Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1876 — The Cost of Big Guns. [ARTICLE]

The Cost of Big Guns.

The trials of the 81-ton gun which have recently taken place in England are reported as being conveniently satisfactory to the artillerists; but it may be doubted whether those who are footing the bills, the tax payers, will share in the officially expressed gratification. At every discharge of thia monster weapon, over 300 lbs of powder are exploded at a cost of from $125 to $l5O. To this must be added the expense of shell and fuses. Then the gun itself, originally estimated to cost $40,000, has actually necessitated an expenditure of soibe $326,000, besides the construct of a railway at Woolwich, a barge for its transportation, and several huge cranes. Moreover the firing of the gun at Shoeburyness has had the effect of blowing down or at least seriously shattering the huts and cottages of that military settlement, so that it will nearly all have to be rebuilt at government expense. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, we complacently view these rather costly proceedings, profit by the result of the experiments, and congratulate ourselvea that we are not paying forthem.— Scientific American.