The Prescott daily news., 1915-12-24
;0AST IS OPEN TO
 FOE, SAYS DEWEY
Navy Equal to Strongest Ene- my Needed, Admiral Asserts.
MARY CITIES EASY TO TAKE.

Attenlpt invasion as Long as 1t Re-
 mained In Existence" - Continuing,
 He Says Long Island Is Vantage
 Point For Any Invader.
 Only an adequate navy can prevent a hostile force from landing at will upon the Atlantic coast, according to Admiral George Dewey. president of the general board of the navy.
 In d letter to Representative A. r. Gardner of Massachusetts Admiral Dewey says:
 Hon. A. P. Gardner, House of Rep
 resentatives. Washington:
 Dear Mir Gardner-I beg to ac- knowledge the receipt of your letter of Dec 9, asking me to write you. set ting forth my views on the question of the possibility of large hostile forces landing on our coast and inviting my attention to an article by Eric Fisher Wood.
 ''The part of the Atlantic coast men, toned in MT. Woods article extends from Passport, Me, to Cape Henry, Va, and in this area we have perma- nent defenses on the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers; at Portland. Ports mouth, Boston and New Bedford har- bors; at Narra gansett Bay; at the east ern entrance to Long Island sound; at the entrance to New York harbor; on the Delaware river; at Baltimore; on the upper Potomac river and at Hamp- ton Roads.
 "Of the defenses only those at Port Long Island sound and the entrance to New York protect the coast; the others are solely barbor defenses.
 Easy For Troops to Land.
 Tt Is true that large hostile force can land on the open coast wherever the transports can get within a req sonable distance of the shore, espe cially so where their landing is cover cd by the gunfre of the naval escort even though the landing be opposed by troops.
 "The most recent example of this is the landing of the allied troops on the Gallipoll peninsula. We have similar examples in our own history. as the landing of Scotts army near Vera Cruz. the landings near Fort Fisher and the landing of Shafters army in Cuba.
 Prom Passport, Me. to Cape Henry Va. there are but very few places where large ships cannot approach with safety to within two miles of the coast, and the extent of this shore line that Is too precipitous or too rag ged to make landing practicable is small The only force that can prevent such landing is navy of our own strong enough to prevent such an ey petition from reaching our coast.
 "In saying that hostile expedition can land upon our coast at will outside the range of our coast defense guns. mean that it is physically possible and with no very great difficulty I do not mean that such force could accom- plish its object by landing anywhere on our coast
 Many Good Landing Places.
 No commander would desire to have his force isolated on the peninsulas oi Maine nor on the sand dunes of New Jersey. Delaware, Maryland CIT Nir ginia, with inland waters between it and the mainland. They will prefer to land where there are railroads and good roads leading to their objective which would probably be one of our large cities. Such places are numer ous along the coast of Massachusetts both shores of Massachusetts bay. th, 1 eastern end and south shore of Lona Island and fin the Delaware and Ches apeake bays,
 "A landing place sheltered from the 1 force of the sea would greatly facili tate the disembarkation Of hostile force. but is not Il vital necessity. Such sheltered places are too numerous to name. but among them are French mans bay, Penobscot bay. Blue Hill bay. Sheepscott river. Casco bay in Maine. Rockport, Gloucester. Salem. Plymouth, Provincetown. Vineyard sound and Buzzards bay in Massachu. setts. Fort Pond bay and then, to the l southward. Delaware and Chesapeake bays.
 Strong Navy the Need. Only the navy can prevent landings nf those nlappS nuH that porv apuSf