| Show THE PRESIDENT FOR preparedness the slump of pacifism as the salt lake herald republican expresses it becomes more evident than ever in adl editorial comment from various ot of tile the country on an president wilsons Wll Wil sons first step toward preparedness it was taken we are reminded when he called tor for the of tile the secretary ot of the army and the secretary of the navy in the state of our national defenses in reply the two secretaries ask for a permanently larger army and navy upon being approved by the president their requests will be sub to congress whose leaders will support him according to a washington correspondent of the new york world in his national defense program some journals among them the washington post urge the alie immediate calling of congress because now in time of peace the nation should be put into shape to withstand any shock that may como come but the new york world would leave the whole question to the intelligence and patriotic leadership of the nation with president wilson in supreme direction ot of the work and it adds we suffer at the moment from too much thunder and bb shouting outing of self constituted captains the military specialists are working at cross pur poses wo we are not to settle this matter in terms of huge money expenditures we are not to settle it on any principle of preparedness for offensive campaigning pai gning if 11 is a defensive preparedness we are after t from this journal also we take the outline of the reports of secretary garrison of the war department and secretary daniels of the navy As approved by the president they will be submitted to congress for appropriations riat ions to cover the cost of the greater army and navy the program for the latter Is 1 I 1 the construction of if at least four super dreadnoughts and probably two battle cruisers of the british queen elizabeth type the united states navy at the beginning of this year was ten first line ships behind tile the number required by the policy laid down by the navy general board in 1913 T 2 the construction of a large number of destroyers the navy on the basis of its present number of big ships built and building was ninety two tao destroyers short of the complement ment determined upon by the general doard board of four destroyers to each battleship battle ship the navy now has forty battleships of all types and only sixty eight destroyers submarines furnishing a complement of fifty for each coast a the construe construction flon of 0 upward ol 01 4 the construction in the aeronautical base at pensacola fla of a plant for the construction of hydro aeroplanes aero planes 5 increase in enlistment au authorizations thorl to bring the enlisted personnel immediately up to full strength for all ships built and building which might be utilized tn in time ot war am an increase of T about 18 men 6 enlargement of tile fhe capacity of the naval Acad academy erny at annapolis with a view of overcoming at tile the earliest possible moment the existing shortage of officers on the me basis of the ships built and being built to say nothing of the needed increases thru extensions in the aeronautical and submersible mer sible branches 7 authorization for the expenditure of a large lump sum at tile the diorec tion of the secretary of the navy with a view of taking advantage of improvements and desirable innovations immediately upon their discovery S legislation giving the board of civilian inventors which secretary daniels recently created a status before the law the needs of the army we read are more numerous and difficult of fulfil fulfill ment this Is true particularly of the personnel under which head aarein are included 1 1 increases and changes tor for the or standing army and the militia 2 the creation of a nucleus in officers and men with a knowledge of the rudiments of military practise of a second line army which could bo be whipped into shape tor for field action with a minimum delay T 3 legislation creating a system ot of mii military tary training as an ultimate result of which the united states in time of peril could summon to the colors a citizen army trained in advance both as to officers and men tor for almost immediate field duty in planning to increase the regular army and militia according to the worlds summary of 0 the report a figure has been set at about the mark including a regular army of approximately officers and men and a federalized militia of officers and men to encourage enlistment list ment in the regular army one years service with tile the colors and probably two years to in reserve will be recommended to increase the commissioned personnel of the regular army congress will be urged to double the output of trained officers from west point and possibly to establish a second military aca academy delity near tile the pacific coast the federalizing of the militia means that it will be placed entirely under the direction of the general staff of the war department the formation of the nucleus of a volunteer army above mentioned is to be effected in part by the short term enlistments and nd partly by special encouragements courage ments offered young men of if education and intelligence to take up till the study of military practice with the view of obtaining commissions in the first volunteer voun teer army organized in time of need As to equipment congress will be asked to provide for an army of men altho not all the equipment will be purchased at once we tead read then that ordnance plans tor for a theoretical army include 1 1 five rifles tor for every man expected to be put into action 2 twelve machine guns for every 1000 of infantrymen and cavalrymen in action an increase of nearly 4 to I 1 brought about by the lessons of the present war 3 six field guns and for every 1000 infantrymen men an increase of nearly per cent 4 4 increases of ot nearly per ceni cent in the amount of ammunition per gun to be stored ready tor for use plans for the improvement of the coast defenses include 1 I 1 increasing the elevation of 12 inch coast defense guns by five degrees above the horizontal giving them a range with a slightly lighter projectile of abbot about yards and placing them on equal it if not a little better with the largest naval guns now carried T 2 emplacement at new york harbor and ese elsewhere where of not more than three 16 inch coast defense guns to make impossible the firing by long range naval guns 0 over ver our fortifications and into large cities the united states already has one 16 inch gun for emplacement at panama 3 construction of a fort at the mouth of chesapeake day bay to cover the passage between cape henry and cape charles and of fortifications for which land already has been purchased on cape henry 4 increase of officers and men inen for the coast defense branch of the army to make up for existing shortages 5 immediate increase in coast defense ammunition literary digest |
