New Britain herald., 1915-01-15
FATAL DEFICIENCIES
 IN NATIONAL DEFENSE
Many Defects "AImost Wholly Due
 10 Congress-" Says Lodge.

% Washington, Jan. 15.--In urging unbn the senate the need for com mission to report on military pre- paredness, or for a permanent coun- -cil of national defense, Senator Lodge today declared that the national de- Tense of the country "Is not only inn perfect and unbalanced, but that it has grave and in some instances fatal defciencies." He designated what he termed many of the defects and said they were "almost wholly due to , Congress"
 % An adequate national defense, the senator said, could be obtained with out additional expenditure. Gut off Our needless army posts, navy yards and stations.' he advised the senate. Hay aside for & few years appropria- lions for public buildings and river and harbor improvements where they are not needed. Drop all the ex penditures which are designed for spots where votes are lying thickest, aud you will have money enough to provide for sufficient army and an Adequate navy without adding to the burden of taxation"
 luN1ItSlOla 10 ASSsTeSSIOi.
 He warned that the ocean barrier that defended the country in 1776 and in 1872 had been destroyed by steam and electricity. Unarncd, un ready, undcfended, the nation stands Rn invitation to aggression and at tack, ne said.
 K Senator Lodge asserted that not only the regular army but the nili- for I,ir ro1 loFo ;Nc not the Panama canal was "miserably and most inadequately protected against being blown up and blocked for m onths by agents or spies of hostile nation. He said the recom- inendation of Secretary Garrison for a 25.00o increase in men was very moderate.
 /. Sixteen on Reserve List
 He expressed regret that only six teen are on the reserve list, subject to be called back to the colors to fill up the gaps which war would make in the regular army.
 G Senator Lodge declared the army was without sufficient artillery and artillery ammunition, and said avail able testimony showed that the guns .n the fertilization were of shorter ,knge. than those carried by foreign .ararsllips of the latest designs.
 l3 E No Motor Trucks. He said the army had practically nc motor trucks for transport, or ar aaored motor cars with machine guns The difficulty appears to be-" he con tinued, Recording to the war depart ment that no satisfactory motor truck mas yet been developed in the United States"
 Despite this. he rSaidy Canada had bought a number of American motor trucks, and Apparently thinks them entirely sufficient for use in the field.'
 Senator Lodge stated that there was apparently sufficient number of mines for harbor defense, but that there was a shortage of cable and mine planters.
 More Destroyers Needed.
 .As to the navy, Senator Lodge said more destroyers were needed, but the most obvious weakness was in sub- marines. The worst deficiency he con- tinued, was in scout cruisers, the United States having only three against seventy-four in England, for Ety-one in Germany and thirteen in Japan.
 we have, therefore, three scout cruisers declared the senator ito protect and give warning of the ap- proach of hostile fleet for six thou sand miles of coast on the Atlantic and Pacific. If they were concen traded on the Atlantic coast they would have to cover a thousand miles day to patrol the coast, and they are slow ships"
 No Zeppelins or DiriGiblcs.
 The European war, he said, had demonstrated the value of aircraft, vet the army had only thirteen aero plancs and no Zeppelins or dirigible airs1lips, aild TO armored aeroplanes and TO guns suitable for aeroplanes. The navy has twelcv aeroplones and no Zeppclins or dirigibles.
 Senator Lodge stated that he had been informed ;tat tho appropriation for naval aircraft had not been ex- pended, the delay being due, among other things to failure of the Ameri- can manufacturers to furnish aero planes. Eie asserted the explanations were no defense OS the conditions anI ~ sa.d that it seemed to him idle to sup rose that good aecoDlencs could not be built m this country. Tt ;s quite possible" he concluded, that the wnr-nS Europehn nations have not tho Dcat conceivable type of aero ;,iancs. but they have large numbers of them, which are formidable and effective and which scer 70 answer svery purpose
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