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Rh forecast for me to say that we could concentrate these 90,000 men at any point on the Atlantic Coast within thirty days of the declaration of war. And when the concentration had been made, the troops would be without properly trained artillery and cavalry organization, and without ammunition trains; they would be hastily organized and assembled for the first time in large bodies; they would be unprepared to act effectively as an army; and should these troops be defeated, the country would have back of them practically no reserve of men and supplies. There is a shortage of men and guns in the regular field artillery; we possess less than half the needed militia field batteries; and it would require three months of training to render what we have efficient.

"Practically all of our coast fortifications can be taken in reverse. Many of them to-day are manned only by a few