Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 171, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1916 — MOBILIZATION HAS PROVEN OUR-WEAKNESS [ARTICLE]

MOBILIZATION HAS PROVEN OUR-WEAKNESS

George Hewitt Myers, Secretary of the Army League, Says U. S. Is As Defenseless As Chinese.

Washington, D. C., July 17. —The present mobilization of the national guard has proved that the United States is almost as defenseless as China, according to George Hewitt Myers, secretary of the Army league. According to Mr. Myers, if the president had called ou| the guard to meet a possible Japanese invasion, a Japanese army would now be in possession of San Francisco and all of the large Pacific coast cities, and the guard itself would not have been ready to start for California in an effort to drive them into the s6a. “The weakness of our land defense,” he said, “is due to the failure of congress to provide a sufficient force of highly trained regular troops and a universal military training system for all young men. China is the only other great country that Soes not have some form of universal military training, and the United States is about as defenseless as China.”

“Tn the event of war with Japan or any of the other great powers,” he continued, “the enemy would not wait for us to attack it, but would immediately upon securing control of the sea send an invading force to this country. Japan has a transport capacity for an invading force between 195,000 and 200,000. Her first expedition would be a force of at least 150,000, which would be landed within twenty-two days. As the national guard was called into the service on June 19, the invading force from Japan would have reached the coast on July 11, and for about a' week would have been overrunning the Pacific coast states.

“It would be a. crimfi to put the national guard in its present partially organized and untrained state on the firing line against such a highly trained force. Even a more horrifying picture would be presented if we were at war with any of the European powers instead of patrol 1 ing the Mexican border,” said Mr. Myers.

Miss Bethel Arnold, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Arnold, who has been in Wesley aorpital in Chicago for the past three weeks, has contracted a case of appendicitis and will be operated on Thursday. Mrs. Arnold, who was taken to Wesley following an attack of tonsilitis, is geeting along nicely now, and will soon be able to return to her home. Leslie Miller, who also suffered an attack of appendicitis and was operated on at Wesley, will be able to return home in three or fout days. The other Rensselaer patients at the, same hospital, Mrs. Simon Leopold, Miss Mary Worden and Miss Marie Hamilton, are reported as getting along nicely and no serious developments are expected ; n their cases.