The San Francisco call., 1898-02-25

Immediately on his arrival from the south last Wednesday morning General Shafter. U. $. A., commanding the De-
 partment of California, paid visit to
 the Presidio and the works of defense
 at Fort Point, where the mortar bat
 tery, the dynamite guns and the ten and twelve inch rifles are planted. The
 generals visit to the works was un-
 expected, and his staff officers did not
 know of the early morning inspection
 until his return to headquarters. It is
 presumed that everything was found
 to be all right from a military point of view, as no supplementary instruc- tions followed his visit.
 Two 10-inch breech-loading rifles des-
 tined for Fort Point arrived from the
 East yesterday, and are now in the railroad freightyards of this city. Col
 onel Moore, assistant quartermaster-
 general of the Department of Califor-
 nia, has made arrangements for their
 immediate transportation from the
 yards to Fort Point. The work of
 mounting the guns on disappearing
 carriages will be performed by troops of the Third Artillery, detailed for the duty, and will be pressed to rapid com pletion.
 Definite intelligence regarding the quantity of artillery ammunition on the Pacific Coast is difficult to obtain. h. quiries on this point fail to elicit di- rect response. The impression exists that the supply is not abundant.
 The interview with Representative Hepburn of Iowa, which was wired from Washington and published in The Call yesterday, created much comment in artillery circles of the army. The Iowa Congressman, who was in the Union army during the operations against Island 10. above Memphis, on the Mississippi River, recalls the fact that sixty mortarS shelled the COnfed- crate works on the island for many
 days and inflicted very little damage. lie IS not Willing to vote away public
 money to build mortar batteries for
 seacoast defense Others who served
 on the Lower Mississippi during the
 late war entertain views similar to
 those. those expressed by Hepburn. The Union mortar fleet at Vicksburg shelled the city constantly for forty-seven
 days, but the bombardment did not
 hasten the equalization. Most of the
 shells exploded in the earth and did
 little more than frighten timid people With the noise of explosion.
 Officers of the United States army
 who have made special study of mod ern ordnance do not agree with the iowa Congressman. An officer now on duty in this department who is recog- n1zed as an authority on modern high power guns remarked yesterday:
 Ihere IS a vast difference between the old-fashioned mortars such as were used during the late war and the mod ern rif1ed mortars of to-day. It has been demonstrated by practice firing that the projectiles can be dropped at the particular point desired. Take for example the battery of sixteen mortars at the Presidio. There are four guns in each Of the four sections, and from a central point the observation is ob- ta1ned. The elevation is uniform and so IS the charge of powder. The shells will attain certain upward flight and descend at the point designated. Cal culation is made for the advance of the ship aimed at. It is almost sure
 thing that one of the sixteen projec-
 tiles would strike the deck of the ship on Which all the guns were trained
 The tWelve-inch elongated projectile would pierce the decks and hull of ar 1ronclad. Accurate firing with the rlhed mortars is attainable. A volley of sixteen shots can be easily fired every five minutes, and ship coming in at an average speed by steam would be exposed to the fire for thirty min-
 utes. The new mortar battery now ir
 process of construction will carry a steel projectile weighing 1000 pounds" Army officers who expressed the opinion a few days ago since that war with Spain was not probable, -nQW-take