The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 1, 1898, Page 17

Rk WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO SAN FRANCISCO IF COMMODORE DEWEY DID NOT HAVE THE - SPANISH .FLEET IN CHECK IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. “While tl.lis strategic play was going on, San Francisco would be threatened. A couple of fast cruisers, heavily armed, would bring up one morning just outside the Golden Gate, opposite the ocean beach. A formal demand would be made upon the Mayor of the city for indemnity—or bombardment. The sum demanded might be anything the enemy fancied—ten, twenty, fifty or one hundred million ‘dollars. The mint alone could furnish a mighty .sum.--The city would be given scant notice—probably. twelve hours—to furnish the sum ; if not, the shells would begin to crack over the housetops.” OULD San Francisco be bom- barded by our Spanish foe? It is a question which affects vitally every dweller in the great center of California, commerce, £or if a blow is ever struck at this coast our. city will obviously have to bear the brunt of it. Nowhere on this side of the Pacific is to be found such an aggregation of wealth, such richly stocked warehouses, such treasure-filled | bank vaults. Already it is rumored that the Span- jards are going to send gunboats to.the Alaskan coast to prey upon the gold vessels coming out of the Klondike. We may take this rumor for what it'is Worth; probably it is but an idle s¥ip- man’s tale. The Spaniards, just at present, have their hands full in Man- ila, and cannot afford to detach ships for such distant service. But one thing is certain, however. Should the dons ever reach this coast with a hostile ex- pedition all the gold ever brought ‘out of Alaska would be a.mere bagatelle compared to the ransom which could be wrung from defenseless San Fran- A few figures will illustrate the vast amount o d value of personal /. last year was $82,- real estate roll 334, e the ous total of § landed : property could | while showed the e Of course not be much ment, but { by a bombard- would have to bear thei the burden laid on the city. 2 hllll‘ tant, as holding wealth in the -most ssible of all forms, are the nk J States Mint and el r sub- ; There are si treasury. v’": a’total pald up SR oxer 3 The premises fted with t W waNe Ceposs hich: range, ac- rding to the s thé mone: % ket, from $30,000,000 to siw%»lzfaz ma(l;t course the banks .do not-keep-all this money in their stfong Tooms; much of It goes out again on loan. Buf they al- ways have on hand at least $10,000,000 In splid cash, and at .times the-amount rises to $14,000,000. To be’exact, on t;n]e Bist of last July the total amount of s0lid cash on hand was $12,296 579, is a splendld prize for any national rob. ber who may have the power to take it. This {8 by no means all. We must not omit the savings banks. There are ten of these institutions doing business here, and owning bank premises and atber real estate worth more than $i.- h ‘concentrated in this. 000,000. In-their vaults these “banks store away some_ $2,500,000 in cash, the property of poor, thrifty depositors,. to “’!]'rn\ its loss would.be a terrible blow. Then there is the city treasury. ;The Auditor’s report shows a balance -on hand of-a million and a half_ dollars, and at times thi um may. rise to aver | two million do! - E 2 , the Mint," which must-undoubt: edly be: the objective point _af - .any reasure.seekers. he authorities here are not -communicative; they .guard Uncle Sam’s financial secrets too well. As a high official pointed out to me; it is not considered advisable to issue a den in the vailts of this great build- ing. But he admitted that there were some fifty .million dollars in silver In the ‘strong rooms, to.say nothing of a million or two in gold waliting for coin- age. Thus the Mint is worth any- Wwhere from fifty to sixty million dol- lars to any one. who can take it. The secrets' of the various safe de- posit. concerns ‘are ‘still more carefully concealed. No one, even the official in charge, knows the amount® of . the treasure hidden in these burglar and fire proof vaults. But it must be many millions, for men of substance are wont to keep bonds there, and their destruc- ;.éun would be almost a national calam- Y, fany people are familiar with the Tnited States Subtreasury on Commer- | cial street. On the outside it is a plain, unpretentious business-like building, but within the display of gold and sil- ver is amazing. It is a perfect treas- Behind the counters men seen all day counting gold cagles and silver dollars. The big strong room at the back is crammed with coin. Here is the official state- ment of the money stored in these vaults on Tuesday last: Currency $ 715,803 00 Gold coin . 15,814,015 50 26,024,659 90 12,783 21 Total ... $12,567,361 61 If it were necessary one could con- tinue at.great length this list of the city’s wealth. It is needless, however, to tell the world that this city is a rich one. Perhaps the best criterion of the' volume of business done may be found in the monthly returns of the San Francisco clearing-house. Every business transaction, except those on a purely cash basis, finds its way through this institution, and last year the monthly clearances ranged all the way from fifty-five to seventy-five mil- lign dollars. 1t would be absurd to assume that all these riches are at the present mo= ment in any practical danger. The strategical factors in the situation are many. and Uncle Sam’s ships would Silver coin = Nickel and bronze coins.... detailed statement of the treasure hid- | have'to get.very badly. heaten in sev-| éral oceans. before the Dons could ‘maka their raid on- San Francisco. 