Page:America Fallen!.djvu/74

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62
America Fallen

104,000 are actually mustered. Of these 104,000, only some 60,000 are ready for immediate service in the field; so that our total forces in the United States consist of 16,000 men scattered in the coast defences throughout our Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coast fortifications, which would not be available for service in the field; 30,000 regulars and 60,000 militia. That is to say, our mobile troops capable of taking the field number only 90,000 men, and these, we must remember, are scattered from Maine to California and from Canada to the Gulf.

"In the event of invasion by Germany in great force, with a thoroughly equipped army provided with the full complement of field-guns, howitzers, and other necessary equipment, the first contingent of which expeditionary force might readily amount to 150,000 veterans of the late war, where should we stand? It would be an optimistic