The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1907-09-26
sio GUNS ON cEERNsR. y
Uncle Sam Has Enormous Rides -
Guard Shore Line.

Uacle Sam Has Enormous Rides -
Guard shore Line.
Despite the fact that the United States
has one of the longest coast lines of any
great power 1t will shortly afford that
coast line ample protection from one end
to the other on both the Atlantic and
Pacific sides. Work will soon be begun
to put on the finishing touches Of de-
fenses and fortiticntions in the insular
possessions. Altogether the outlay neces-
sary to fortify and protect the United
States proper and its outlying possessions
Is ever S2O0,oO0, 900. of which amount
considerably more than half has been
expended.
The scheme Of national defense upon
which work was in progress between 1888
and 1905 was based primarily upon a re-
port sub,isted to the President by the
so-called Endicott board in 1886. This
board investigated the entire continental
coast line of the United States and rec
commended the construction of fortifica-
tons which were estimated to cost about
$126,OOO,0O0. Along the lines mapped
out by this board Congress has appropri-
ated approximately $75,0O0,0o0.
In 1905 the President again appointed
q board to revise the work done under
the Endicott board and this time Secre-
tary Taft was its president. After an
exhaustive investigation the new national
coast defense board recommended an ad-
dtional expenditure of S51 100000 to
provide Notifications for new places and
to modernize the defenses already built
on the recommendation of the Endicott
board
A result of the work of both boards
the following twenty-six ports may be
said to be provided with ample sea-coast
defenses: Kennebec river, Me-; Portland,
Me-. Portsmouth, n. H.; Boston, Mass !;
New Bedford, Mass; Narragansett Bay,
r. l.; eastern entrance to Long Island
sound; New York, n. Y; Delaware river; !;
Baltimore, Nd: Washington, d. c.;
Hampton Roads, Va; Cape Fear river,
n. c.; Charleston, s. c.; Port Royal, S.
c.; Savannah, Ga; Key West, Fla;
Tampa bay. Fla; Pensacola, Fla; Mo
bile bay, Ala. New Orleans, La; Gal
weston, Texas; San Diego, Cal; San
Francisco, Cal; Columbia river, Oregon
and Washington Puget sound, Wash.
A glance at the list shows twenty
two of the twenty-six ssa-coast defenses
on the Atlantic coast, mounting approHi-
mately nine-tenths of the sea-coast guns
of the United States.
Outside of continental United States,
under the recommendations of the Taft
board, sea-coast defenses and naval sta
tions are being constructed at Guanta-
namo, Cuba Honolulu and Pearl 1larbor
in the Hawaiian Islands; San Juan, Por-
to Rico; Subig bay, Philippine Islands;
Kiska in the Aleutian Islands and Guam.
The manning of the sea-coast defenses
is at present in charge of the artillery
branch of the United States army. In
the estimate provided by the national
defense board it was shown that when
all the sea-coast defenses were completed
it would require 57,3S7 men to properly
manipulate them in time of war.
Yet, according to the last report from
the War Department, there were only
1894 men In the whole artillery branch
Of the army, Of whom 1912 were in the
field artillery. NE last Congress, how
ever, authorized the formation of thir-
teen full regiments of coast artillery,
which, when fully recruited, will add ap-
preximately 1900 men to that branch Of
the service.