Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-08-01
PROTECTING OUR SEA COAST
More Than 100000 Expended o,
Defences.
P"rfs which Arc Already Provided
with FortiHcntions-work on De-
fences for Tnsular Posscs.ion,-
Problem OF Manning the Forts.

Notwithstanding the fact that the
, hited states has one Of the largest coast
nnes or any great power IT will soon af-
ioro that coast Inc ample protection
from one end TO the other on both thu
Atlantic and Pacific sides Work will soon
begin on the finishing touches Of de-
fences and Qualifications in tho fnsular
possessions. says the New York Evening
Post. Altogether, the outlay necessary
to fortify and protect the United States
proper and It's outlying possessions is
moro than 1900 coo, of which amount
considerably more than half has been ex-
pended
Tho scheme Of national defence upon
which work was In progress between 1SSS
and 1906 was based primarily upon rc-
port submitted to the President by the so.
called Erdicott boa I'd in 1856 This hoard
investigated the entire continental coast
line Of the United States, and recommend
ed the construction of fortificatons which
were estimated to cost in the ncighbo-
rhood Of 1926 10000 Along the lines man
ped out by this board Congress has an.
proprlat"d approximately s75.0o0,0co In
1905 tho President again appointed a board
to review the work done under the Enii-
colt board. and this time Secretary Taft
was !ts president
After an exhaustive investigation the
new national coast defence board recon-
mended an additional expenditure Of
Sl,@",""0 to provide Notifications for new
places and to modernize the denfences
already built on the recommendation Of
theh Endicott board. In addition it wa.
estimated that an expenditure Of sc5 ,oO0ps
would be necessary to provide adequately
for the defence of the insular possessions.
PORTS PROVIDED WITH DEFDNCES.
AZ a result Of tho work o, both boards
the following ports may be said to be pro-
vided with ample sea coast defence
l-Kennebec river. Ne.
2-Portland. Me.
3-Portsmouth, y. II.
4-Boston. Mass
New Bedford, Mass
6-Narra gansett Bay. r. T.
7-Eastern entrance to Long Island
Sound
8-New York, y Y.
9-Delaware river
10-Baltimore Md
u-Washington, y. G.
l2-Hampton Roads, Va.
13-Cape Fear river, ".
l4-Charleston, S. G..
15-Port Royal. s. c.
16-Savannah Ga
Likely West, Fla
lS-Tampa Bay. Fla.
l9-Pensacola, Fla
2o-Mobile Bay, Ala.
N-New Orleans. La
| 2-Galveston. Tex
23-San Diego. Cal.
| 24-San Francisco, Cal.
S-Columbla river, Oregon and Wash.
| ington.
! 2s-Puget Sound Wash
| In accordance with the report Of tina
| Taft board additional defences are to he
| constructed al the mouth of Chesapeake
Bay. Twenty-Five OF the % sea coast de-
fences on the Atlantic coast, mount ap.
! proximately nine-tenth of the sea coast
| guns of tho United States
FORT1FlCATIONs IN INSrLAR POS.
SESSIONS.
Outside of the continental United States
under the recommendations of the Taft
| board, sea coast defences and naval sta
tons are being constructed at Guanta-
namo. Cuba; Honolulu, and Pearl harbor
| in the Hawaiian islands; San Juan. Porto
Rico; Subig Bay. Philippine Islands.
| Kska, in the Aleutian Islands, and Guam
The fortifcations oppropria ton bills OF
1904 and 1863 carried SOD 100 each for sea
coast dcfences at these points, and the
act of 1906 carried $4,000 for batteries in
| the Hawaiian Islands. or the appro-
priation made by the last Congress, about
s4S6 nNO is for the special benefit of the
| Philippines and other !nsular possessions,
and ship will leave next month for
Manila laden with mines FOR Manila Bay.
II is estimated that 1914 mines will us
needed in Manila Bay alone, and 200 AZ
Subig Bay. where the new naval station
will be built. Submarine defences are
also to be provided FOR the other insulai
possessions.
For the tortincation already CONSTRUCTED
Congress has appropriated approximately
$4,000 900 for gun and mortar batteries
How vel Congress has met the recon-
menda tons OF the national defence board