Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-08-08
OUR LONG COASTLINF
Second in Length Only to That o,
the British Empire.
On the Dominions of UneIe sam. Alno
the sun Never sets-Recent
Acquisitions Extend
the Line.


any nation in the world. With the
new possessions Of Puerto Rico and
the Philippines the coast Of the United
States will be at least 16 900 miles lone.
and, with Cuba, which must have its
coast line taken in charge by the coast
survey Of this country, there will be
nearly 10000 miles Of coast 10 be cared
for. The coast line of the United
States, without Alaska, amounts to
nearly 6,000 miles, divided as follows:
Two thousand, three hundred and for.
ty-nine miles on the Atlantic coast
1856 miles on the Gulf of Mexico and
nearly 1000 miles on the Pacific coast.
Alaska, because of its numerous linden.
iations and islands-those Aleutian
islands which stretch westward until
they meet the possessions Of the Great
White Czar"-has an enormous coast
line, mounting up 20 OF least 5000
miles.
To compute the coast line Of the Phil.
ippines is at present impossible. Spain
has no photographic Office and no
coast survey in working order. Even
the number OF islands in the Philip.
pine groups are unknown. Spain has
never taken the trouble 10 count them
photography and coast survey is an
exact science Of which the Latins are
incapable.
Not the least of the burdens i'm.
Z ..--..- IN ~ "a H.-s I.. q, "a.
QUESTION OF new territory is the sur
veying Of its shores. Although begun
IN 1907. the work Of surveying the
coast Of the United States proper has
never been completed. In the nature
Of things Il never can be. for there are
portions like the Nantucket shoals and
the shoals which lie between Monomoy
Point and Martha's Vineyard which
must be surveyed every once in few
years owing 20 the shifting sands
which compose them.
When the coast survey Of the United
States was started II was proposed 70
have the army do the shore work and
the navy the photography. II was not
long before the shore work passed into
the hands OF civilians, but the navy has
so far kept the photography, thought
has worked under sort Of hybrid sys-
TEN, the part Of the navy doing the
photography being loaned to the treas
ury department. An officer OF the
navy Is detailed as photographic in
spector. and as such has an Office In the
Office of the superintendent OF the
coast survey, who is civilian official
of the treasury department. The ships
and launches with which the hydro.
praphic work is done are owned by the
treasury department, but the officers
and men who man them are in the en-
rloy Of the navy department. 1t IS o
system which works better than one
would expect, and so far the charts OF
The coast survey take rank with the
best in the world. In fact, there Is
only one kind Of charts that can com
rare with them and that IS the chart
OF the British admiralty For ae
curacv. the charts Of the coast survey
cannot be excelled. and the British
photographic Office depends now en-
,irelv upon the coast survey charts for
ne photography Of the American
coast Yet il is only few years ago
;bat the British admiralty charts were
taken for the basis Of our work in me
Gplf Of Mexico. The Russian charts
which formed the basis for our survey
Of the Alaskan coast, we're imperfect
and IL will be years before the survey
of that coast is completed.
n the meantime there is the coast
~ Puerto Rico to be taken care of, and
also the coasts OF Cuba and the Phil
ippines. The charts which are now De
nended on for Cuba are incomplete and
England and the
United States have done much work
on that coast, in the way Of surveying
the principal harbors, but in many
cases the old and faulty Spanish charts
are depended on. To make complete
survey Of the Philippine Archipelago
.. an enormous task. which will re-
ouire years and the expenditure OF
lot Of money. As the coasts Of me
United States are all looked after by
,be coast survey. so the surveys 81 me
coasts Of foreign countries are taken
care Of by the photographic once O.
the navy. This is purely naval ou-
reau and the ships employed in making
surveys outside OF the country are an
rerularlv commissioned men-oi-War'
Asa matter of fact. all the ships OF ne
coast survey are regularly commits
Toned bv the navy, although the navy
docs not own them, and fly the ma
tional ensign. instead Of the revenue
fac which is flown by other ships OF
ne treasury department, when not y
the naval service (as they have been N
his warD or when they are on duty on
the three-mile limit.
Naval experts say that a nation
sbopld have navy in proportion 20
5,s coast line. If this proposition Is
correct the United States should nave
\ navy only a little less strong IMAM
mat az Great Britain. Great Britain
Frarce and Italy have navies some
vbat in proportion TO their coast INES
- prssiz Germany and Austria |