Show j Ii i I UNGLESAM MAY LUGH I No Foreign Fleet Can Now Harm His Great Cities OUR COAST DEFENSES ASSURING REPORT COMES PROM WAR DEPARTMENT No Danger t New York Boston itn i San Francisco and These Are the Cities Upon Which a PoreignPleet I Would Concentrate Their Efforts I I Event of War I Chicago Jan 19A special to the Tribune from Washington says I Definite plans hive been made in congress for the further prosecution of I the work of fortification along the coast They will follow the same line agreed upon for the navy which is to hurry up the use of warlike material already on hand rather than to make heavy expenditures for gun and ships which cannot be utilized for years to come The fortifications appropriations ap-propriations bill will carry a consider propriatons bi wi cnrr ably smaller amount than that of last year but the money spent will be spent where it will have an immediate effect in strengthening the coast defenses I is a secret which has been carefully care-fully kept by government officials and especially by the heads of the war department de-partment that New York Boston and San Francisco are today fortified to a degree sufficient to keep of almost any foreign fleet The statement was made positively today by a official who knows the facts who said that the danger to those three ports in case of war had finally been adequately provided pro-vided for forWHAT WHAT IS NEEDED The present purpose of those having the matter in charge in congress is to expend quite a large sum df money on disappearing carriages for the new rifles There are already on hand and ordered many more big guns than could possibly be put In place in the next two years Whatis wanted now is first ample fortifications and emplacements em-placements for the guns now lying around on skids second a large supply of the new type of carriages third I light fortifications to protect the gunner gun-ner and fourth barracks and houses for the artillerymen During the last I decade development of the disappear ing carriage for the largest type of rifles has been beyond the expectation of the officials themselves These disappearing dis-appearing carriages can now be rapidly built for about 25000 each whereas the old hydraulic lift which was never er satisfactory cost in the neighborhood f 250000 The fortifications bill this year will therefore contain but moderate appropriations appro-priations for new guns but will appropriate appro-priate a large amount for ammunition carriages and Implacements with a sufficient sum to provide the barracks for enough men to manage the coast defenses THE PURPOSE The purpose of the war department I and of congress is to fortify large cit ies which could be made the basis of an attack for the levy of blackmail The small towns along the coast will be allowed to take care of themselves The officials have figured out that if they concentrated their energies on places like Boston New York the entrance en-trance Chesapeake bay Mobile Savannah Sa-vannah the mouth of the Delaware Charleston the mouth of the Mississippi Missis-sippi Galveston San Francisco and Puget Sound they will be reasonably secure se-cure against the attacks of foreign fleets which would not be likely to make a combined movement against the smaller places because their destruction de-struction would not inflict a severe I blow try upon the commerce of the coun |