The Washington times., 1915-08-12
He Says Nations U. S. Should
Most Dread Are Now Fully
Prepared For War.
Ex.ENv0Y SUPPORTS HIM
Notable Men Among Recruits in
PIattsburg Camp Applaud
His Position.

PLATTsBURG. N. Y. Aug. "a
Standing before 1000 Of the most repre-
sentative Americans ever gathered to-
gether in one place. Major General
Leonard Wood. Commander Of the De-
partment. Of the East. made one Of the
most striking plens ever made by a
fense to the millionaircs, business men.
professional men, and others of the
Military Instruction Camp here.
General Wood pointed out the follies
Of our present defense scheme and
begged for aid In the establishment OF
permanent protection of American soil.
Il want to say n few words to you."
began the general. when the 900 mid
dle-aged rockies had gathered Mt his
feet In a huge crescent on the grass.
Il want to talk of our method Of rails
ing an army and the fallacies OF It.
The perfectly asnine statement has
been made that we could raise 100000
men between sunrise and sunset This
assemblage OF you men here at this
camp Is an answer to that sort OF fool
ish talk.
For Sane Legislation.
There are many admirable old ladies.
I know. who think you have responded
to the cali Of the wild. Personally. l
hope that 1t means the beginning Of the
response OF as many males as we have
left.
Il hope when you go away that you
will use your influence as good Ameri-
can citizens In contrast to the is-
norant masses by whom you must not
be Influenced. and that you Will 90 al,
in your power to help secure sane ana
good legislation for the establishments
Of an adequate armament.
"this talk Of a volunteer army az
foolishness. There Is no such thing as
an adequate volunteer service. EVERY
citizen owes an obligatory service 70
fact fac is to be recognized as It should:
THE district in which we manufacture
our munitions OF war and our Sunpo~-
der u all embraced in a small area on
our Eastern seaboard. You can ve,y
l5O 800 trained soldiers. once landed on
our shores, could do to US under the
circumstances. You know as well as !
that II you stranglehoid mans thtoat
it doesn't make much difference how
much he kicks and hits out wildly at
"The nations whom we apPrehend
are prepared. In other WORDS, INC re
sss% 70, who 10. might W csn take to e.r.
time. although we may be a bit slow
about getting at them; -,
sr,nn nn ment io9R'as @s find n that we never got
a quota Of volunteers in our Spanish
| War. Earlier both the Confederacy
and the United States Government .. nae
to resort to the draft system In 1857
Today we cannot depend upon the good
will OF the unknown people VINO are
coming to US from everywhere Tor oui
defense.
Need Trained Soldiery.
We must have a system OF trained
citizen soldiery similar to that OF
Switzerland or Australia.
We want q big. efficient navy. per.
haps not the biggest In the world. but
certainly the second biggest. and we
want q trained. mobile army. Without
a mobile army our coast defense sys'
TENS are useless.
You men have done perfect wonderi
here in the few days you have beef
here, but to raise an army for our de-
fense would require 1000 officers. sc
you see how In training you we have
made only a small beginning"
the army. General Wood voiced thu
opinion that this country needs at leas
6O. 900 soldiers to garrison our foreigr
possessions, and should have at leas
i7O. 900 mobile troops In the conttnenta
United States. His talk was received
with deep interest. and at Its conclu
sion the division commander was ap
Tner. was not rookie" in the en-
tire thousand who got as much enjoy
ment and as much instruction out O
the days work as Mayor Mitchel-bes
pardon, Private Mitchel-No. 3. from
front rank. Second squad.
Mitchell was up long before first call
and when the lazy trumpeter finall!
summoned the newly-made soldiers q
their second days work the mayor wa
already gazing fondly in the direction