Show written for this paper OUR CITIES BY THE SEL SEA copyrighted bv bt frank G carpenter Canen tOr IMO 1895 washington january 2 1896 MAN WHO HAS sold tens of millions of dollars worth of arms and munitions of war to the great count countries Vies of europe an and who has bee alt all his life dealing with war departments 13 ants ought to have opinions of value as to our defenses in the possibility of a war with england such a man is senator watson C squire who has recently introduced a bill appropriating for the protection of our cities by the sea senator squire was chairman of the coast defense committee some years ago and since he be was elect ed eato to the senate he has been devoting himself largely to matters connected with the army and navy he was for ganv years connected with the remington manufacturing company and he has made a large fol tune in dealing in firearms and munitions of war he was for a long time the agent of the remington company in europe and was at one time its president at the time of the franco prussian war he sold more than 14 worth of small arms to the french he tells me that the french thought they were well prepared for this struggle but that alter after it had begun they found they could nowhere get enough arms for their soldiers among those which they bought of senator squire were a large number of the rifles and guns left over from our late civil war the senator purchased nearly worth of such guns from uncle sam and sold them to the french he has also furnished guns to others of the great european nations he sold over worth of guns to the spanish and he aided in supplying the danes with firearms nr earms for years his business was in connection with the war offices of all the great european nations and he be could today draw maps of the streets of st petersburg and constantinople from memory A great part of the guns now in use in in south america were sold by him this is the case with cuba and to a large extent with the argentine republic and venezuela I 1 do not think that the senator has at present any active connection with the remington company his long experience peri ence however has given him a good opportunity to team learn much as to the inside workings of war matters in I 1 europe and espe especially cally as 19 to the plans of other nations relating to this country during a chat with him last night I 1 asked senator squire whether he supposed that the english had an accurate curate ad knowledge of our seaports he replied certainly they have the british legation has a man connected with it whose business it is to look into and report to the Brit british ih war office upon such matters the english probably have had bad men traveling through the united states getting the last and best information upon all matters connected with our army and navy and defenses you imagine the amount of money that foreign fore agn nations spend up on such things A new gun or a new invention in any kind of arms is worth a fortune if it is ol of real value and governments sometimes buy bev such inventions and keep them secret until the time comes for their use our war department probably has much secret informs tion lion as to arms and ammunition which will not be developed until a war occurs we send men abroad to report upon such matters the results of their investigations never get into the newspapers and you cannot tell what new things have been invented for warfare until war actually occurs in the war of 1866 in which austria was conquered by prussia the prussian succeeded largely on account of the german needle gun which up to that time had been kept secret it was a poor thing at bests best and it allowed the gas rising from the powder to escape in such a way that it had to be fired from the thigh instead of the shoulder still it was a great improvement over the old austrian gun and over anyta ing europe then had it was first used in that war and at the battle of it gave the prussians a victory after this battle all europe rushed to get new guns and the wonderful small arms which we have today are the result it was the same during our civil war the fight of the monitor and the merrimac changed the naval construction of the world before that wooden ships were used nearly everywhere after it gun boats had to be made of iron and teel and the big men of war which now cost from three to five million dollars apiece and the costly cosily armor plate with which they are sheathed are the result speaking of the english knowledge of our seaports senator squire went on 1 I have no doubt but that thai a plan of every harbor and city on the atlantic and pacific coasts is in the british war office these are revised from time dire to time in accordance with every new item of information which they get concerning our defenses I 1 venture to say that the british war office has a better knowledge of the real condition of our sea coast cities than the congress of the united states in all probability the english have their plans made out inde in detail as to where they will attack each of our cities in case of a war and it may be that the letters and telegrams are already written giving directions to td the commanders in the different branches of the army and navy as to just what they are to do in such a case thias ao 0 o in in nearly