Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-09
CAN'T FORCE HARBORS
SAFE AGAINST ANY TWO FOR
EIGN NAVIES.

Secretary Taft exfse*'> to meet his wife
and family in New today, when they
arrive on the steamer Kroonland, and If
the boat is early enough, to return to
Washington tonight He spent yesterday
at the home of his brother, Henry w. Taft.
Speaking of the trip of inspection he
made to Fort Hancock and Fort Hamilton
to New York reporter, Secretary Taft
said that he was very much pleased with
the conditions at both these places.
"At Fort Hamilton" said the Secretary,
Colonel Greenough has plan for enlarge
ment of the reservation by the purchase Of
forty-five acres of adjoining property. This
will cost the government s2J0,000, it Is esti-
mated. There are very few houses on this
land now, but if its purchase Is delayed
we don't know how many houses would
have to buy, and the price would of course
go up We are trying to keep down appro-
priations this year. and this is a large
sum.
But on the whole 1 am inclined to think
favorably of the plan. The land seems to
be needed. and will make the post all that
1t should be. There is also need of new
buildings. but the Notifications themselves
could not be any better. The visit to Sandy
Hook was my first, and that place i'm
pressed me very much. We certainly have
enough guns at these forts, more, perhaps
than we need. We do need, however, more
facilities for submarine and torpedo work.
All Plans Carried Out.
"All the plans for Notifications proposed
by the Endicott board for the twenty-five
ports of this country have now been car
ried out. We have spent something over
ss0. 100000. The plans, which included other
$1,y
involved cost of $4,000, 600. We hope to
scale this down to s120.00O000. AS the
harbors at present stand / believe-and
General Crezler has so informed me-that
no foreign fleet could enter them. Neither
could the combined fleets of any two ma
tions. That is, providing 1t was not foggy.
We have sufficient guns and our fortifica-
tions are now strong enough to resist and
annihilate any such fleet.
what we must spend the rest OF the
money for is the development Of submarine
and torpedo defense in case of such thing
as fog, when the gunners cannot see; also,
in keeping up with the times and perfect
ing the modern system of fire control by
which one man can aim and fire all the
guns in a fort at once. This system we
have not established at great many of
our fortifcations, and we must do so as
soon as possible"
Secretary Taft said that he would start
some time about the 1st of November on
his trip to Panama.
'I do not expect to spend more than three
days on the isthmus this time" he said.
"The President has asked me to go, and
feel that it is necessary The work meets
our approval in a great many ways. but
there is one phase of it which we believe
could be improved. and must be improved
at once. That is in providing quarters for
the men we are sending down there and IN
making these men comfortable. Mr.. Wal
lace's idea was that our first work should
be to find out how much dirt we could ex-
cavate in a given time and what 1t would
cost.
II believe the first thing to do is to see
that the men down there are comfortable,
and that when they get through nine
hour day in the tropics. with it's tendency
to devitaliZe man. they shall have some
where to go for amusement, have some
thing to read, and won't be induced TO take
UP brandy and soda. / shall examine very
carefully the quarters that have been
built already, and push this work along. /
shall also see how the money has been
| Snent down there !"