Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-01
More Needed for the Guns of the
Coast Defenses.
WHAT is SAID BY ARMY OFFICERS
Depicting the Artillery to Increase
the Infantry.
EFFECT ON THE SERVICE

A phase Of the army situation that is re-
ceiving considerable attention from those
Interested in the artillery arm of the serv-
ice is the increasing shortage of men to
care for the constantly increasing number
OF guns In the coast defenses This oues-
ticn indeed may have considerable bearing
on the question of whether a call for VIOLA
uhteers VIII be necessary to slInply the
auulnonai troops that 1t is felt reasonably
certain will be needed I'm the Philippines.
The army reorganization bi1l passed at
the last Congress made what was consider
ed by many very liberal provision for ar
tillerymen. the corps being raised to nearly
12."o0 men, a greater proportionate raise
than in most of the other branches of the
service.
Not Enough to Man the Gums.
In spite of this provision there are not
CROUCH artillerymen. as the case now
stands, to take care Of The modern guns
already installed on the coast 9cfcuses.
ana while the number of thesa guns IS be-
ing constantly augmented by the industry
OF the Engineer Corps, the art!,ll Ty force Is
being constantly depleted liy being sent on
foreign service to act as infantry.
This fact is being riously ,isn,l,sed by
army officers familiar with tho situation.
my say '4l'tA lilt btN ArtlliarN has been
sent TO Manila, that a part of the LIST and
two batteries of the ID are aIsp there.
other batteries of the % are ia Cuba and
OF the oth at San Juan. Porto Rico. while
part OF the Sd has been sent by Gen. Shaf-
ter to act infantry in Alaska while the
colored infantry is retained a the Presidio
Where there arc valuable guns to be cared
ter IT Is pointed out by those familiar
with the situation that this state Of affairs
Is not only detrimental to the service in
keeping the artillery regiments from hav-
ing proper DIN at the guns which they are
supposed to fight in time Of war, but mean
time the guns themselves are suffering for
want of attention.
Guns Need Constant Attention.
The emplacements for the heavy modern
guns, while they are immense masonry and
cement structures. are built with the math-
ematical accuracy of a fine watch. and they
have TO be cared for in approximately the
same way. The guns upon them weigh
many tons, and proper care of the cmplace-
ments requires that the guns should be
trained each day in a different position to
keep their masonry foundations from set
tling out of true.
Coast defeEse gunnery is a matter of
mathematical accuracy, much more so than
SunneIy on shipbOard. In the latter case,
with the roll of the ship and other things
to be taken into account. it resembles wing
shooting somewhat, and the personal equa-
cess. In the big coast guns the whole prob
lem is worked out by mathematics and IL
the gun and its foundations deteriorate all
the fine work in their original construction
goes for nothing.
The Service Needs More Men.
1t is said at the War Department that
there are actually not enough artillerymen
in the department Of the gulf to average
half of 'one relief" in caring for the guns
now in place there. The best interests Of
the service demand three full reliefs at each
artillery post. On the Atlantic coast the
case is much the same. One post in par
ticular, where the minimum OF one relief to
care for the guns in place would be sixteen
men, is now supplied with only ten. This,
the officers say, is not enough men to keep
the guns oiled and cleaned, to say nothing
Of working them properly or drilling the
men as regular guns crews.
The comments of the officers above quoted
are not made by them in a spirit of hostil-
.ty to the departments administrators nor
for the sake of sensational discussion, but
they claim very earnestly that the lack OF
artillery force at the posts where artillery
are Supposed to be trained is not only in
juring the corps by depriving il of drill and
INSTRUCTION, but causing the deterioration OF
mill!osls of dollars worth of new coast de-
fenses.