Defense, appointed pursuant to the act of March 3, 1885, commonly known as the "Endicott Board," provided for a system of fortifications at twenty-seven ports, requiring 677 heavy guns and 824 mortars of modern construction, at the cost of $97,782,800. Three ports have since been added to the plan and rapid-fire guns have been embraced in the proposed armament. Detailed and preliminary projects have been prepared or approved for all of these thirty points, and the construction of permanent works under these projects at twenty-five points has been well advanced. The recent progress has been rapid and gratifying. The present condition of the engineering work is such as to permit of effective defense against naval attack at most of the principal ports of the country when the guns are provided and properly manned.

The plan as originally adopted with the modifications. and developments contemplates the use of two hundred and four 12-inch, one hundred and ninety-four 10-inch, and ninety-eight 8-inch heavy guns, eight hundred and twenty-nine rapid-fire guns, and one thousand and thirtyseven 12-inch mortars. At the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1899, provision had been made for emplacing 297 heavy guns, 308 rapid-fire guns, and 344 mortars, being about 60 per cent, 37 per cent, and 34 per cent, respectively, of the aggregate number of heavy guns, rapid-fire guns, and mortars projected for the defense of the seacoast.

The following table shows the progress made in the provision of guns for the above-mentioned emplacements:

a Including seventy 6-pounders not requiring permanent emplacements.

Of the guns now mounted, eleven 12-inch guns, thirteen 10-inch guns, twenty-four 8-inch guns, twenty rapid-fire guns, and thirty-two 12-inch mortars were placed in position during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899.

The number of heavy guns completed up to November 30, 1899, was eighty-three 8-inch, one hundred and fourteen 10-inch, eighty-three 12-inch, and two hundred and sixty-nine mortars.

Under the provisions of the fortifications act approved March 3, 1899, additional contracts have been placed for five sets of 10-inch gun forgings, fifteen sets of 12-inch gun forgings, and thirty-eight sets of 12-inch mortar forgings. Three hundred and fifty-eight 12-inch mortars in all had been completed or are under manufacture. Six hundred and five seacoast gun carriages of all classes had been delivered by the Ordnance Bureau up to June 30, 1899, of which 216 were delivered during the fiscal year ending at that time. Three hundred and eighty such carriages remain under manufacture. Many tests of gun carriages, projectiles, and explosives have been actively prosecuted during the year. The entire amount expended in the plan of seacoast defense down to the 30th of June, 1899, was $45,979,285.93. There still remain to be provided for under the plan 171 heavy guns, 452 rapidfire guns, and 679 mortars. The total cost of completing the work is estimated at $63,274,766.

The submarine mines which were planted and maintained in twenty-eight harbors of the United States during the war with Spain have been removed. The material recovered has been cleaned, carefully tested, and stored, and large additions have been made and distributed to prepare the system for any future use which may be required. The experience acquired has been valuable. The system adopted fully realized all expectations.

Provision for quarters of the men to care for and use the guns in the seacoast defense is less advanced than it

a This number may be reduced nearly 50 per cent by substitution of 8- for 16-mortar batteries.

should be. In a number of cases the land acquired for the fortifications was not sufficient to provide the necessary space for quarters also. Proceedings are now

pending to acquire additional land.

Both the regular and volunteer forces are entirely equipped with .30-caliber rifles of the Krag-Jörgensen type and smokeless powder.

POST EXCHANGES.

By the act of June 13, 1890, Congress provided:

That no alcoholic liquors, beer, or wine shall be sold or supplied to the enlisted men in any canteen or post-trader's store, or in any room or building at any garrison or military post in any State or Territory in which the sale of alcoholic liquors, beer, or wine is prohibited by law.

By section 17 of the act of March 2, 1899, Congress provided:

That no officer or private soldier shall be detailed to sell intoxicating drinks, as a bar tender or otherwise, in any post exchange or canteen, nor shall any other person be required or allowed to sell such liquors in any encampment or fort or on any premises used for military purposes by the United States; and the Secretary of War is hereby directed to issue such general order as may be necessary to carry the provisions of this section into full force and effect.

The post exchange is thus described by the regulations prescribed by the War Department:

The post exchange will combine the features of reading and recreation rooms, a cooperative store, and a restaurant. Its primary purpose is to supply the troops at reasonable prices with the articles of ordinary use, wear, and consumption not supplied by the Government, and to afford the means of rational recreation and amusement.

Its secondary purpose is through exchange profits to provide the means for improving the messes.

The money which constitutes the capital employed in the operation of the exchange is the money of the men themselves, so that the business conducted is their own business, conducted for them, and the benefits of all kinds are equally shared by them.

