El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-28
PHILIPPINES
BUT POORLY
PROTECTED
American Army Force in
Island Possessions Is Not
Adequate.
ENEMY COULD TAKE
ISLANDS WITH EASE

EW WASHINGTON, D. c., June Is
w 1t is not generally known that
one out of every five soldiers
in the United States army is held con-
tinuously on active duty in the Philip
pine islands. Nearly $4,000 American
soldiers are kept in the islands all the
time. In addition, the army supports
5000 Filipino scouts, and the FILIPINO
government keeps nearly 5UUU troops OF
the Philippine COnstabulary on quasi
military duty. All branches Of the SER
vice are represented, infantry, cavalry
eE5lneeI!ns corps COdsl anu 1Lelu q
tllery, signal corps and aviation corps
The Philippine scouts and the Philip
pine cOnstabulary are foot soldiers
Force is Too Small.
AS a matter Of fact the army
strength in the Philippines is only one
half Of what il should be in the view
Of even conservative milltarists- Sew
eral strategic points are neglected due
to the lack Of men and to what army
officers term the parsimOny of con-
gress-' OF course there are Americans
who believe that We have too many
soldiers In the Islands now. The coast
of LuZOn and other islands in the Pa
Cific are guarded only by weak posts
scores and even hundreds OF miles
apart Lingayan gulf, on the east coast
Of LuZOn, would be an ideal point OF
attack for an invading army. The
force which would hesitate TO push past
the batteries of COrreg1dOr, which guard
Manila would simply steam Up the
coast 100 miles to Lingayan gulf and
there make a landing with little or no
opposition The coast is undefended
and at the gUlh there are no fortified
tons An enemy 10000 or Is, 900 strong
would have no trouble in reaching Ma
Mia They could come down to Ma
Mia on the Dagupan railroad in few
hours should the road be -Orn up,
an overland march would be easy. The
country is flat and rolling; the few in
tervening highlands are easily crossed
and the rivers present no navlgable
difficulties 1t is true that over 2,OOO,-
600 FilipinOs inhabit Luzon, with pos
Slbly 100000 grouped IN a struggling
line along the natural line of march
which an enemy viii take, but they
would offer but slight resistance to an
army which would invade the country
for the purpose Of breaking the Amer
lean Strip on the Islands Probably they
would not rise against American au-
thOrity and join hands with the invad-
ers, but they would not get out and
1Ignt the lntruders- They would sim
ply sit around In impotence OF hike
while the enemy marched through
Military experts agree that the en-
tire United States army would be in
adequate for defence against such an
expedition, and a reasonable guarantee
against il would require an army CT
several times the strength Of our en-
tire military establishment That. no
Sucn American army Will be garriSOned
in the islands is obvious.
Nisayan Group Unprotected
me flSdEan group IS equally de-
fenceless If not more so. For these
southern Islands have no COrregidOr
no eastern Gibraltar to defend them.
The populOus and rich islands of uOilO.
Cebu. NegrOs, Panay and Leyte would
fan like juicy plum into the mailed
fist Of any cOnquerer. There are not
over 5000 American soldiers in the en-
tire Nisayan group and there are no
1Oru1lcauOns and no warShiDs to prO-
tect several hundred miles Of coast
There are few thousand troops on
the island Of MindanaO and scattered
throughout the Sulu seas. but this force
Is not even sufficient to keep the wild
Moro warriors in subsection. and here
again we have no Notifications and no
Warships other than a wheeling gun
boat here and there A force sufficient
to really pacify AIndanao never has
been given its military commanders
We have been in the islands over 10
years, and while Luzon and the Visayan
group are peaceful, the Moro country
is not and never has been. One or more |
tribes always are in conflict with
American troops at some place in Min
danao.
Only seven years ago the battle Of
Mount DaJO was fought between AOrOs l
were killed and the Americans SUI
fered casualties of 100 or more in
killed and wounded. According to one
Of military bent :
Battle of Volcano Crater.
This was a battle in which an out
law band that had been plunderfng
and numbering defenceless valley peo- :
pie for years was finally driven by the (
American troops to the top Of Mount /