Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-01-23
ARE BEST OF FORTS
United States Defenses, How
ever, Are Short of Men.
Works on corregidor Almost as I'm.
pregnabie as Gibraltar or HelgoIand
Great Fortifications Which
Guard National Capital
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.


: Union)
WESTINGHOUSE the war brok'
out in Europe much has been heart
e about Helgoland as an impregnablt
p fortress. In some statements it hai
been said that next to Gibraltar, Hell
goland is the hardest fortress nut t.
I crack in the whole world.
Now comes the United States tc
maintain that it has fortress that
is not only not second to Helgoland
in strength but perhaps not even to
| Gibraltar itself Army and navy men
seem to think that the fortress of
Corregidor which guards the entrance
to Manila iii the Philippines can hold
off any of the worlds forces and abb
solutely prevent any possibility of
successful attack on Manila by way of
its immediate front.
Corregidor only recently has been
put into trim. Now it is understood
that its big guns are all manned and
that soon it will have a trained force
of men equal to the occasion of
working the weapons of offense for
a period as protracted as any war Is
| likely to be, In some respects 1t Is
said Corregidor resembles Gibraltar
Much has been written recently
about the Notifications on the sea
coasts of the continental United
States During the discussions in the
committees of congress on the sub
iect of the military preparedness of
he United States 1t has been said
hat our forts and our guns are all
light out that we have not men
enough to man them. From the re-
)ort of the chief of coast artillery,
Eeneral Weaver, it is apparent that
what has been said just about sums
up the situation. Congress it is ex-
,ected will provide men enough to
nan our guns, for otherwise we will
'e in position of having spent a lot
" money for tools which we cannot
Use.
In the year 1914 the British at
acked Washington. In order to reach
his city today foreign foe, unless
+! can land an army, will be compelled
to run by the Notifications at the
Mouth OF Chesapeake bay and by 9TH
n Notifications which protect the
caches of the lower Potomac.
Fortress Monroe, which is one of the
yards to the entrance of the Chesa-
1eake, is an old post and the layman
Who looks at 1t and sees the old par
pets with their granite facings can
lot conceive that it would withs tanu
! he shots from modern guns. The
ruth is that old Fortress Monroe is
coupled only for show purposes and
or the uses of peaceful garrison life.
Connected with the old fort are the
ew Notifications with their big dis
ppearing guns Fortress Monroe
commands not only the entrance to
ne Chesapeake but the entrance to
he James river
In Hampton Roads, whose waters
re at the mouth of the lanes and
ninge with those of the ocean, there
$ a low-lying American fort with
powerful guns. It is an aid to For
ress Monroe, and between the two any
ieet no matter how powerful, would
ave a hard time of it trying 10
break an entrance either into the
ames river or Chesapeake bay.
Recently the government purchased
and on Cape Henry and there another
'ort is to be built. Ships trying to
ret into Chesapeake or to the James
yould find themselves under ire from
ne Cape Henry guns beforo they get
vithln range of the Fortress Monroe
r the Hampton Roads guns 1t is
believed by military experts that no
ieet in the world ever can force its
ay INTO Chesapeake pay or the James
liver thence to go with its lighter
raft vessels by the water route
'ither to Baltimore, Washington or