Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-07

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 government
and thus is concernd with many things
which have little or no direct connection
with the army or with war. The secretary
OF war occupies one of the most respon-
sible 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 depart
ment but he also must be a diplomat and
a governor, for he is the highest officer
having especial charge Of the Philippine
islands and the other insular possessions
Of the United states. and now he is the
chief captain of the greatest engineering
enterprise ever undertaken by mortal man
the Panama canal
Most interesting of the ordinary duties of
the War department are those which re-
late to It's primary function OF defending
the country from potential foreign foes.
Under the direction of the ordnance bu-
reau all the munitions OF war are pro-
vided from the big fourteen-inch coast de-
Tense guns down to cartridges for an army
rifle. The heaviest guns weigh as much as
a railroad engine and shoot a projectile
as heavy as ten ordinary men. Ii supplies
the army with automatic guns which can
fire eight rifle bullets in a single second
No bRttleship can resist the concentrated
fire of modern coast defense guns. II has
become only a question OF craftsmanship,
and the coast defenders have solved that
problem by becoming the best marksmen in
the world They are now provided with
sixty-foot moving targets and the troops
at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, some months
ago scored four shots in less than one min
ute with a battery of two guns. All four
shots struck in a rectangle twenty-four by
fifty-three feet. The target was four miles
away, travelling five and a half miles an
hour.
With such firing as this II would be i'm
possible for an enemys fleet to run by the
Narrows below Governors Island New
York In addition to the big coast defense
guns there is a liberal supply of mortars
shooting sixteen-inch projectiles. These
have scored as high as seventy hits out of
hundred. These mortars are at all times
out of sight Of the enemy and are fired
after the most careful calculations, involv-
ing the force of the winds, temperature
and many other conditions. Their projec-
tiles carry charges of as much as sixty
pounds of high explosives and do great
damage.
The manufacture of ordnance for the
army requires a large force of skilled
mechanics. number of gun factories
are operated, the largest for the army
| being at Watervliet n. Y. The most DOW.
erful and the most delicate machinery is
| required in the making of a big gun. There
| must be giant machines which will make
shavings fly from huge blocks of steel as
IL they were wood ribbons from a car
penters plane; chronographs so delicate
that they will register the smallest part Of
second, and gauges SO accurate that theS
will measure the thousandth part of ar
inch.
The War department resorts to some re
markable methods in providing a complete
coast defense system. At Honolulu It ha,
made use of the crater of an extinct
volcano, burrowing cut secret chamber,
and underground channels in the mountain
in way that makes II almost as impreg
nable as Gibraltar. In the roadway be
tween Cape Charles and Cape Henry, wher,
the Chesapeake bay finds its outlet int
the Atlantic ocean an artificial island is L
| be constructed and one of the stronges
fortresses in the world will be erected
there. 1t will largely supersede Fortress
Monroe in its command Of Chesapeake bay
and will at once be the guardian Of Nor
folk, Portsmouth Newport News. Balti
more Washington and Richmond.
The engineer corps of the army is mad
up of a remarkable set Of men. All ap
pointees to this corps have been honor mel
at West Point. In this way the very bes
material turned out by that institution Il
in charge of the construction work of tn,
army. Through its work the United State
now has what is believed to be the mos
complete system Of coast defenses in thu
world From Portland, Me-, to Puget Soun(
every harbor has been SO protected by for
tifications that the danger of invasion b!
hostile forces is almost nil. In addition t
the coast defenses the corps of engineer
has charge of all other Notifications In tn,
United States and of all river and harbo
work done under the authority of congress
| 1t makes all surveys and examinations nee
essary to intelligent action by congress anC
under its supervision private contractors d.
the work required in improving the river