The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-04-05
ARMY OFFICER TELLS COST
TO DRIVE JAPS Off COAST


of million lives would be sac
rificed in the effyrt, is the opinion
of one of the best informed and
ablest officers in the United States :
army. whose name it is not ncccs-
sary to mention Intervene on the
eve OF the departure of his regiment
to the Philippines as t. his opinion
of the situation in the far east he
said
"Nnether Japan intends to take
the Philip nes from the United
States or engage in aggression on
the Pacific slope am. of course
not in positi n 10 say. and ! take
1t for granted that there is no one
who could. That such is their inten-
tion has been voiced around a great
deal. but II is safe to say that there
is for such a statement little ground
outside OF circumstantial evidence.
| think the history of wars proves
that more of them have been the
Grafton. Whether a possible war be.
tween Japan and the United States
would be- the result Of careful plan
ming is for this reason hard u say.
There is one thing. however on
which | can be little more definite.
and that is that this country. by
,T
have hard work dislodging the Jap
anese once they had gained a < cd
foothold west of the Rockies. \
recent writer has pointed this out
in a very efficient way. although
he has merely corroborated the gen
erai impression Ct the United States
ter is that the enemy could hold
the Pacific slope indefinitely once
he had succeeded in getting hs forces
into the Rockies Every advantage
of terrain would be- his. His base of
supplies would be- but a few miles
away. while that OF the American
army Nsulu w Suul''l ~ lH' lud'-
Ccssible stretches that lead To the
Rockies from the east, certain local..
ties in the northern parts duly ex.
Cepted. II is a well known fact that
the military terrain of the Rockies
places all the advantage in the
hands of the force holding 1t frCm
I the west. II would take at least a
/ quarter million lives and $4,000, ,ooo.
600 to drive the intruder of
/ The regular army wculd merely
/ be drop in the bucket in strug-
! gle of that kind and the whole
I of it would not be able to meet
the invader in single large engage.
ntnt. The brunt OF battle would fall
on the militia organizations, volun.
teers and draft forces. On their eff
cheney, under present conditions,
would depend the future of the coun.
try. Whether the superb showing Oi
| the civil war would be repeated Is
problem ! do not care to 90 into
but the experience of England dur
ing the late Boer war is against ac
ceptance of such a theory aifrma
lively. While the danger in the
case of this country would not come
from physical deterioration. It, nc
ioubt, would manifest .s'' "a Ia
circumstance that the population oi
= this country today is urban to a fal
greater extent than it was in the
sixties, and for this reason less fit
campaign without preliminary train
ing and inuring. Then, too, our larg,
city population Is absolutely unaC
quainted with the use of firearms
and the use of gun in the rura
districts is mt by any means a
general as II once was. While ther
u fectivc handling of modern ifl
y il takes good deal oi time an
practice To make the average ma
q as fair shot as the average arm
" turns out in our days. Yet eifectiv
) fire counts for everything in moder
warfare and what the perflrmanc
of hastily levied citizen forces woul
be under the calling fire of mOder
rifles and machine guns in the hand
of a soldier as well disciplined as I'll
Jap do not even want to conteu
" plate. IL would be a holocaust an
- rout on one side and mplC
u victory on the other. Personal br
- very Is a great thing in war
coupled with effective training al
organization. but II is of not n
slightest use when it Is rrnder'
:" inactive through the lack Of these fl
tors. The American citizen soldi
has indeed an enviable record t
both efficiency and bravery, but OF
l..