Why early cruisers carried guns wherever they could

Why did turn-of-the-century cruisers cram guns around the hull before centerline mounts became standard?

With fragile protection, manual fire control, and poor stabilization, designers valued the largest possible volume of fire to disable an opponent before their own ship was hit.

These cruisers were glass-jawed ships: a serious hit could quickly put them in trouble. Without modern stabilization or centralized fire control, many guns increased the chance of landing disabling hits first, even when the layout was inefficient by later standards.