New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-06
ARMY and NAVY
LEAGUES in LINE
Unite in Demanding Pre-
paredness of Land
and Sea Forces.

Washington, Dec. 5.-The Army
League and the Navy League oil the
United States, both unofficial organi-
cations. united to-day in making state
mcnts supporting those who have crit
icised the unpreparedness OF ooth
branches of the service for warfare
"The Monroe Doctrine" says the
Navy League statement, "has only been
made effective because the united
States has maintained strong navy
Asia and Africa have been colonized;
land grabbing by the military powers
of Europe has prevailed, with attend
ant wars, but international war IN
South and Central America has been
exceedingly infrequent.
Zone must not forget the truism
that the Monroe Doctrine, for the
unfolding of which the United States
would undoubtedly go to war, is just
as strong as our navy, and no strong
err. and in the last analysis it is the
American navy that has kept it intact,
and will do so in the future"
The statement of the Army League
opens with this striking paragraph:
"If i'm a future war all the cities OF
the Pacific Coast fall the prey or an
invading force as the cities on the At
lantic Coast did in the Revolutionary
War. or if the Capitol is burned, as IN
the War of 1912, the responsibility Will
be entirely on Congress. Every great
military commander, from Washington
down to the present day, has called at,
tention to the dangers and criminal
negligence of the military policy of
Congress.
"The weakness of our armies in for
mer wars has not been on account OF
the lack of bravery of the men who
fought. but entirely owing to the mil
itary policy followed by Congress.
after three years of study the Gen.
eral Staff of the army, assisted ty all
the general officers, has made report
on the organization of the land forces
of the United States. In this report,
which was made public August 10,
1912. a plan is set forth from which
the regular army is to be nucleus for
a great ARM that would be needed in
the event of war. 1t calls for the sta
tioning of certain troops in the Philip
pines, Hawaii and the Panama Canal
Zone. The minute number of troops
that would be required to hold these
places until they could be reinforced
is Dro ided for in the report, and most
of them, with the exception of those
that are to go to Pan-na, are now sta
toned at their garrisons.
THE remaining troops have been or
:. So
the Atlantic, one for the Pacific and
one for the Central Department, which
is known as the Second Division. The
Second Division is now on the Mexican
border, part of it under General Fun
ston having been recently Withdrawn
from Vera Cruz. But these divisions
are incomplete, there being a shortage
of ten regiments of infantry, five or
field artillery and signal corps troops.
The rcpor. shows the shortage and in
dicates that there are not sufficient
regular troops in the United States to
form the first line of defence.
"The General Staff has gone as far
in the reorganization of the army as 1t
is authorized by Congress. 1t remains
for Congress to decide whether the
great problem of national defence will
De SOiEeu' hISt Dy otieHb thchihs VIC
regular army so that it will be able to
answer the emergency call of the coun-
try and form a nucleus for the organi-
zation of an efficient volunteer army;
second, which, in the language of the
General Staff report, is to devise means
for preparing great armies of citizen
soldiers to meet the emergency of mod
ern war. The organization of the reg
ular army is but small phase of the
problem. 1t is simply the peace nu-
cleus of greater war army, and its
strength and organization should al
ways be considered with reference to
its relation to the greater war force
which cannot be placed in the field un-
i'll war is imminent. The problem is
one of expansion from a small peace
force to a great war force"