The Cairo bulletin., 1910-12-15
ACCORDING TO OPINION EXPERT
MILITARY MEN--ARMY NEEDS
TO BE ENTIRELY RE.
ORGANIZED.
NATIONAL COUNCIL
DEFENSE PROPOSED
Secret Document Sent to House Yes
tcrday Sets Forth Unprepared-
ness Of Nation-House Re-
fuses to Receive
Communication.

Warrington, Dec. IA report
from Nhe war department showing
now thN country is inadequately pro-
tected against invasion from foreign
|eoyernnents was sent to the house
today as secret document ami
|after number of conferences and
hurried telephone messages, wa le.
turned to the war department on the
ground that the houe could not re-
ceive a secret re[ort.
With 291 members in that body the
contents of the report stand chance
OF leaking out to the public im'ne.
|diately, in the opinion Of those who
conferred on the subject when the
remote contingency of secret Sos
sion Of the house is mentioned.
Members OF congress who saw the
document before 1t withdrawal say
| the report OF Secretary Dickinson
points out that the country is wholly
|uapreparetl, that there is a woeful in
adequacy cf men. guns and ammuni-
|tion, that the army should DE reor-
gani2ed and that council of nat on |
defense, with the secretary Of war at
the head. should be created by cor'
gress. The report of Ger. weed,
which ii narsel confidential" dealt
with these matters and gave official
admission TO matters that are OF
common knowledge among army and
navy experts. The real significance
of the document is that it makes Off
eial admission of conditions already
we'll known among my and navy
officers.
Wood. in testimony before the
house military committee today, lis
cussed the whole subject of national
defense, told where the weak points
| lay, and laid particular emphasis on
| the possibility of an outbreak from
the orient He did not give vent to
any alarming views but talked conf
dentially of The need to take imme-
dlate action to guard against any pos
sibie trouble from Japan or China.
Representative McLachlan; of Cali.
|fornia, auther Of the resolution, said:
| "a foreign country could land 100000
trOps on the Pacific coast in 80 days,
and tho only intlmation OF trouble
would be their presence. Military
authorities say that it would take
years to dislodge foreign troops If
they ever secured foothold in the
Rocky Mountains, and 1t would cost
the United States billion dollars"
The bill introduced today ty Repre-,
sentative Hobson, embodies the adj
|ministration idea Of national counr
Gil for defense ard is the result of his
conference with President Taft, Sec
retary dickinson an d .her officers.
The holding up Of tie report grew
out of the opposition of T'awney, Of
Minnesota. chairman of the appro-
priations committee, it is said. Taw-
ney Is said to have had his attention
called to the report some time ago,
whereupon he hurried to the White
House, called attention OF tre presi
dent to the policy Of ret tenchment IN
appropriations and advised hi ! that,
fgvTatively. III the conditions cited In
this report We're made public. the
whole retrenchn.Gnt policy would be
interfered with.
After looking intn precedents, the
speaker conchded there was no arg't
ment for tne acceptance OF the re-
port or confidential communication.
1t was then returned to Dickinson
with polite letter, calling attention
to the rules Of the house which re-
fuses communications OF this kind.