Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1915-08-28
Cites Delaware TO
SHOW Defense Lack
Henry A. W. Wood Urges
Military Preparedness at
Governors Conference
THIRTEEN MEN TURN
OUT AT FORT DUPONT

Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL. ,
BOSTON, Mass, Aug. 2s.-Henry ,
A. Wise Wood, chairman OF the Con- +,
ference Committee on National Pre-
paredness, submitted an appeal TO |
the Governors of various States in /
conference here for better national /
defenses, last night. He declared that |
a document in the archives at Wash !
/ ington shows that 1t lays within the
power of one nation to set down
upon our Atlantic coast in forty-six
days over 10000 men, with sufi-
cient artillery, ammunition and sup
| plies to last them for three months,
and on the Pacific coast, 1t was
stated, in sixty-one days there could
be landed approximately $4,000 mel,
with supplies and weapons. Mr.. Wood
in part said:
Gentlemen, ] am no alarmist; l
am merely looking the facts of life,
as they are today, straight in the
face. The things l am pointing out
are not fancies, they are dreadful
realities. There is a moral pestilence
abroad. a pestilence we thought the
/ physicians of diplomacy had eradicat-
ed forever. We now see that they
hadn't; that instead it has suddenly
broken out afresh, to sweep Europe
with such virulence as the world
never has seen. That was one Of
our misconceptions. What shall we
do? Permit this pestilence to flow
over our coasts. and devastate our
land, as it has Europe? Or shall
We establish a quarantine, and place
ourselves in position to repel II, at
our borders?
I'VE we're taught that our seas
would insulate us against this pesti-
lence; that we might rest secure be-
hind their seeming vast eXpanse But
we find, instead, that they are its
swiftest highway, that over them It
may pass countless forces of destruc-
ton, with a celebrity never before
known to the passage Of armies. That
was another of our misconceptions.
But a few days since an associ-
ate informed me that in the archives
at Washington there Is a document
which sets forth the celebrity with
which these very seas may suddenly
be used for an attack upon us. Ac-
cording TO its contents, which gave
the numbers of men each of several
nations could land upon our shores
/, within a given period of time. II lay
within the power of one of those
nations to set down upon our At
lantic coast. in 46 days, over ESQ, 900
men, with sufficient artillery, ammu-
milton and supplies to last them for
three months And on our Pacific
coast, Il was stated. in 81 days there
could be landed approximately $780,
600 men. with supplies and weapons
Another associate informs me that
he was recently looking over Fort
Delaware, guarding the approaches to
Philadelphia, which contains four r.
inch disappearing guns, and the nee
essary power plant and machinery
for their operation when there was
turned out for inspection its garri-
son of 13 men! Gentlemen, here are
two wholly typical pictures. / have
set them side by side, not IN criti-
cism of the wisdom Of old Congress-
es. which are past and gone, but to
illustrate the preparedness of Europe
and the unpreparedness Of the United
States.
Now what are we going to do
about il? We can take no measures
whatever, or we can take half meas
ures, or we can take whole measures,
for our protection. Were the pesti-
lence cholera, which of the three
would we choose, do you think? One
need scarcely ask that. And would
the cost make us hesitate? Hardly.
Is war, then less of a scourge. that
: we should hesitate over making its
incoming impossible? Had Belgium.
or France, been given the chose of
these scourges. can we doubt what
their choice would have been? II we
hesitate at whole measures, because
of their cost, is il not because we
Z have failed to value our male youth
; and our maidenhood, our homes and
our freedom. and to put these vital
Z things into the scales against money?
J But what are whole measures?
! Neither you know, nor | know. We
J are but civilians. amateurs, looking
I on a serious game whose problems
long have passed beyond The grasp
OF any but trained minds. You, gen
tlemen, who are jurists, have a time
honored saying. that he who is his own
lawyer, has a fool for his client. To
this I should like to add another, that
the civilian who is his own military
expert, has an ass to defend. There
are many of us in this plight-and
some contribute to the Compression
al Record
Fortunately. it is not necessary
for us to say what are whole meas
ures. We need only say we want
> them TO be taken, and then to turn
the matter over to those professions
al men, whom, with infinite care and
: great expense, we have trained. and
especially retain, for the solution OF
our naval and military problems. Now
ii is just here, gentlemen, that you
: can make the great weight of your
influence felt on behalf of an ade-
: quate national defense. You can in.
sist that the policy of neglect and
suppression, which has been pursued
: by Congress in dealing with our nava
and military advisors. shall cease,
and that they and their matured
plans shall be treated with consider
alton and respect If you would know
at whose doors the deplorable stat,
of our defenses should properly b.
laid, and the brilliant work that oul
officers have done to establish them
F" work which never sees the light o
day. you need only search commit
tee and departmental pigeonholes.
where into the life's work of thesl
men has been thrust and forgotten.
I'm this emergency we need no new
men. we need few II any, new plans
but we need to resurrect them from