The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-08
MACOMB TALKS
(Continded from page one.)

people will become acquainted with
all branches of the service. The coast
artillery will take charge of a section,
but guns must be protected, and that
means that we will always want a Ger.
tain amount of a mobile army, distinct
from the coast artillery. We will also
want infantry and cavalry as well as
coast artillery. With good infantry
we can really feel secure. There will
be more infantry in the future, with
a proportion of cavalry and artillery
to support it,
Concentrate the Troops.
1--WE must place a sufficiently large
force to defend these islands, or the
whole scheme will be useless. There
is no use in making naval base un.
less you are fully prepared to defend
it. The exact number of men to ar
rive is not yet known, but it will be
sufficiently large to support the navy,
and these numbers will grow grad
ually. We cannot expect to get these
troops down at once. Huge contracts
are being let for the building up of
the naval base at Pearl Harbor, and
the building of the necessary quarters
for the troops. In sending these
troops, as the island is rather small,
we have to consider where to put
them. The present tendency is to try
to concentrate them with the people,
as some of the European countries
have been doing for some time past
The army has always been friendly
with the people, and were the pioneers
in the Western country. But the
method of keeping them some distance
from the towns has proved rather ex-
pensive, and we are going to try the
experiment Of putting them into the
towns, and thus bringing them closer
to the people by quartering them on
the outskirts of the city, or in suit
able places within the city.
I'VE cannot do that in some of the
big cities of the United States, be-
cause there is no place for them. This
place is now growing up, but still
there are some unoccupied places
large tracts of land which can be used
for the purpose. If this system is 60
ing to be introduced, we would like to
see it a success. Honolulu is one of
the first cities in which the trial is to
be made. If it is introduced here it
| is, of course, important that the mill
tary and the people should work to-
gether and try to make it a success.
| If the troops are to be in the center
of the city, there will have to be some
place for maneuvers and drilling, and
the idea is to have some ground like
that at Leilehua, which will be used
as soon as the leases down there eX.
pire. This land, when available, will
be used as an instruction camp. The
troops will be sent out there into
camp and go through their drills and
lions. The whole garrison will prob
ably go there, with the exception of
the coast artillery. We would have,
of course, to clear that reservation of
all people who are now on the land.
This is not generally understood, and
the people do not care to go. The
clearance of the reservation cannot
take place before January IA of next
year, very possibly later than that.
Wherever the army is stationed it
takes charge of the sanitation if the
necessity exists, as was done In Mani
la and Panama and completes the
work before it ceases its operations.
The same thing happened in Santiago
and in Porto Rico.
This town is going ahead fairly
fast but certain areas had been omit
ted from consideration because they
were unsanitary and they are now
waste lands or filled with rice fields
and duck ponds, the latter in themsel-
yes being insanitary. All these places
could be made sanitary but it would
be only at considerable expense. Any
one who had been along Ala-Moana or
Sheridan road must have seen the rice
fields and waste lands and the large.
expanse of low land visible at low
tide"
Reasons for Troops in City.
"Of course, the advantages of locat-
ing the troops in the city are in the
fact that we can use all the public
utilities, street cars and other ways
and means of communication, conven-
fences that have already been estab.