The Washington times., 1915-01-15
LODGE MAKES PLEAS
FORDEFENSE OF U. S.
N Powerful Appeal, Mass. Sen.
ator Describes in Detail
National Weakness.

In powerful appeal to the Senate
this afternoon, Senator Lodge, Of Mass
achusetts. after describing In detail the
weakness of the national defense on
land and Of the inadequacy Of the
forces on the sea, urged that adequate
Preparations for the protection of the
United States be made.
Unarmed, unready, undefcnded,'
said Senator Lodge, I'VE offer a stand
ing invitation to aggression End attack
and the idea. still popular or used for
purposes of oratory by some people,
that we can meet all dangers by spring
ing to arms when the moment comes,
~ dream so wild that 1t would be
srotesqUe Il II were not SO tragic
!, senator Lodge spoke for his resolu-
IN the House. for a commission to in
tfesttgate the state Of the national de-
He set forth the deficiencies of the
authority Of official reports and state
n1ents. He quoted from Secretary of
war GarrtsOn's annual report and COM
mended the Secretary for setting out
tho facts with courage and clearness.
Blame On Congress.
He asserted the United states navy
was dropping rapidly to fifth place,
dangerously near" to Japan.
Senator Lodge placed much of the
blame for the existing situation OH
Congress. He condemned the haphaz-
ard policy of appropriations. and called
for well-matured and we'll ordi-
mated policy. He demanded that USE
less army posts and useless navy yards
be cut off and that economies be ex-
ercised in other directions. in order
An ~~~i Htsr@A
He declared that he sought % no o. parti.
san advantage, but wanted the peo-
pie OF the country to know the facts
In the course of his discussion Of the
Sl weakness and inadequacy Of the army.
the Panama canal. He said. in part:
$50 long as we hold the Philippine
Islands we must have a force there
adequate for their defense. The Ha-
watfan islands are one Of our most
force. We cannot. therefore, look foi
any addition to the mobile force in
the continental United States from
trary. it is probable that further
drafts on our army will be necessary
1.-THE Panama Canal Zone is more i'm.
Iportant to us for our national defense
ment it is miserably and most made
auately protected. 1t is not enough
to have fortifications to guard the ends
OF the canal: We must maintain there
= force sufficient to protect the canal,
throughout its entire length The
canal is delicate piece of mechanism.
explosives rightly INaced would block
It IN a moment. This is a danger to
and. although the Secretary proposes
to raise the protecting force there to
practically 1900 men. he frankly states
that such q force will pot be sufficient.
have forces sufftcient for their protec-
ton.
Militia Deficiencies.
THUS We are left in the continental
United States with 1850 coast artillery
troops and 24.eo2 men composing our en-
tire mobile force, which. as Secretary
Garrison points out: is not much more
than twice the size Of the police force
OF the city of New York. Surely it la not
necessary to do more than repeat these
figures to show the utter inadeuuacy
Of our regular army for the absolutely
necessary duties which must be per-
formed f IN time of peace and the pain
far any effective defense if we were to
be attacked by a powerful enemy
Deficiencies, Of the militia. lack of
artillery for the army. lack of ammuni-
ton and many other weaknesses Of the
Senator Lodge then presented navar
statistics and depicted the weaknesses
pf the naval service: He declared we
had dropped to fourth place in tonnage
and were dangerously near" japan
which is In fifth place.
Summing up in eloquent fashion, Sen
ator Lodge said:
II want an adequate national defense