Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1882 — UNPREPARED FOR WAR. [ARTICLE]

UNPREPARED FOR WAR.

Chief Engineer Wright’s Report on the Condition of Our Fortifications. Gen. H. G. Wright, Chief of Engineers United States army, in his annual report, gives a detail d account of the condition and needs of all fortifications. On sea-const defense* the leport says: The defense of the United States against maritime a for many years must depend upon the finishing of the barbet battterles designed lon ago, but with such modifications as will adapt them t Q the reception of the twelve-in hrifl dgun recently proposed, with its eularg* d carriage, and a' the same time give grew er security to he magazines; also that it will l e necessary to mar e re dy without del,y to apply one sy-tem of toipedoes to a 1 harbors, prepa ing bomb-proof electrical operating-rooms and deep masonry guile ies, extending therefrom to the low water-line needed so the purpose. Our unpreparedae-s for war Is shown, and it is stated that, nowever powerful in numbers and valor our army may be, without the aid of fortifications and their accessories fel»ey cannot prevent the destruction Of our ngeAoar i cities by the ships of the mant me foe; and that, while reliance car; be had in no ether mode of defense, a deien e by fortifications and torpedoes is moat efficient and east expensive.