| Show GENERAL MILESS REPORT washington D C nov 11 the annual report of gen filep cuin madding the army was waa made public today the personnel is shown tj 0 be to la excellent well instructed efficient and attentive to duty liberal appropriations appropriation are n required quiren ired lor for public buildings at the post many of which arenout are out of repair gen miles believes beli evea that the peaceable conditions now existing among the various indian tribes to la largely attributable to the presence of troops at suitable eui table points nil nd to the admirable conduct of the experienced army cf ficera who have been placed in charge ol of the principal agencies ageo olee under the head of coast defenses defene ee uen oed miles states that the condition ol of those defenses is ie as to require decided and immediate action for their improvement the unguarded condition of our coast to la known by every first class power and our people should not be led into lake islas security he quotes from his hie report ol of 1884 a trong strong argument fur br the delouse defense of puget sound and shows howa that since that time new canadian railroad have to been established there yet not a at aeugle agle gun has baa been placed in for defense nae while those at the entrance ontra uCe ol of the columbia are obsolete ube olete and of little value it la Is true that some progress has baa been made toward defending ban francisco Francie coi and a few modern guns guna and rifles have been place now how ever are but a small email part of the general genera plan for the defense of the harbor while sao diego die go is in the same condition as a puget sound entirely at the mercy of any foreign A faaet abet general mlle miles recalls what he said in br report of 1889 upon the absolute importance of the me delouse of the entire pacific in view ot of the fact that it was waa possible poa sible for any naval power to blockade every important port within ninety days daje while it would take mavy years yeara to muke make a successful resistance and the she country might be required to pay an indemnity of illethe Wit while the railroads miam a million brave woo men to ine coast they would be useless without appliances to cope with the modern engines ot of war and with all our intelligence pride inventive aeolus ard enterprise we are to as aa far iti in the modern alph aepli ances ancee of war as aa china or japan auch were the conditions condl tlona six alx years yeara ago says uon miles milea and such each are the conditions today with the exception of the slight dlight progress wade made at sun san francisco the entire gulf coast and all the great cities of the atlantic coast northward to philadelphia are entirely without modern guais gen miles in support ot of his bia recommendation men dation for adequate coast defense de fenee points to the fact anat the batteries bat lerlee at moultrie and sumter kept at bay for four years the moss moat powerful fleet in the world he says gaya that our people cherish two misleading ding dolus ione first that torpedoes torpedo ee can be depended upon to protect our coast aud and second aba miles milea of coast can be defended by a navy he shows that torpedo plants are useless without protective batteries batter iee aej that the water in our principal harbors to IB so deep that light might pass paea over torpedo mines mine without danger while be does doe not anticipate war in the ner neer future he shows that in the past years jean in lose leee aban 10 per cent ot of the wars has baa there been any formal warning or declaration before hostilities and as all it would require years yeara of time lime to construct modern weapons weapon of war it would be unwise to disregard the lesson of history in our own country for nearly years there bag baa never been of thirty five years year in which it has not in war he points to the eat eabe of china which made the fatal mistake of relying upon its vastly superior numbers fur for safety and argues that the beet beat guarantee of peace is ia a condition of readiness for war touching the infantry gen miles recommends the three ba batal tallion llon organization and regimental posts poeta to keep the companies of regiments regi menta together he thinks that at least one full regiment of cavalry be assembled at port fort biley kansas where field maneuvers man euvera might be undertaken annually to thoroughly demonstrate the utility of bie bicy olea veles and motor wagons in the army it to is recommended that a force of twelve companies be equip peo pou with these thee devices to be manned irom from the t fl loera and and men in the me army able to use uee the bicycle which has been already found extremely use nee ful fill geo gen miles argues for an aim increase Inore aae in the she strength of the army saying that there is ia no reason reabon why it should be ad anake and kept t at one streng libas it Is has haa tor for year it should increase with the growth of trie country gen miles conclude his hie report with several recommendations intended to benefit the condition condition of the officers officer and ana men and attract to the military service the best belt element of the community |
