The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-04
Tho Coast Defence Work.

ministration, by providing that the great
sums appropriated by 1t shall be expended
under the direct supervision Of the Board
Of Ordnance and Notifications.
The motive Of this proposed change is
~commendable, but the change itself seems
to us unwise. From the beginning Of tho
modern seacoast work one Of the remarkable
facts has been It's lack of q single super.
visory direction. The Engineer Corps
has furnished the emplacements and the
Ordnance Department. has provided the
guns and mortars, with their carriages, but
each has gone along In its own way. The
result was thus set forth moro than two
years ago In the annual report of Secretary
LAMONT:
"The distribution of duty ana responsibility under
existing laws, whereby authority to formulate plans
and execute operations Is lodged with separate and
distinct bureaus, as well as in q board established by
statute. all without any harmoniring or central su.
pervision. Ia. in my Judgment, . mistake that should
be speedily corrected"
The remedy which Mr.. LAMONT proposed
was the appointment Of q board of army
officers, to be selected by the President
without restriction as to rank or corps, and
without extra pay or emolument, subject.
possibly, to confirmation by the Senate,
but at all events relieved of all other duty,
and charged solely with the task of
directing and supervising the work in it's
entirety" That same report contained a
striking illustration of the actual results
Of the system thus criticised. 1t appeared
that there were then only three new guns
in position, exclusive of mortars, and yet
that five months earlier no fewer than
eleven 12-inch, thirty.three 1O-inch. and
ffty-one s-inch guns were waiting to be
mounted, making ~ninety-flve powerful guns
without carriages. and, in many or all cases,
also without emplacements.
1t is true that the 12.inch disappearing
carriage had at that time not been tested
and adopted, but the 1O-inch and s.inch
were familiar. 1t should be noted also
that, as the Wal Department then held
such final supervisory power as was exer-
| cised at all, there must have been lamenta-
BILE results to induce that department itself
to make the proposal 1t did. In fact, one
such result was that when the Venezuela
trouble was acute, with the possibility of
attack from the tremendous naval power
of England, we had on hand scores of big
guns that would have gone far toward
hihhihs ~ SodoU bCSulCp yCU II IO u1CdIS
Of mounting them.
This, then, is the evil, officially set forth
by the highest authority. which the Senate
amendment seeks to remedy. And yet we
consider the remedy proposed as unwise,
just now, and hope it will be rejected in
conference. The Board of Ordnance and
Qualifications was not at all the super
visory power that the Wa Department
asked, and yet it existed at that time. In
stead Of comforting on that board the pro-
posed powers, the Secretary of War asked
for a board of a different character. The
Board of Ordnance and Notifications, at
it's last report, consisted of Gen. MILES,
who has the army as a whole to command
Col. FRANK, commanding the First Artil-
lery; Col. HAMS of the Engineers, assigned
to duty with the Nicaragua Canal Commits
sion Major PHIPPs of the Ordnance De-
partment, and Mr.. CULTIVATE, a civilian
member, with Capt. AYREs as recorder.
The special function Of this board is to
make tests of new guns and ammunition,
and it receives a considerable sum annually
for purchasing specimens Of devices which
have a promise of usefulness and expert
menting with them.
1hooS " 4 Souioc, IL OIL CuIlTCly ulHcTenC
task from selecting the sites of forts and
determining what amount of progress
should be made on each in any specific |
year, and supervising the work or arranging
for its supervision. Such a task, in the
view of the War Department. should be
performed by a board wholly composed of
army officers and not partly civilian, and
of officers, too, devoted to it unremittingly,
instead of meeting once a month, as In the |
Board Of Ordnance and Fortiications, for |
its limited work. This board never was in. |
tended, in fact. to have charge either of the
building of forts or of the manufacture of
guns. Hence, when Secretary LAMONT de-
clared that sound business sense" re-
quired that such work should be freed, as
far as possible, from "the delays neccs-
sarily Incident to the division of a work
among n number of military bureaus
otherwise burdened with a variety of dis.
tracing affairs of large magnitude" he
did not resort to the Board of Ordnance for !
the work
The Senate amendment would result I'm |
putting the supervision of all expenditures
upon a board not constituted with n view
to it, and, as things now stand. would re-
~ fo|'J 81 NoAoJo HoICd Vi III LnG |
greater expedition desired. Besides, the
War Departments structures of two years
ago have been followed by some improve.
ments. OF the $17, 200, 900 since voted by
Congress, a part has been devoted wisely
to contracts with private establishments,
like the Niles Tool Works N the Bethle.
hem and Southwark companies, for disap-
pearing u carriages, to aid the Govern
ment factory at Watertown, which, at its
utmost capacity, would have dragged hope.
lessly behind our needs. Contracts, too, have
been made for building emplacements at
many points. 1t is true that some of these
points arc relatively of minor Importance,
and might have been left for a time to
torpedo or other defences, In view of the
chance that an enemy would not go out
of the way to attack them when incom-
parably greater prizes were without ade-
quate defence. But perhaps the value of
awide geographical distribution of money.