every big war office in europe every possibility is provided for or you remember the story of von moltke the commander in chief of the german army at the time that the franco prussian war occurred the announcement that war had been declared by napoleon was received receive dat at night and the messenger bringing brini iaz the news found von moltke soun sound asleep he was as awakened and advis advised edof of the tact fact he did not rise but merely sent for his aid and told him to go to a certain case and take the papers out of a certain pigeon hole arid and telegraph the instructions therein these instructions gave directions as to the disposition of every part of the german army after giving this order so the story goes von moltke turned over and went to sleep knowing that when he awoke in the morning the whole german army would be preparing to move the english probably have similar plans for the action of their forces and fleets 11 what is the condition of the english fortifications on this side of the water senator squire I 1 asked 1 I dont think any one knows replied senator squire they are pro bably in a very good condition the english have been steadily in increasing increase creasm i g their fortifications about the united states for years they have I 1 have seen it stated so dredged the st law rence river that war ships drawing twenty six feet can now sail right up to montreal which in the case oi of a war with wibb us would be one of their bases of supplies they do not allow americans to go through their forts not long ago my secretary col hilder who was formerly connected with the english army in india was visiting some offices near Equi mault on vancouver vers s island he asked to be taken through the fort there but was told that it would be impossible as orders had been given that no one outside of those immediately connected with the fort were to be allowed within it this great english fortification practically controls the straits of fuca and the entrance to puget sound it is within a few miles of our coast port townsend is just across ane way so SG near indeed that the morning and evening guns from the fort fart may be heard beard there gen miles who has examined closely into the subject says that in twenty four hours the british fleet beet at esquemault Esqui mault could take absolute possession of puget sound and destroy its As cities and towns we ought to have at least guns and mor ars on puget sound and there should be guns and mortars on the pacific coast to properly pro act it but san francisco is well protected is it not by no means as well as it should be replied senator squire it is the only pacific coast port that mat is at all provided w th means of defense seattle and tacoma and the ports of puget sound could be easily destroyed san diego is defenseless the great columbia river is practically open to foreign war vessels they could sail up it and destroy portland they could send smaller boats further and ruin the canal which we are building about the cascades and upon which we weare are spending millions of dollars we ought to have a canon factory on the pacific coast we have bave coal and iron and we auld as easily build guns there as in the east I 1 have horod introduced a bill appropriating for gorsuch or Such luch a factory how many guns are wanted alto ether lor for coast defenses senator lether J q quire ui e I 1 asked it is estimated replied the senator that it t will take at least 1500 cannon that is guns atad and mortars to give us the proper protection at least half of these should be eight ten twelve and sixteen inch guns and the remainder should be mortars muri ars these guns need carriages machinery and fortifications behind which they can be raised and lowered it will take at a low jow estimate it at least to put the ports in good shape and my bill proposes that this expenditure be begun and carried on until it is completed this expenditure ought to begin at once continued senator squire there is one thing the people do not seem to understand and that is that it takes time to build the great modern guns the rhe contract was awarded to one of the great american companies for building one hundred gurs guns in 1891 it is now 1895 and they have only twenty guns uns which are anywhere near complete there chere are I 1 believe none in actual use though some are ready for trial in building great guns works have to be made for them and the actual construction of the guns requires months As to earthworks earthworms earth works and defenses they could be erected in a short time by putting a large number of men at work but it takes time to make all kinds of arms and munitions of war As to small arms they can be turned out very rapidly during the franco prussian war the remington works made twelve hundred new rifles a day they made two hundred revolvers a day in addition to remodeling two tso hundred other guns making an output of sixteen hundred small arms every day this was I 1 be lieve the fastest work of the kind that has ever been done speaking of our sea coast cities senator new york is well defended is it not no was the reply it has only about one tenth the protection that it should have the other cities on the atlantic are practically defenseless I 1 visited the defenses ot of new york not long