3 It is not to our fortifications, but to | our havy, the first-line of defense, that | we,_ must look for protection. "And, | strangely’ enough just now, it is our fleet_in: Eastern . waters, . though so. many thcusand -miles a which "is really’ guarding San Francisco. -~ As | long as.our ships predominate in the | | Philippines, so long will the Spaniards | be helpless to do. harm to the Pacific | Coast. Tt is-quite possible, indéed, that the first great naval battle of the war will be fought in the East and not in enough it would- undoubtedly make a false attack on one of the Puget Sound or perhaps on San Diego, to the south. ' The coast squadron would issue forth -to battle, and the Spaniards might easily, by a pretended flight or ather subterfuge,- keep .the fleet Gccu- pied for a few days. . The policy of the Spaniards would be to avoid a deeisive action, for their dis- tance from their base of supplies would make the result disastrous. Even if the Spanish vessels were not captured, they would be damaged to an extent which would render it impossible for them to find their way home across the feg-3-F-3-F-F-3-F-F-F-F-3-F-F-F-F-3-3-3-F-3-3-3-3-F-3-F-F-F-F-3-3-F -1 Real estate ...... Personal property . Commercial banks Savings banks . The Mint .... United States Subtreasury Safe deposits Private hands " Total.. fegngugeguafegegegagafaaFePoRel ] THE WEALTH OF SAN FRANCISCO WHICH - SPAIN MIGHT LEVY ON. fuR=Reg=ReoF=F-RegegeRoegege=R=R=2-2=2=F=F=F-F-F-F=-F-F=-F=F-F-F. X ¥ $275 334,205 £2,251,831 14,000,000 2,500,000 55,000,000 42,500,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 eeieen. SA86,586, 120 QOO0 000000000 L0 the West. The American and Spanish squadron may meet near Manila any day, and upon this battle the fate of the Philippines and, in a lesser degree, of the Pacific Coast cities depends. There is no doubt that Commodore Dewey will be able to easily dispose of the Spaniards, but if such an improb- able disaster as an American defeat should come about, then the whole ocean would be at the mercy of the Spanish cruisers. 3 The ships of thé United States would disappear from the face of the Pacific, and a descent in force would undoubt- edly be made on this coast. Nothing but the coast defense squadron would stand between San Francisco and de- struction. Fortunately, ' there are some strong vessels availabie for the purpose — the monitors Mon- terey and Monadnock, the protected ed cruisers Baltimore, Philadelphia and Charleston, to say nothing of a host of mosquito craft which would prove in- valuable for scouting purposes. This fleet would be more than *a match for the strongest squadron Spain could send here, and only in the event of their being drawn off by a feint could this city suffer. 5 If the Spanish fleet was stron wide waters of the Pacific. Sooner or later, they must fall into the hands of an American cruiser, and hence, at all hazards, the Spaniards would decline a pitched battle. In the meantime, while this strategic play was going on, San Francisco would be threatened. A couple of fast cruisers, heavily armed, wculd bring up one morning just outside the Golden Gate, opposite the ocean beach. A formal demand would be made on the Mayor of the city for idemnity—pen- alty for non-compliance, bombardment and destruction of the town. The sum demanded might be -any- thing the enemy fancied; ten, twenty, or even fifty million dollars. The Mint alone, as our figures show, could fur- nish the latter sum with ease. The city would be given but scant notice, prob- ably twelve hours, to furnish the money if not the ball would open. .What of our splendid fortifications, our heavy guns dispersed about the entrance to the Golden Gate? What of .the submarine mine fields about which we have heard so much? {They are all there and ready to.pro- tect the harbor against any hostile ves- sel. San Francisco bay is practically impregnable. No fleet, however strong, would attempt to force its way- through the Golden Gate. = AR But, unfortunately, though ‘the har- bor is so well protected, the eity is ab- solutely - defenseless. Between * Point Lobos and Lake Merced there is a space of ocean eommanded by no heavy gun. There is nothing to prevent an enemy anchoring_-there and bombarding: the city at its leisure; the range of mod- Crnk\\'eapuus is more than equal-to the task. Those who saw Paris shortly after the Prussian siege will realize the dam- age which can be done, even by shells of moderate caliber. The Prussians, during the bombardment, fired over ten thousand shells daily into Paris, and of these at least five hundred -went right into the heart of the city. Great buildings crumbled into ruins, streets were torn up and fires were of con- stant occurrence. Since then the science of high ex- plosives has made marked progress, and what happened to Paris in 1871 would be slight compared to the dam- age which a féew ten or twelve-inch guns, firing high explosives, could effect on_San Francisco. g Even so far back as 1882, when the British fleet bombarded Alexandria, the damage done was very severe, though the fire was directed only at the fortifi- cations. The city suffered terribly, a large portion of it was burned, and the demoralizing ruin resulted in the down- | fall of Arabi Pasha. The case of San Franeisco would be many times worse, not only because explosives of much greater force would be used, but because the Spanish fire would be directed solely at the most vital parts of the city. Unlike a warship, a city cannot move around and alter its range. Noth- ing but a seismic convulsion can shift it from the spot whereon it is placed. Therefore, to an enemy possessed of modern charts, its range