The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-02-07

Total military forces, federal and /
state, actually available for land war
fare:
Regulars, about .............. 100000 /
National Guard, about ........ 10000 I
Marine corps, about .......... 10000 /
lbldl -O-.NJ' f.
The United States possesses:
43l airplanes.
No dirigibleS.
No heavy siege guns.
II 100000 army rifles.
Several European countries have:
/ 10000 airplanes.
t 80 dirgiblcs.
Il6inch field howitzers.
10 100000 Cor more) army rifles. r-|
In the event of war with GerHany
the United States would have APP
Iproximately 100000 men in Khaki,
trained or partially trained and all
more or less ready to respond to the
Iuation s call This figure includes the
entire organized strength of the regu-
| lar army, some LOO, 600 men, the total
number of militiamen i'm federal and
state service. about 10000 men and
the United States marine corps. com
lprisiug a force of more than 10000
men. The latter organization is at
ltached 20 the navy, but is especially
TRAINED and equipped to fight on land.
4 large part Of the regular army is
garrisoucd in our insular possessions.
The total number of trained men in
the United States is largely a matter
of conjecture, as graduates of military
high schools and private military or
CARNATIONS must be included in such an
tostimate. 1t is certain, however. that
lat least 100000 men of military age
have seen service with the regular army
or are now in its ranks. The number
who have had military training is even
larger. According To General Funston 5
reports, 100000 National Guardsmen
have seen intensive service on the Mex
lean border. Their military value has
become very real. Twenty thousand
men have been trained at the summer
= training camps. but these are regarded
> rs officers material. Not less than 40,
A zoe regulars are now undergoing rig
orous service along the border, while
4 probably $1,000 have seen service there
I at enc time or another during the last
five years.
Army officers believe that we are il
1 every way better off in a military way
than we were prior to June 10, 1916, the
day upon which President Wilson sum
moned the entire National Guard and al
I available regulars to the Mexican Dor
der. More than 10000 men have seer
field service approSimating war condi
tlons. BY the appropriations made un
der the new army law, supplies of al
kinds have begun to be manufactured il
large quantities. An unprecedented sum
$50,ooo,000, was appropriated the othe
day for coast defense. and the hug
funds available for all branches of mil
itarv activity have begun TO bear fruit
4 The United States is lamentably veal
1 in light field artillery. We have an ex
1 ccllent wcapon-the thrce-inch gun, re
Y scmbling very closlv the famous ''75
s of the French army. Six months az
= = we had only $50 of these built an
B building. At the battle of Mukdc
4 alone. away back in the RHsso-Japanes
war, when light field artillery was no
\ so allimportaut as it is today, the Ru.
Z slams and Japanese forces had NOR
4 than 2,000 light field guns hetwec
4 them. it is estimated that at til
4 height OF the Battle Of Nerdun a tot;
Of 10000 light guns We're belching fir
In the matter of heavy siege arti
3 lcry we are practically unprovide,
/ The United States army has no mobil
heavier than the sixinch howitzer.
Z weapon easily outclassed by the gial
4 cannon of the allies and Germans. Thel
is no heavy field artillery regiment
4 the United States army, although II
Germans, Austrians, French, BIRTHS
Russians and Italians have many reg
ments equipped with the heaviest sicl
pieces. New York has the only heay
field artillery regiment in the countl
4 the Third Artillery of Buffalo, 70
4 merly the Sixty fifth Infantry.
Because of the huge expansion of Of
. munitions industry as a result of tv
- and q half years Of orders from the
lies, we are undoubtedly in a positit
TO supply easily any forces we might
: able to raise. Our munitions outp
> has been doubled, trebled and final
multiplied many times. Today we ha
J system Of factories for the manufa
. turc of munitions and military suppl,
the extent of which was undreamed
two years ago.
Q One unfortunate feature is that t
character Of our munitions output h
g been nodded chiefly by the demands
u our foreign customers. Many an Anne
r can factory is equipped to make sh
eases for the French - s, while it ow
- not one machine that could help FASH
an American threeinch shell ca
Again there are plants which can ms
ufacture European artillery at an en-,
nous rate, but which would have
"a purchase new mechanical equipment
- order to fiji an American order.
a. The Rcmingtons and other plants
s~s turning out European rifles by the hi
drcd thousand but not one Of them c
even begin work on our own Spril
field rifle. An order for French LebC
4 British Lee Enfelds or Russian Magyar
sS would be filled much more readily a
rapidly than an order for the Amerie
Springfield. Only the government
senals are at present capable of MAJ