Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-09-19
BIG GUNS ON DEFENSE.
Uncle Sam Has Enormous Rifles t
Guard Shore lima

4
Guard Shore Line.
Despite the fact that the United States
has one OF the longest coast lines of any
great power it 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-
| lenses and Notifications in the insular
possessions. Altogether the outlay neces-
sary TO fortify and protect the United
| States proper and its outlying possessions
| is over S200yOOO,000, of which amount
considerably more than half has been
expended.
| The scheme of national defense upon
which work was in progress between 1888
and 1906 was based primarily upon a re-
port submitted 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 fortiica-
| tons which were estimated to cost about
| S126, 100000. Along the lines mapped
out by this board Congress has appropri-
ated approximately S75,000,000.
| In 1905 the President again appointed
a board to revise the work done under
| the Endicott board and this time Seare-
! tary Taft was its president After an
| exhaustive Investigation the new national
| coast defense board recommended an ad-
| ditional expenditure of SOL 100000 TO
| provide Notifications for new places and
to modernize the deferses already built
on the recommendation of the Endicott
| board.
As 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 rive", Oregon
and Washington; Puget sound, Wash.
A glance at the list shows twenty
two Of the twenty-six sea-coast defenses
on the Atlantic coast, mounting approx
mately nine-tenths of the sea-coast guns
of the United States.
Outside of continental United States,
ander the recommendations of the Taft
! board, sea-coast defenses and naval sta
lions are being constructed at Guanta-
nsmo, Cuba Honolulu and Pearl Harbor
In the Hawaiian Islands; San Juan, Por-
to Rico; Subig bay, Philippine Islands !;
Kissa 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 tie sea-coast defenses were completed
| 1t 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
| 1891 men in the whole artillery branch
of the army, of whom 1912 were in the
| field artillery. The last Congress, how
ever, authorized the formation of thir-
teen full regiments of coast artillery,
which, when fully recruited, will add ap-
proximately 1900 men to that branch of
! the service.