The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-05-08

" THEN an army moves on land
AI its objective cannot be well
w concealed. Spies and the
aeroplane watch it. Rail-
road facilities are a guide to the enc
my, who knows how many troops can
Je moved to certain point in a GER
tain time and can regulate his own
concentration to meet yours. Consider
hundred transports at sea with 10O,-
600 men and with a full equipment
on board. The fotilla moves up and
down at will, self contained, limited
by no railroad lines, by no roads or
motor or horse transport. compact,
ready to descend in mass wherever 1t
chooses, with the enemy uncertain I'M
I'll the moment of striking where you
mean to strike.
To England, with her immense re-
sources in ships, we must turn to see
what might be done in this respect If
the lesson of South Africa were not
enough. She has at the present time
more than 100000 men oversee, both
men and guns entirely fed by sea
transport. Meanwhile her population
is dependent for its own food on her
sea carrying trade, and you see the
flags of British merchantmen in every
harbor in the world. How small the
capacity of a railroad train compared
to that Of a great ship, which is not
tied to the rails, but has the whole sea
for its trackl
The British at GalIipoIi.
1t is more than half the distance
from England to Egypt of that from
Europe to the United States, yet, while
she was feeding her great army In
France, her army In India and her
Mesopotamian and other expeditions,
"unprepared" England sent to CALI
poll an army larger than we could
muster for the defense Of the Atlantic
seaboard before the Gordon of an in.
vading force could be drawn around
New York
"But she did not succeed at CALI.
poll" you say.
The failure was due not to inability
to gather vast force on board trans
ports and disembark them promptly,
but to absence Of the factor of sur
prise.
The British were limited as to land
ing places. 1t was obvious that they
would try Gallipoli. But any Euro
pean power or group of powers which
undertook to invade the United States
would be in much better position for
a surprise. The enemy would have
much longer coast line from which to
choose his point Of attack. Turkey had
some 100000 trained soldiers under
arms, and the Germans had organized
the Turkish army under the German
system. 1t was homogeneous, prepar-
ed for its task, and, being prepared,
Constantinople was saved despite the
magnificent charges Of the British and
the Australians. About 100000 casual.
ties the British had at Gallipoli, and
all the wounded were brought to base
hospitals by sea and all the men to
fill the gaps I'm the ranks brought from
England by sea.
How many men and how much
equipment can be sent on a fleet of
transports is matter of mathematical
calculation. Nothing is quite so def.
mite as sea transport work.
100000 Men Could Be Shipped.
Had Germany been free to invade
America, instead Of going to war with
the allies, by using 30 per cent Of her
tonnage she could have put on board
a single expedition Of 3S7, 900 men as
part Of complete army, which would
include $1,000 animals; France could
have transported 100000 men and g.
600 animals; japan $4,000 men and
240O0 animals. In each case this
would mean an army as ready in every
detail to take the field as those which
took the field in Europe at the outset
or the present war or which japan sent
to Manchuria ten years ago.
The time required for passage and
landing would be from two to three
weeks from the outbreak Of war. In
an additional three to six weeks more
than double this number of men could
be disembarked. Therefore we could
count on the possibility of from a
quarter Of million to three quarters
Of X million troops on our soil in three
months sent by a single power In
that time we might gather 100000 men
into force which lacked both homo
geneity and adequate equipment
If we should be struck from the Pa
cihc at the same time as the Atlantic
coast, in which direction would our lit
tie army turn first? Think Of its stu
alton with a vast stretch OF coastline,
knowing that an enemy was going to
strike, but not knowing where. We
should have only thirty or forty sea
or army planes to do our scouting
The feet of enemy transports, protect
ed by its fighting feet and destroyers,
could range up and down to deceive
us as to the point of Decentralization.
At night they might appear Of the
Jersey coast, and then. lights down,
under the cover of darkness they
would steam back toward New Eng
land, and with the break of day under
the protecting fire of hundreds Of guns
they would beach their lighter trans