The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-18

| and the military authorities believe they
can count upon the factories OF the
country TO turn out with great rapidity
] the necessary articles OF equipment and
clothing whenever the emergency arises.
They have not the same assurance.
however, with regard to field gums and
artillery ammunition. and Congress- has
| annually been sought by the War De-
| partment authorities to make the neces-
sary appropriation for remedying the
deficiencies in these departments before
there IN actual need OF them. Major
Gen. Leonard Wood q year ago made
the statement that In his opinion no
modern war between first GLASS Powers
would last more than a year. and that
unless American manufacturers arc now
encouraged to manufacture ammunition
for our guns they viii not be in condi-
ton 20 do 30 untl15after the war u I'm
ished, and the 6tmy's supply would
therefore be limited 20 what tho Gov ,
eminent areenals could turn out
II 10 favorite saying Of tho average
member of Congress that IN time OF war
tho militia will come to the rescue and
the American citizen can be depended
upon TO defend his country. Such is
the condition of the militia THAI the re-
sponsible military authorities consider
that were It called into field service
suddenly the words of Cen. Richard
Henry Lee would apply directly to
them. Soon after tho revolution Gen.
Lee wrote:
"A government 70 the murderer Of ,ts
citizens; II sends them 20 the fields I'M
Informed and untaught, where they are
to meet men OF the same age and
strength. mechanical by education and
discipline for battle"
On paper the United States militia
has a strength OF more than 100 600.
In fact Il consists OF only O. loosely
organized force, full OF Inequalities OF
discipline and equipment. Military ex-
perts consider II useful as little more
! than force which can on short notice
Be assembled fully equipped and turned
; into mobiliza ton camps for a period of
training little shorter than would no
necessary 20 At the volunteer store clerk
or factory hand for actual service in
the field.
! Military men do not seek to Law these
conditions before Congress and the
country without Offering somo remedy.
They accept the fact that the Amcri-
can, people are unwilling to support a
large standing army. though they do de-
sire, 1t is believed that the small regu-
adequately equipped, They agree with
; the member OF Congress that the United
states must rely upon its citizen SOL
: diery for national defence. But they do
l not accept the idea that every Amer
i lean citizen can be made into a soldier
by placing rife in his hand and put
= ting n uniform on him
They are asking that provision he
4 made for the creation Of a body Of citi-
g zens who shall have had military train
a ing and who will therefore be prepared
2 whenever called to take the fed at
' once, Just as did the reserves Of trained
3 soldiers in the armies Of France, Bel
gium. Austria and Russia.
"Our national defences would be
e found TO be in bad way II we came in
Z conflict with big Power" said Repre-
2 sentative Gardner. "Our regular army
= is an efficient machine. But IL is not
9 large enough, nor In Il adequately
I equipped.
IF am correctly informed, our navy
| Is not "a strong as has been represented
, Shortly after the Spanish war through
: the impetus given the building pro-
gramme by that war. we ranked third
| among naval Powers. We now stand
: fourth or fifth, away behind both Great
r Britain and Germany
we are short of torpedoes and still
shorter OF mines. Somehow or other
We appear to have overlooked the fact
that mines are the most effective
weapon which Russia found TO use
against the Japanese feet. As for tor
: pedoes, my recollection Is that We have
: just about one torpedo for each torpedo
tube on our ships. That IL almost an
absurd as II we sent artillery into action
? with one shell for each cannon.
! THE first year I was in Congress w
voted for five battles1ips, but since that
time we have pigeonholed the Dian Of
the Dewey board that built up the navy
: II / recolleot rightly. for the first seven
, years after the Spanish war our navy
increased by leaps and bounds under a
we'll thought plan. We were second to
Great Britain. Then came the slump
To-day we are struggling with France
and Japan to see which will remain an
u extremely bad third TO Great Britain
. and Germany.
!, Roughly speaking. 7 should think the
German dreadnought strength is about
! twice as great as our own. In the mat
ter of submarines we stand fourth
among the naval Powers. In the matter
OF fast scout vessels We are absolutely
outdistanced. Germany has about five
: times as many as We, and Great Britain
:. has about ten times as many as we have
Now us TO our army. In the Buro-
pean sense we have no army. We have
n splendid body OF $4,000 regulars. We
!, have 10000 mlhtiamen whose value In
time OF war Ia for tho most part more
4 than doubtful. and we have no reserve.
:, THE trouble with the militia is that
:, a lot of men enter without any idea OF
=, going TO war. Then when tho time
comes there is always n percentage of
G them who go TO fight without any liking
n for the job. Until this percentage is
q eliminated, or its backbone stiffened. +.
a. is bound to DO a handicap 10 the or
- Ranization as a whole. We have about
n million up to date rifles and that is
n about all that can be said In favor ~
y our arms and equipment
n 81 feel Ike a voice crying in the
= wilderness agains, the Influence OF An
O. drew Carnogics millions. | cannot help
4 thinking that Mr.. Carnegie is doing a
a great deal of harm. All of us Congress-
10 men are vulnerable. We realize what II
D,ears a baVp the ('nrnap-a man ga II IN O.