The Washington herald., 1906-12-08
Defending Our Coasts.


/ Few, indeed, are the subjects to which
the attention OF Congress is more imper-
atively demanded than that of the defense
Of our coasts. No one IS desirous of max
ing too much Of the possibilities of war
with any foreign power, but the discussion
Of such a possibility, however remote II
may be in fact, has called attention once
more to the utter inadequacy Of cur pres
ent system OF coast defense.
| The coast defenses Of a country having
! a large seaboard are, IN effect, the FIRST
and most important line of defense. Con-
gress has recognized this as a fact, and
has done what it deems is best in provid-
! ing arms and ammunition, according to
the latest and most approved models. for
some twenty-four or twenty-five Of our
coast cities. Even in these the coast de-
/ fenses have not been completed. but a
great number Of guns have been mounted.
and the Coast Artillery is in charge Of the
work
| For the Coast Artillery, Congress has
authorized 14,153 men. Those who know
the needs of the country tell US that in
order to give one shift Of men to operate
would require some 5000 men. This is
| for one shift only, as if, when that one
| shift was exhausted, our enemy, whoever
/ he might be, was going to pause in his at
| tack and give our men time to rest We
have spent, literally. money for the very
| latest style of guns, but no less an aU-
thority than Secretary Taft tells US that
''as It is now, we are very short, and
many Of our guns are simply oiled or
under tarDaulin, or are laid uD. so TO
speak. and not used at all" II war should
happen tomorrow, We should have to
double or treble our present force of
| coast artillerymen. 1t is easy to talk OF
doubling our present force in time of need,
| but TO do it is impossible.
Under modern requirements, the skill of
| the artilleryman has to be great in re-
spect to electrical appliances and general
mathematical knowledge-in short. the
work to be done with modern guns is the
work of experts, and cannot be done by
untralned volunteers, however willing. As
| it Is, we take men in and train them in
| the branches OF mathematics and electric
appliances, and we allow them extra pay,
which brings their pay up to SIC or sl7 a
month: and so soon as their term of en-
/ istment is over they quit, because they
are then able TO earn SO to 800 per month
from private electrical concerns.
| Under the present conditions we have
not men enough to serve one-haIf of the
guns we have provided, and We have not
| provided any too many guns TO defend our
coasts. Gen. story, Chief of Artillery,
| 1904 says:
The personnel now authorized for Coast ARTILLERY
| is not sufficient to and serve one-haf Of the
| armament already mounted. This means If a war
/ were TO break out we have not one-half the
trained force required TO serve our guns effectively.
However good our guns are, yet One-haf Of them
would not be Of much more than many tons
| Of inert metal"
! The report of Gen. Mills, Chief of Artil-
! lery. 1905, on the subject shows that for
| the present coast defenses nowin place we
require for a proper manning 1754 off,
GERS and 4, ,S33 enlisted men. As a matter
of fact, we have 525 officers and 13, 7S4 men.
Mr.. Warren. chairman Of the Military
Committee. United States Senate, reports
that with the present force we can man
about one-third of the guns we have, and
that this means that two-thirds of our
guns, In case of war, would stand idle
until recruits could be properly drilled and
instructed in their complicated mechan-
isms
The situation, instead of growing better
| is growing worse. The shortage Of men
for the Coast Artillery puts so much ad-
ditional work on the men who are now
serving. and they get so little comnenss-
ton for this work, that not only will they
not re-enlist, but many Of them desert
The officers. too, are becoming diseour-
aged.
No one has been more forcibIy for good
gunnery than President Roosevelt. and he