The San Francisco call., 1898-06-04

These powerful guns. will be support ed by ten batteries of. light artillery and four of heavy artillery, the former manned by 760 experienced artillery men. thus giving twelve men to each gun. which is ample provision for any contingency that may: arise.
 A large amount of ammunition has been specially prepared. for the batte- ries and siege guns, and the transports will carry wagon trains for the con- veyance of reserve supplies. The work of landing, transporting and mounting the artillery will be in the hands of an engineer battalion, which will have at it's command modern pontoon outfit to be used both in transporting guns and ammunition to the shore. and for the bridging of. such streams as may be encountered between the landing place and the heights .backof Santiago.
 The latest information obtainable, in dicates that the expedition will be land . ed considerably. nearer Santiago than was at first planned: Tt was originally intended to make a landing in the neighborhoOd of Cfliantanamo' Bay about thirty miles east of Santiago. for the reason that good roads were said to. lead from this point through the in- terior to the hills behind the city:
 . It is understood that the department has decided that the engineer corps is able to construct a serviceable road from any point on the. beach to the hills in the rear of Santiago and that since. in any event, a road would have to be built from the main highways to points of vantage for the location of batteries. the route of the expedition may be materially shortened without greatly increasing the difficulties to be encountered.
 Owing to the strict censorship now in force at all Gulf ports 1t cannot be definitely stated whether the advance guard of the Santiago expedition has left for Cuba or not, but it Is known that the artillery. the pontoon outfit and General Roy Stones road mak- ing machinery were embarked on six transports at least forty eight hours ago.
 Twenty-Five hundred infantry will accompany the expedition, and their authorization will probably immediate ly precede the departure of the artillery transports for the Windward Passage, which 1t is now understood Will be the route followed in reaching Santiago:
 It is not likely that any news will be received from the Santiago expedition within the next seven days Assum- ing that the transports leave immed- lately 1t would require four days to reach the landing place, and at: least two days to disembark the artillery and for the troops to scale the hills and establish the batteries. Even should an immediate and decisive engagement take place 1t will be seen news can hardly reach Washington before the end of next week. '::
 The Navy Department to-day re- ceived the first official information re- garding the operations against the bat teries of Santiago Commodore Schley's S terse report of that affair closes with the statement that he is quite satis- fled the Spanish fleet Is in Santiago. In view of Schley's report and the in- structions forwarded to Admiral Samp- son, who is now in command of the vessels before Santiago, it is expected that preparations will be made for a naval attack coincidently with the as- sault by the American land batteries.
 Confirmation is given by the depart ment to the report that preparatory to this work the Vesuvius will be sent in to explode the triple line of mines In the mouth of the harbor with charges of dynamite fired from her fifteen. pneu- matic guns. Charges of gun cotton weighing 800 pounds, capable of ex- ploding wide area of mines, can be fired from this unique vessel at a dis tance of two miles, and it Is assumed that in executing this maneuver the heaviest rifles in the fleet will be em- ployed to protect the Vesuvius from the fire of the land batteries.
 For the first time since the war be- gan the administration is endeavoring to prepare and observe a schedule of future operations. In this programme the capture of Santiago and the de- struction of Cerveras fleet are sched- uled for accomplishment prior to June 15. Contemporaneously or immediately afterward, San Juan. Porto Rico, will be bombarded and invested with a land force sufficient to hold 1t against any Spanish fleet that may cross the At- lantic to retake it.
 These operations, together with the reinforcement of Dewey in the Philip pines, the administration believes. are likely to bring Spain to her senses with out the necessity of bombarding the ctty of Havana, but fl that expectation