The regulations relating to the conduct of exchanges. have for several years provided:

9. Exchange features.-An exchange doing its full work should embrace the following sections: (a) A well-stocked general store, in which such goods are kept as are usually required at military posts, and as extensive in number and variety as conditions will justify; (b) a well-kept lunch counter, supplied with as great a

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variety of viands as circumstances permit, such as tea, coffee, cocoa, nonalcoholic drinks, soup, fish, cooked and canned meats, sandwiches, pastries, etc.; (c) a canteen, at which, under the conditions hereinafter set forth, beer and light wines, by the drink, and tobaccos may be sold; (d) reading and recreation rooms, supplied with books, periodicals, and other reading matter, billiard and pool tables, bowling alley, and facilities for other proper indoor games, as well as apparatus for outdoor sports and exercises, such as cricket, football, baseball, tennis, etc.; a well-equipped gymnasium, possessing also the requisite paraphernalia for outdoor athletics. At small posts it may be impracticable to maintain all of these sections, but at every exchange there should be no less than two departments—the refreshment, embracing store, lunch counter, and canteen, and the recreation, which includes all the other branches.

10. Sale of liquors prohibited.-The sale or use of ardent spirits in any branch of the exchange, and in any encampment or fort or on any premises used for military purposes by the United States, is strictly prohibited; but on the recommendation of the exchange council the commanding officer may permit beer and light wines to be sold at the canteen by the drink whenever he is satisfied that giving to the troops the opportunity of obtaining such beverages within the post limits will prevent them from resorting for strong intoxicants to places without such limits, and tend to promote temperance and discipline among them. Should the commanding officer not approve the recommendation of the exchange council, it will be submitted for final decision to the department commander. The canteen must be in a room used for no other purpose, and when practicable in a building apart from that in which the recreation and reading rooms are located. The sale of beer must be limited to week days, and the beer consumed upon the premises. The practice known as "treating" will not be permitted.

These exchanges have largely replaced the old and objectionable post-trader store at military posts, and have furnished the only means to relieve the cheerlessness and tedium of an enlisted man's life in time of peace, which lower the morale of the force and repel the better class of enlistments.

During the year ending June 30, 1898, the aggregate receipts of the exchanges in operation in the Army amounted to $1,621,398.67, and there was received as money on deposit $189,258.81, making the total amount of money received $1,810,657.48. There was expended for merchandise purchased, rent, fixtures, and repairs, and expenses of operation $1,297,737.16, which, less deposit, gives a profit of $323,661.51. From this amount there was donated to the funds of the several regimental bands, $9,154.51; to the maintenance of post gardens, $1,559.17; to post libraries, $640.06; to gymnasiums, $2,913.75; as prizes for the encouragement of athletic sports, $3,338.41, and after setting aside the sum of

$60,877.58 as a reserve fund to meet anticipated expenses for at least one month, there was returned to the members in the form of dividends the sum of $254,890.93.

During the year ending June 30, 1899, the aggregate receipts of the 80 post exchanges and the 34 regimental exchanges in the Army, so far as reports have been received, amounted to $1,609,492.33, and the expenditures $979,012.26, which, less deposit, gives a net profit of $399,588.27. From this amount there was donated to the funds of the several regimental bands, $5,563.09; to the maintenance of post gardens, $1,089.74; to post libraries, $1,121.55; to gymnasiums, $1,527.07; to athletic sports, $1,312.18, and after setting aside the sum of $104,008.03 as a reserve fund, there was returned to the members in the form of dividends the sum of $275,580.74.

The aggregate receipts of the post exchanges, therefore, during the past two years has been $3,420,149.81, and the dividends $530,471.67. The net value of these exchanges-that is to say, the balance of their combined assets over their liabilities-was on June 30, 1899, $253,792.26.

The wide difference between the terms used by Congress in the act of June 13, 1890, distinctly and unmistakably prohibiting all sales of alcoholic liquors, beer, or wine in military posts in States where sales to civilians are prohibited by law, and the terms used in the act of March 2, 1899, which seemed to be designed as a regulation of the sale in post exchanges and a prohibition of such sale by post traders, led to a reference by my predecessor to the Attorney-General for a construction of this provision of the act of March 2, 1899.

The Attorney-General, on the 12th of April, rendered an opinion to the effect that the section in question "does not prohibit the continuance of the sale of intoxicating drinks through the canteen sections of the post exchanges as heretofore organized and carried on, except that of course no officer or soldier can be put on duty in the canteen section to do the selling, either directly or indirectly."