THE MEN.
At least four plans have been proposed
for raising the army required to man and
care for the new Notifications
1. Train the regular lnfanty as artil-
lery.
2. Change the regular infantry, or part
of it, into artillery.
8. Increase the National guard.
4. Organize new force, by the states,
by the United States, or both.
d. 81
thesartillerman, according to .thosel who
know, will cause the dismissal of the first
two plans. The best infantrymen make
only poor artillerymen, owing to the
special and long-continued training the
artilleryman, needs. As to the National
their days, except perhaps week year,
to military training. This week would
amount almost to nothing as regards
knowledge in the serving OF the guns,
and to nothing at all as regards the care
of the Qualifications.
The changed conditions of modern war
fare hardly are appreciated by the veter
ans Of the civil war, or by the advocates
of the idea that the superior intelligence
of the National guard enables that body
to do all that the regular can do To
serve the artillery of the civil war,
| whether it was the eIeven~inch smooth
bores or the field artillery, required men
of only ordinary intelligence, and the
knowledge could be acquired in short
time. The machinery of the modern
high-power gun is as delicate as that of
$500 watch. Given the tools and the ma
chinery and sixty days training, and
who of us could make $500 watch?
WHAT ARTILLERYMEN MUST
KNOW.
The modern artilIeryman doesn't aim
his gun in the old way by sighting along
his barrel. He doesn't see the enemy
pays no sattention to him. He-the en-
listed man-uses the range finder. SUPER
vised, of course, by the officers in charge
of those delicate instruments. So the
enlisted man must be something of a sur
veyor. He must know, too. the condition
controllingSthe state of the atmosphere,
the use of the barometer and the ther-
mometer i'll determining the effect of a
shot, of the temperature, and of the
moisture in the air. He must be an cleo
trician, know the use of the telephone
and the telegraph, and be able to con-
struct and repair such lines. He must be
an electrician, too, in the sense that he
must know the principles of the dynamo,
and enough else to enable him to use the
electric railway from the magazine to the
guns, and the electric hosting apparatus
by which the powder and shot are raised
to the gun. Or. in case this is done by
hydraulics, he must know the principles
of hydraulics.
To operate the gun on its disappearing
carriage he also must be mechanic, and
enough of an engineer to know how much
glycerine to put in his reooil cylinders.
| He must know something of the princ1-
pies governing the use and care Of high
explosives; must be able to keep powder
and dynamite and explosive gelatin from
| ~ Hay, 10