is known to a foot. - The Spaniards, from the ocean beach, would never catch a glimpse of San Francisco, but none the less their shells would fly unerringly over the sandhills, and drop right in the center of the city, say along the line of Mar- ket street, from the City Hall to the ferries. And every building struck by one of these half-ton shells, charged with high explosives, would be doomed, the loss of human life would be awful, and the whole business of the city would be suspended. There is little fear, however, that such a bombardment would take place. The city, supposing the Spaniards to hold the winning cards, would pay rather than suffer. The bank vaults and the city treasury, the strong rooms of the Mint and the safe deposits would be rifled of their contents, and San Francisco would be saved. Tt would be a costly escape, however, especially when we consider how easily the whole ‘danger could be avoided. A few heavy gun batteries, planted among the sandhills between Point Lobos and Lake Merced, would com- pletely protect the city. Their cost wauld, be but thousands, while the cost of a bombardment to San Francisco would run into millions.- . It is the one weak .point in our system of defense, and it should be seen to. = J. F. ROSE-SOLEY.. OUTFITTING . THE ARMY. T 1S related of Von Moltke that when awakened in the dead of night with the announcement that France had declared war against Germany, he remarked: “Look in my cabinet,. file A, drawer 23; send off the telegrams you find.” Then he turned over and went to sleep again. . An army is like a snake; it has great length of body and a small head. The head is the fighting part, and one ot its most important duties is to-protect the body, which consists of wagon trains and lines of supplies; for if the body be injured thé head becomes powerless. In time of war, or in preparing an army to take the fleld, a vast amount of supplies, forage-and equipment must be constantly on hand or in easy reach. While the provisioning of a company, battalion or regiment of a thousand men is perhaps not a difficult task, the supplying of a meal for 100,000 men is a far different matter; and it 'is abso- lutely essential that transportation from the base of supplies should at all times be uninterrupted and subject to no delays. For this reason the. Gov- ernment would assume control of such railroads and vessels as might be nec- essary, and they would be run tempor- arily as an adjunct of the army, pri- vate busines€ being permitted only so far as it did not conflict with military necessities. 1f war should be suddenly declared, and it became necessary to put an army in condition to take the field, the general in command, upon an order from the Secretary of War, would at once recruit the regular military estab- lishment up to its full limit of effici- ency. These men, together with the volun- teers who have been requisitioned from the Governors of the various States, or had been raised by direct _enlistment, would be assembied at some convenient point where thev would be formed into regiments, bri- gades and divisions under officers of sufficient rank in ‘the regular army. Most of the volunteers, when they reached the rendezvous, would be found to be imperfeetly clothed and shod, and also, in many cases, entirely ignorant of the simplest features of the life of a soldier in the field. These men must be. taught to know what is ex- pected- of them on the march and in camp, and what théy must do to pre- serve their health. ‘ ‘With an army in the field hardly one day in thirty is given to fighting. The | other twenty-nine days of waiting must be lived through in order that every- | thing may be in readiness for the one day of work. It is not the one day of fighting which turns the hair of an officer gray, but the twenty-nine days of anxiety for his men, the supply of their food and clothing, and the main- tenance of health and good spirits among them. Men do not fight well in battle on empty stomachs, and yet the the provisions which are issued to him for forced marches. He eats them all at once or throws them away on ac- count of their weight, and at the end of a ldng day’s march he is hungry, with nothimg to appease his hunger. Then comes the trouble. He does not reason; he grumbles and expects to be supplied wi*h more. In outfitting an army other things must be lgoked to besides the men. Horses and mules for carting, artillery and transport service have to be sup- plied and trained. A cavalry horse dif- fers in weéight and general character from one which is to serve with the ar- tillery, and as much knowledge is re- quired in choosing animalé for military service as In selecting men._ Medical officers also have to be com- missioned and instructed in the.pecu- liar duties which will devolve upon them, and suppliés of drugs, medicines, hospital equipment and tents must be arranged for. Where many new and unseasoned men are Zathered there is sure to be more or less ‘call for the | services of a doctor. All that pertains _is.under the charge of the surgeoh gen- eral. The drugs are all supplied by contract. Soldiers expect to be paid, no matter how much they are fired by patriotism, so the paymaster general and the offi- cers of his department must, through requisition on the treasurer of the United States, see that the private sol- dier receives his $13 every month. In short, every department and every officer fulfills certain duties, and it is on the prompt and accurate adjustment of all the wheels of the complicated ma- chine that it goes and performs the | duties for which it was created. o ordinary soldier rarely takes care of | | to the medical department of the army |