The San Francisco call., 1898-02-20
Call Office, Riggs House

Call Office, Riggs House, Washington Feb. 19. | The possibilities of the foreign situa- | tions are thoroughly appreciated by the | War Department. but 1t cannot be said | that the authorities have been moved | by any recent developments to take any new or extraordinary steps toward | increasing the fighting strength of the country. Certain orders which have been issued and the shipment of small supplies of ordnance, coincident with the recent events in Cuba, have been interpreted as of sinister import. Con- corning these Major General Miles said to me to-day:
 Day before yesterday I issued cir cular letter to commanding officers of all military departments directing them to detail detachments of artillery of about twenty or thirty men each to the er-garrisoned artilley posts, where new guns have recently been | mounted. My orders have already be- | gun to be carried into effect. For in- | stance, Major-G General Merritt, con- | manding the Department of the East, has informed me that he has ordered a detachment from upper New York har- Dor to Fort Hancock and detachment has been ordered to the new mortar battery at Boston. This cannot be con- | sidered as garrisoning the artillery | posts
 'Detachments are sent in accord ance with recommendations which | made long ago touching the necessity of detailing a few men to each of the
 new Notifications to properly care for l the guns and to become familiar with
 their operation. Modern ordnance suf- l fers from disuse and lack of care, and l it is with a view of preserving expen- | Sive ordnance that is being mounted
 that the orders were issued
 l We have not yet obtained from
 Congress authority to enlist two new
 regiments of artillery, which are so
 much needed. It is therefore necessary to utilize as far as possible facilities
 now at our command. Since we cannot | yet quarter an adequate force of artil-
 lerymen in immediate contact with the l guns owing both to lack of men and
 to lack of barracks, there is nothing to | be done for the present but to detail l detachmentS to care for and man the | h1gh-poWer guns and mortarS as they
 are placed in position. There are | twenty-six points where new ordnance
 now requires or soon will require at
 tention, and to garrison them properly
 will require more than seven regiments
 
 | The new Notifications to which
 General Miles referred are: Portland,
 Me; Great Diamond Island, Portland, l Me-; Fort Constitution, Portsmouth, | N. H.; Growers Cliff, Boston harbor,
 Mass; Paddocks Island, Boston har- | Dor, Mass; Long Island Head. Bos-
 ton harbor, Mass; Dutch Island. Mar
 ragansett Bay, R. l.; Great Gull Isl- | and, eastern entrance Long Island
 Sound, New York; Plum Island, east
 ern entrance Long Island Sound, New | York; Fort Hancock, New York har- 1 Dor; Films Point, approach to Phila- | delphia; North Point, approach to
 Baltimore; Hawkins Point, approach | to Baltimore; Fort Washington and Sheridan Point, approach to Wash | ington, D. C.; Fort Caswell, Whining ton, N. C.; Fort Moultrie, Charleston, | s. C.; Tybee Island. Savannah, Ga.;
 Fort Morgan, Mobile, Ala; Fort St. Philip, New Orleans; Fort Point, Gal | weston, Texas; Ballast Point, San i Diego, Cal; Lime Point Cor Fort l Baker), San Francisco harbor; Fort l Stevens, mouth of the Columbia Riv- | er Wash; Morrow Stone Point and | Admiralty Head.
 | The shipment to-day of S-inch double ! muzzle-loading rifles converted from
 ordnance made more than fifteen years | ago from Fort Winthrop. in Boston
 harbor to Fort Morgan, at Mobile, Ala,
 I am told by Brigadier- Flag | Ter, chief or ordnance, is mere matter | of routine. Eight-inch rapid fire dis appearing guns are in position at Mo- | bile, and carriages for the converted S. | inch guns of the old type having been | recently shipped from Watervliet l arsenal, acquisition was made for the | delivery at Mobile of some of the guns I which were stored at Fort Winthrop l. l~:, ~N1xI renee, and while the result is to stead l fly put the coast defenses in more effi- cient condition, no movement of ord- | nance that has yet been made has any l special significance.
 1 It is no secret that the military infor- ! nation division of the adjutant- gen. 1 erals office is thoroughly informed as 1 to the strength of the military organ | izations of the various States and most l elaborate and detailed plans are on file at the department with regard to their l mobilization on different basis, &C., l cording to different degrees of necessity as we'll as to problems of subsistence, ] transportation, clothing, ammunition, | etc.
 The great railway systems of the l country are prepared to transport at | the shortest notice large bodies of l troops to points of rendezvous together | with all the stores of the quartermaS- l ters, subsistence and ordnance depart ments, and arrangements are perfected | by which adequate transports for a | large number of troops may be fur | nished from the Atlantic and Gulf l coasts in case of emergency.
 It has been estimated by officials of l the Pennsylvania Railroad that they can transport 100000 troops over their system in from twenty-four to thiry- l six hours. It is likewise stated that | several divisions could be assembled in | the Ohio Valley and transported to the l Gulf coast in a slightly longer time. In case of trouble the regular infantry, cavalry and artillery, according to the
 plans of the department, would be l drawn from interior posts and distrib- uted among sea coast Notifications. The militia summoned by the President
 would be assigned to the same points | and assimilated as far as possible with 1 the regular troops.