1901

Longstreet nodded in the direction of John Hay, who smiled affably and responded. “General Longstreet and I believe they have made a conscious and calculated decision not to invest more of their frontline regulars, because it would weaken their military forces in Europe. As a result of this war, they are confronting an angry France and a very unhappy England and Russia. Since their reservists are almost as good as their regulars, I think they feel they can afford it. From a military standpoint they may be right, but it may damage them politically. We have been informed that the German public was not too happy about the war in the first place, and the fact that older reservists with families and jobs have been called up and sent over pleases them even less. The radical German press has been scathing in its criticism, and there has been some unrest in the cities, particularly the university towns with large student populations.”

Roosevelt leaned forward. “This is something we can use to our advantage, isn’t it?”

Hay and Longstreet both agreed. Hay said his sources in Germany were trying to gauge the mood of the German public. Longstreet said that however good the reserve divisions were, they were not quite as good as the regulars. The result was a small benefit to the United States, but hardly enough to confer a decisive advantage.

Wood went on. “As we continue to modernize weapons, we are also upgrading other areas of our military technology, and we feel we are finally gaining some solid advantages.” He knew that this was a slap at the previous military administration and regretted the necessity of saying it. “Our battle lines are now fully connected by telephone and telegraph, as well as semaphore and light signals. We are getting heavily involved in wireless telegraph as well. Some of our clandestine units on Long Island are using wireless to communicate, as well as a telephone line we managed to lay from New Haven to the Island.”

Roosevelt chuckled. “Just how did you accomplish that? I thought the Krauts had the place sealed off.”

“Not entirely, sir. We worked hard and, with the outstanding cooperation of the navy, it paid off.” Wood did not add that much of the work of laying the line had been done by the submarine Holland. What Roosevelt didn’t know, he couldn’t inadvertently tell. Wood and others felt very strongly that the ability of the underwater craft to penetrate Germany’s naval defenses should not be divulged, not even to the president. The secret would be theirs and the navy’s.

Roosevelt seemed satisfied. Airships and radios appealed to his sense of newness. “Bully. Now what about my army? How does it grow?”

General Wood grinned. “Slowly, sir. As we explained in the past, we have neither the resources nor the leaders to create an immense army overnight. We have built camps and are filling them with recruits as quickly as we can, but it will not be as fast as we had hoped. The training sites in Georgia, Indiana, and Missouri are starting to fill.”

A brief cloud passed over Roosevelt’s face. He had wanted to hear a different report. “You know, the German press is having a field day with the empty camps. They are saying we cannot get enough recruits because no one wants to fight their invincible army. I hope you can do something to change that perception, and soon.”

“Well, sir, it is not an entirely false perception. A number of states have indeed declined to send their guard and militia. They say they are required to defend their home shores and cities. Georgia, for instance, has declined to release its militia for our use. Ironically, they did the same thing in the Civil War, refusing to help the Confederacy despite Jeff Davis’s pleas.”

Roosevelt nodded. The problem of who controlled the state units had arisen during the Spanish-American War as well. It represented another item that needed to be corrected. Presidents should be able to control state militias during a time of national emergency. “I’m sure it’s only a coincidence that Governor Candler is a Democrat,” Roosevelt said drily.

“I also presume you are aware that recruiting in the war zone has dropped dramatically,” continued Wood. “Although we are building a camp outside Boston in hopes that enlistments will pick up, we are getting virtually no volunteers from that area. One can understand,” he added, “that the heavy casualties taken already have dampened local ardor. Although, to be fair, sir, we have many thousands of local residents under arms at this time.”

“Humph,” sniffed the president. “Well, then, what’s the good news from the navy, Captain Mahan?”