The Washington times., 1915-11-23
REUTERDAHL PAINTS
us. ARMY AS JOKE
Says II Is Trained to Travel on
Pillow and That Patriotism
Is Vanishing.

NEW YORK. Nov 2a-Henry Reuter-
dahl. tho artist. who cniovs the repu-
tation Of an expert on navy affairs. has
an article in the Metropo'ttan Ma -oz zine
for December. entitled Arm or Surren.
dor" IN which he makes some startling
assertions regarding the defenseless con.
dition Of the nation from a military
point Of view.
He opens with this sharr arraignmen,
Of Americans rotriotism--or lack Of Il
"Our patriotism is waning and drift.
ing away on the ebb tide Of indifyer.
ence. and as a nation our manhood is
on the decline: national conscience -
have not. No longer can an American
hold up his head abroad. Our -'ace in
the world is that Of money bag. In
Germany we are laughed at. desp,sed
as sptneless weddings; our money alone
IL feared England thinks we are COW.
ards and American life a commodity
which can be paid for in cash. The
The Mexicans ridicuie US. he says, and
regard us as a race Of towards.
In Esco. Ariz..' he says. the right
Arm OF the Government guards not the
lives Of the inhabitants. Barricades OF
nav bales before the windows keep Mex
lean bullets from killing them in their
sleep: In the daytime they duck low and
trust to luck
Invasion Easy.
Invasion by a European power he re-
cards as rid'culously easy.
Right before our very eves." he saws.
cur navy and army have deteriorated.
30 far. no one ca:es. II has been DEM
oEstrated and proved beyond argument
that the American Navy Is not strong
enough to maintain the command OF
the sea and uphold the Monroe doc
trine With the American feet swept
of the sea. the enemy's invasion on
our soil becomes but n matter OF steam
er scheduls. Twice this has been done
In the war games OF our own fleet.
THE army cannot defend all its
forts" he contin les. ut has no auto
mobiles to transport all It's baggage; It's
shoes are for the parade ground and
will wear out under two months march,
ing: It has nineteen motor ambulances
for It's wounded. It's supply system
cannot stand the strain of war. but will
break down as It did during the Span
ish war. II Is without ammunition
trains. armorcd automobiles. nrmored
railroad trains. heavy mortars for field
work. has ammunition but for couple
Of days battle. and with less than one
hours supply for coast defense guns.
and has not sufficient field artillery.
Tho mobile army in the continental
1'r'tod Statn1 "a M n li.'lo la"~n- thu n
twice the New York police force. and
itl reserve counts some sixteen men. II
cannot ny.
Coast Guns Useless.
practically all the great -'Nes OF
coast defense are from the design Of the
Ordnance Department. and their dis
appearing carriages are the invention
OF the present bureau chief Many are
obsolete. and the carriages of the heavy
guns have to be remodeled. They per-
init only limited degree Of elevation.
and through faulty design good guns
are rendered inferior in range to those
OF the encmy's ships. For want of
foresight the bureau placed this handi-
cap on every large-calibered. direct-hr-
ing gun of our coast defense from Maine
to California. The pieces are now USE
less against the latest superdread-
naughts until this handicap Is removed
THE inefflciency settled upon the
army by Congress and the army's un-
preparedness for war is visualiZcd by
the hopeless and pathetic state of Its
Aviation Corps. America is the land OF
the aeroplane. Here II was born. bu,
the army has now but ten machines
one fell recently in the sea and killed
Its aviator. That these machines can
not fly cannot be the fault OF Congress
Our loss In aviatOrs has proportionately
been almost as heavy as in the flying
corps of the great armies now engaged
In war.
Trained To Travel On Pillow.
The American army Is trained to
travel on pillow. Soldiers must GO
to maneuvers in tourist sleeper Of
ficers In Pullmans. At least that Is
our peace method. To the Texas
maneuvers regiment was ordered
from Indianapolis. 1t could have pull
ed out in six hours. reaching it's desti-
nation In thirty. travelling in box cars
as In France and Germany. But this
regipnnt had to walt three days for
tourist sleepers. The orders to move
came In February: not until four
months later did the force reach its
maximum strength. without regiment
OF light artillery. ambulances, field
hospitals. engineers. and signal force
No ammunition nor adequate supply
trains nor transports existed. and these
regiments never reached proper wal
strength
What are you going to do abou,
itT To which I answer. Trust the
army. chuck politics sky high. agair
put the fear OF God in Congress. Kill
the graft OF the useless army pests. dc
away with the bureau system. and lei
the fighting army run its own show
according to the lines laid down by
the general stafr. They are trained for
1t; Congress Is not. Establish II council
of national defense so that the army
may be represented on tho floor oi
Congress and the demands and opinions
OF the efficient soldier may be heard
throughout the land. Give 1t budget
system as exists in every country
where defense means something"