The Washington times., 1910-02-04
ARMY UHPREPARED
SHOULD WAR CONE
Startling Allegations to Be
Made in Report of
General. Staff.
Continued from First PageJ


great enieavor. land an army Of -. 900
ar any point on the Atlantic seabosrd
within two weeks
On the Pacific coast. Japan, within IN
three weeks, could land 10000 veterans at
any given point and double the force wit
dI-y given point and double theforce with
IN ten days In possession Of any Of our
certified harboTs, Il would take this ma
uon SIX months even TO prepare for the
iirst offensive movement against an enc
my on either coast. and The time in
ears 1t would take us TO disIodge them
until a disgracefuI peace was forced
upon as, is entirely problematoaL
In this connection, statistics show,
lhat Lee held the lines at Petersburg
against troops, with Is man per yard.
\ japanese army of 100.010 holding the
DeninsUlar al San Francisco. would
have 81 men per vard- An army Of
Izn.Ha mon al either Boston or New
York in control OF The sea defenses.
could hold out indefinitely against an
army FIVE times their number
Sea Control
The question Of sea control is. of
course, to be considered The navy can
only 0ffer security 70 one coast line.
no one can foreteU In these strenuous
days from which coast that attack viii
come The province OF the navy Is
largely offensive, and If our ships are
10 be tied 70 our coast defenSeS, to de
fend them, they viii constitute float
Ing Chinese wall, and an enemy can
take our insUlar possessions and then
send emlssaTleS TO sign peace com
pact
At present every gun emplaced in
our coast defeuses is d menace rather
tnan a protection They constitute an
aliuring invitation TO attack The pr
mary problem which confronted the
general staI was 20 provide for the pro
lection OF these defenses- This could
only be accomplished through the en-
ploy1nent Of mobile troops
The infantry constitutes the heart
and punch Of the army. and we are
wretchedly weak In TINS arm OF the
service Eight of our thirty regiments
are Stationed in the Philippines and one
u Alaska We could not mObOIZe any
force on either coast 30 prevent a land
ing Of a determined enemy
Next Co the infantry the field az
t1lerE IS the most elective nghtiug arm
or our mobile army We have an en-
IrelE Inadequate force OF this army.
The general staff viii point out these
weaknesses hold that the lay mind can
fully appreciate the fact that II we
get into international troy bic We VIII
be strictly on the receiving end.
Up To People
Sufficient increase, especially in
these two arms Of the service viii be
asked for 20 provide stihening vertebrate
70 our citizen soldiers and to deter any
enemy from attacking our coast line
The CesPonsibiiity viii then be Up 70 the
people and Il is expected that when
these plain statements concerning our
national insecurity are made public that
provision VIII be made by Congress 10
prevent any such hUmiliatiug eventual
iIv IS a foreign recommended on our
coast cities
The publication of the plan OF the
general staE Is being s-waited with con
s-dera Die interest by the foreign mill
tary attaches stationed here. who rare
iy have opportunity 20 report any mat
tiers Of military interest 10 their home
governments Il Is frankly acknowledge
ed yy these military observers that 4
our coast defeuSeS are supported by mo-
bile troops. our position among the
world powers VIII assume a new phase
and thar the military STATS Of the pow
eTS VIII have . new problem 10 solve.
IL - expected that the reorEan izatlOn
plan viii be made public Just prior 20
April Is. when the present chief OF sJRff
Cen J. Franklin Bell, is relieved bv
Gen Leonard wood