Evening journal., 1915-10-11

army should consist OF 25OO0O men
with a system of reserves that when
called out would increase It 10 about
double that number. and that the navy
should be increased so that in strength
II would be second only TO that of
England Is the belief of United States
Senator Henry A. dupont. His views
are set forth in a letter made public
yesterday. in response to a request
for an expression as to his attitude
on the question of military and naval
preparedness. Senator duPont's mill
tary training and army service and
experience have qualified him TO dis
cuss such questions in an authorita-
tive manner. The letter expressing
his views is as follows:
winterthur, Del, Sept. 7, 1915.
j. A. Rawson, Jr., Esq,
No az Cedar St., New York, y. y.
Dear Srs Your lcttor OF the 18th nj
timo has been duly received and noted.
do not quite understand what you
mean by saying that "there IL no adc.
quate ground for the belittling of om
forces in which 30 many indulge" Tn,
army and navy-which ] take IL you
mean BY "our forces are entirely in
adequate for national defence, a fact
which il patent TO all those who hay,
full information and knowledge of th,
question. and II seems 90 me that there
is no ground for saying that they are be
ing "belittled," If you mean by this that
Il il asserted that they are of less i'm
portance than the actual facts warrant
As these are matters Of record and Stats
tics accessible to everybody.
You further state that in your opinion
our forces have been more cifectually
built up by Congress ana the War and
Navy Departments than is commonly
supposed.
Army Not Well Balanced.
Although the discipline and instruc.
lion Of our regular army. small as 10 is
arc excellent, 10 is very far from having
been efficiently built up"-by which OK
preston ] take IL that you mean organ
Ized a. IL Is not al all a well balanced
force, the proportion of artillery TO the
other arms Of the service being ridicu.
iously low and far beneath that of any
foreign nation which pretends TO have n
respectable military establishment. Fur
thor, the number of reserve pieces for
field artillery aud ammunition for the
same are entirely inefficient and the per
sonnel Of this arm is about onc-third of
he size it should be.
Reavy Artillery Half-Manned.
so far as heavy artillery H. concerned
there are hardly hale enough soldiers To
man the guns with which the govern.
men. at Immense cost has equipped our
soh coast Notifications; and as 20 ia,
guns themselves the carriages are de
fcicnt because they are 20 constructed
that the maximum range Of which The
guns are capable cannot be attained an,
they must be altered.
Then, too. we would require a grea
many more guns of larger calibre an'
longer range both for sea coast dcienc
sni for siege purposes, and il is 20 b
noted IN this connection that the sup
ply of ammunition for the heavy gun
II very far from being up Go the mark.
Needs Of the Navy
Turning now % the navy, we have
number of excellent battlcships but ar
wocfully deficient in submarines an,
auxiliary vessels of all descriptions, an,
the discipline of the navy, in the opinion
a. those who are considered competent
a. Judge, has been seriously impaired by
The Uuwise administration Of the present
secretary.
As TO the responsibility for this state
gress as a whole is responsible, mas.
much as for the past ten years at least
ia has usually failed TO vote the appro-
priations for which the War and Navy
Departments have asked. In this re-
aqorsibility, however, the Senate has a
much less share than the House of Rep
reseEtatives, which is ON record ms al.
ways being opposed TO larger appropria.
tons for the army and navy, and which
has, as a rule, compelled the Senate IL
compromise ON figures which the Com
mittee on Military Affairs of that body
deemed inadequate. There is no dis
guising the fact that the Democrati,
party, while in control of the House foi
several sessions past, has uniformly op
posed any increase of the army and hal
permitted only a very small increase il
the number of ships Of the navy. THREE
years ago, in the Sixty second Congress
the Army Appropriation Bill as reporte,
20 the House of Representatives bv IN
Hon. james Hay. chairman of the Hous
Committee on Military Affairs, containe
provision reducing the regular army b
five regiments, but this was defeated i
the Senate; and the most respectable an
preparations made during the second ses
sion Of the SiXty-third Congress. thong
not quite mp TO the requests of the Wa
Department, were due TO the fact ths
the Senate increased the House appropr
ations by several millions. When the Ia,
mentioned legislation went 10 confer
ence. Mr.. Hay ;0d the other House COZ
fcrees declined 20 yield; and when Ill
Senate conferccs stood firm. he announce
that the House would never agree to III
Senate amendments and that there woul
be no Army Appropriation Bill passed
such large appropriations were to stanl
Fortunately for the country, within
week after this incident occurred. tl
news of the expedition 10 Vera Cruz al
rived. upon which the House conferred
scnt word TO those Of the Senate thu
they would withdraw their opposite
AMI the bill was passed
Public Opinion Radically Modified
You viii understand, of course, IA
Congress, and particularly the House o
Representatives, is supposed TO reilcc
public opinion in this country, which.
nm glau 10 say, has been radically modi
fed curing the past year so far as mat
ters of national defence are concerned
have made no speeches during In
past year ON any military subject as Il
seemed TO me a waste of time. the urea
majority of Democrats in the House be
my unaltcrably opposed To the measure
which seemed in my Judgment right an,
proper. In the Senate the opinion of an
Democratic majority was much An
same, although there We're a number a
notable exceptions, such as Senate
chamberlain of Oregon. former Senate
Thornton Of Louisiana, and others