Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-07
THE GOVERNMENT AT WORK.
IV-The War Department.
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.


| The War Department has control of all
affairs relating to the military service OF
the nation, with the exception OF those
falling in the particular province OF the
| naval establishment. 1t also has charge
of the engineering work of the govern
ment, and thus is concerned with many
things which have little or no direct con-
nection with the army or with war Inc
Secretary of War occupies one of the
most responsible positions in the cabinet
since he is responsible not only for the
conduct of the army, the estimates for
appropriations for military expenditures
and for other things directly connected
with the department, but he also must be
diplomat and a governor, for he is the
highest officer having especial charge OF
the Philippine Islands and the other in
sular possessions of the United States,
and now he is the chief captain of the
greatest engineering enterprise ever UNI
dertaken by mortal mantle Panama
canal
Most interesting of the ordinary duties
of the War Department are those which
relate to its primary function of defend
ing the country from potential foreign
foes. Under the direction of the ordnance
bureau all the munitions of war are pro-
Vided, from the big fourteen-inch coast
defense gun down to cartridges for an
army rifle. The heaviest guns weigh as
much as a railroad engine, and shoot
projectile as heavy as ten ordinary men.
1t supplies the army with automatic guns,
which can fire eight rife bullets in a
single second. No battleship can resist
the concentrated fire of modern coast
defense guns 1t has become only a
question of craftsmanship and the coast
defenders "
becoming the best marksmen in the
world. They are now provided with
slXty-foot moving targets, and the troops
at Fort Hancock, n. j., some months
ago scored four shots in less than
one minute with a battery of two guns.
All four shots struck in a rectangle TWEEN
ty-four by fifty-three feet. The target
was four miles away, travelling five and
half miles an hour.
With such firing as this it would be
impossible for an enemy's fleet to run by
the Narrows
Enemy Could Not below Gov
Get Through Narrows. ,ana
In addition to the big coast defense guns
there is liberal supply of mortars shoot
ing sixteen-inch projectiles These have
hundred These mortars are at all times |
out of sight of the enemy and are fired |
after the most careful calculations, in |
volving the force of the winds, tempera- |
ture and many other conditions. Their |
projectiles carry charges of as much as |
sixty pounds of high explosives and do |
great damage.
The manufacture of ordnance for the |
army requires large force of skilled |
mechanics. A number of gun factories
are operated. the largest TOR the army |
being at Watervliet, N. Y. The most
powerful and the most delicate machin-
cry is required in the making Of big |
gun. There must be giant machines
which will make shavings fly from huge
blocks of steel as if they were wood
ribbons from carpenters plane, chrono-
graphs so delicate that they will regis
ter the smallest part of a second. and
gauges accurate that they will meas
ure the thousandth part of an inch
The War Department resorts to some
remarkable methods in providing a COM
plete coast
Extinct Volcano defense sys-
Used as Fertilization. no1n,n II has
made use of the crater of an extinct
and underground channels in the noun
tain in way that makes it almost as
impregnable as Gibraltar. Tn the road
way between Cape Charles and Cape
Henry, where the Chesapeake bay finds
it's outlet into the Atlantic ocean, an
artificial island is to be constructed, and |
one Of the strongest fortresses in the
world will be erected there 1t will
largely supersede Fort Monroe in its
command of Chesapeake bay, and will |
at once be the guardian Of Norfolk,
Portsmouth, Newport News, Baltimore,
Washington and Richmond.
The Engineer Corps of the army is
made up of a remarkable set of men.
All appointees to this corps have been
honor men at West Point. In this way
the very best material turned out by
that institution is in charge of the con-
struction work of the army. Through
it's work the United States now has what
is believed to be the most compete sys-
tenn of coast defenses in the world. From
Portland, Me-, to Puget sound, every [
harbor has been SO protected by fortif-
cations that the danger OF invasion by
hostile forces is almost nil. In addition
to the coast defenses the corps of engi-
neers has charge of all other fortifica-
tons in the United States and of all
river and harbor work done under the
authority of Congress. 1t makes all sur
veys and examinations necessary to in
telligent action by Congress, and under |
its supervision private contractors do the
work required in improving the rivers
and harborS. More than $30OO0.O0O a
year is expended in river and harbor i'm
provements and maintenance. If the
program of the River and Harbor Con-
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