The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-29


Of these Major Gen. J. =. Story. L. s. A.
has said THE soc function Of these -
To defend a port against direct naval
attack. Against an enemy powerful
enough 10 land the coast fort has no
defens We value and may even prove an
element Of weakness" The late Leu
tenant-General Adna r. Chaffee, L. 5.
\. in his Introduction 20 Homer 1|ea's
book The Nalor OF Ignorance" said;
~ popular belief that the United
States Is FREE Of opportunities for inv't-
sion IS all 'tommyrot.' No
nation offers more numerous oppr-
,uniics for invasion by a foreign ma
ton than does he United States when
ever cause therefore Is sufficiently
great To induce preparations by amy
| other nation that viii beat aside our re-
si~tarca on the sea. our mo-
| h'sc army is 50 ridiCulouslv small in the
worlds war game that II amounts 10
nothing better than n discard
Gen Homer Lea, that UNIQUE soldier
| Of fortune. spent years in the Orient
and had unusual facilities for hnd!ns
ant many things about the military pur-
J poses " Japan. As "A patriotic duty, as
! %. conceived H. he revealed some or
/ these facts in his book. and both Gen.
! ChaNce and Gen. story paid tribute
! -o the military acumen of the au-
| hur. Homer I.oa showed how the
| Japanese would attack the Pacific coast,
| and here. again. Col. Roosevelt probably
| learned more Intimate details than tho
! Iuihor saw fit To publish.
Military problems arc determined 10y
topogra phical conditions and by the
| number OF troops available and the eN-
| sting facilities for their transport and
| subsistence. Homer Lea wrote his book
| Ave years ago. Since then nothing has
hanged in the human or mechanical
| nhascs ~ our strength to alter the
'orro ~ his conclusions, and the topo-
| sraphical circumstances are una!tered
! rman influence moulded the armies
= Japan which defeated Russia, and
| capt Won EGeisheim's proposed oversea
'ampaign does not differ fundamentally
rom what Lea tells Ms is the way
n which the forces Of the Mikado
might undertake the conquest Of the
'acifc slope He says:
"A war between Japan and the United
Stutes will be determined not 10y naval,
nut by land battles. Under the present
military system this republic could not
mobilize in any one place a field army
Of 10000 regular soldiers In the same
period Of time that Japan could assem-
bile. ready to take the field, 100000 vet
nran troops. For the United States to
enlist, equip ANA train to the same de-
gree Of efficiency similar force would
require no less than three years
Japan has such complete means Of
ocean transportation that she can move
her vast armies to any portion of the
Pacific with greater ease than Napoleon
moved similar armies from Paris across
the River E,lbe or the Danube.
The Japanese Government possesses
sufficient transportation facilities 10
carry in a single voyage, II necessary
more than two hundred thousand
troops"
The armed force ~ the United States
In Hawaii will some day be lj,00C
men, IL all goes well 1t is far below
this figure to-day. Now read what
, Homer Lea says of these islands. which
reasonably, would constitute an adj
vance base for Japan in attacking ON
, Pacific coast.
, "Whilc the establishment Of an Amer
lean naval ana military power in tho
Pacific or Hawaii has not been at
tempted Japan has prepared herself II
| ~ effective a manner that, notwith
standing what the naval forces of thu
United States may he in the future
: these Islands can be seized fnom within
and converted into a japanese nava
and military base so quickly that they
5 will be imprcgnablc to the power o
: | this republic, regardless OF what Il may
I be on the mainland"