ago our principal works are situated situa at sandy hook where we have two guns and sixteen mortars mortar the guns are twelve inch guns uns they carry projectiles weighing over seven hundred pounds and it takes four bushels of powder for a single fire they have a range of twelve miles and they are only exposed at the time of firing they are protected by an emplacement or fortification made ot of cement and sand the strength of this fortification is equal to that of feet of sand and it it is so great that chat no modern gun can send a projectile through it the guns are loaded behind it and then by h pressure are raised and fired twenty one seconds later they have dropped behind the fortifications ready for reloading in addition to these guns we have sixteen mortars at sandy hook these send shells sheds of cast iron and steel weigh ing from five hundred to a thousand pounds a distance ot of six miles they are fired from a pit and they shoot their projectiles two miles up into the air by a modern invention known as the range finder they have been known to be very accurate in their aim by this invention it is ascertained at just what angle the gun should be shot the gunners or those who fire them have a map of the sea or the harbor before them and this map is divided up into squares it is found in which square the man of war is at the time ot of firing the sixteen mortars are then trained upon that square and a rain of their massive shells will fall upon it it would be strange indeed if some of them did not hit her and carry her to the bottom how about torpedoes why cannot all of our coast cities be protected by them there is little safety in depending upon torpedoes replied senator squire and it is not everywhere that you can use them the idea is you know to fasten them to a wire or rope A strong current would in such case carry them to the top of the water where they could be seen if the water was very deep they would not be effective and then there is always the danger to our own boats some ot of the chinese ships were you know blown up by their own torpedoes they could probably be used for the defense ol of new york philadelphia baltimore and washington they could also be used for places like portland oregon but they would not be of much value in an open harbor besides the guns of these big war vessels carry six to twelve miles they can stand out at sea and shell the cities the best way to repel them is by coast defenses supplemented by our navy how about torpedo boats that is a matter that comes under the navy such boats would edly be of great value alk aad they will be largely used all the great nations are adding torpedo boats to their naval forces england has a large number and is building more france germany and russia all have scores of torpedo boats the advantage of such vessels is that they can be built quickly and that they are comparatively cheap they can go faster than the man of war we are now building at seattle a torpedo boat which will make twenty nine miles an hour it will ill be the fastest torpedo boat of the world these I torpedo boats are very destructive truc tive said senator squire at a test of torpedo boats as against gun boats and cruisers in the english naval maneuvers not long ago it was shown that the torpedo boats did five times as much damage in proportion to their cost as the battle ships and cruisers f but senator would there not be 1111 number of new things brought forth e our people in the event of a war w great britain speaking of new inventions aepli senator squire these are being ma all the time the rapid firing gun b 1 changed warfare to a large extent soi so of these will send shells weighing ac pounds at the rate of six to the rnino and there are guns which throw astrea of projectiles like water from a ho bos one of the maxim guns discharges ri n bullets belets at the rate of a minute and a by the machines now connected w ill the big men ol of war continuous astrea e of cartridges can be sent out from c gun managed by two men one fo of the gatling galling gun shoots 1200 shots minute these rapid firing guns we w used during the fight between the jap L anese and chinese ships within mile of each other were exposed to tco hail bail storm of shot and shell front from them the the enormous power of the armour arbou the ships was shown in this war f e twelve inch guns of the th japanese thou they sent projectiles weighing pounds could not ink fink i the e chinese bat b tle tie ships and we are now makin maki thirteen inch guns instead of twelve inc in cl guns for our men of war the she shells from such guns have an enormous pe p et rating power the powder used I 1 the chinese japanese war was bargell larg smokeless powder we are making i prove ments in powders right along a new inventions are being made in a kinds of munitions of war the next war will determine ma man new things as to high explosives 11 c linued senator squire there is arcol an eai plosive known as which is sai ss to have some of the properties of the lo 10 stink pot used by the chinese recently read an account of the use this explosive the article stated tl th the stuff was three times as powerful a gunpowder but that its lumes fumes w we even deadly it cited an instance which a shell had exploded a vessel on which were some sheep |