Troops Moved On Old Order.

New York Times 100 years ago today, May 19, 1913:
Part of Plan Adopted a Year Ago to Strengthen Hawaii.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, May 18.— A satisfactory feeling prevailed in Washington official circles to-day over the character of the speeches made at the meeting of educational and business interests held in Tokio yesterday to consider the California land bill. War talk was condemned, and the general tone of the speeches was friendly to the United States.
    What pleased the Administration most was the manner in which the effort to create the impression in this country that war with Japan was likely, and that the Government was making preparations for a hostile emergency, had been squelched through the publication of simple explanations of several incidents that were seized upon as evidence that the army and navy were being placed or a war footing. Whatever alarm may have been felt in certain quarters has been dissipated. This is regarded as a step forward in the amicable adjustment of the causes of complaint made by the Japanese Government.
    The movement of regular soldiers from Eastern posts to San Francisco, whence they will embark for Hawaii, is part of a general programme announced by the War Department far in advance of any suggestion even of trouble with Japan. As long ago as Jan. 20, 1912, The New York Times printed a Washington dispatch telling of the plan of Henry L. Stimson, then Secretary of War, to close sixteen army posts and transfer the troops to other posts. In a report transmitted by Mr. Stimson to the House of Representatives in answer to a resolution offered by Representative Buckley of Ohio, Mr. Stimson said it was proposed to garrison Hawaii with about 12,000 to 15,000 troops, because the Islands were regarded as the key to the Pacific Coast.
    Subsequently the orders for changing stations of troops were issued, and have been in process of execution for months. Yesterday the 115th and 143d Companies of United States Coast Artillery left Fort Washington, Maryland, fourteen miles from Washington, for Honolulu in accordance with orders issued some time are to carry out the general plan announced in January, 1912, of strengthening the garrisons in the Hawaiian islands.

Explained at Washington.
    With regard to the departure of regular M soldiers from Fort Slocum, New York, for Honolulu yesterday, Brig. Gen. Erasmus M. Weaver, Chief of Coast Artillery, said to-night that these men did not compose coast artillery companies, and he referred The New York Times's correspondent to Lieut. Col. Eugene P. Ladd of the Adjutant General's Department for an explanation. Lieut. Col. Ladd said that Fort Slocum was a recruiting station, and that the troops who left there yesterday must have been recruits intended to bring the troops stationed in the Hawaiian Islands up to their required strength. Men were being sent out from Fort Slocum all the time to augment commands, he said, and their departure was a mere matter of routine. At Fort Slocum, it was explained, recruits were prepared for service with various regular organizations, and when they had been drilled sufficiently to enable them to take their places in the ranks with seasoned men they were sent forward to companies whose ranks were below the normal.
    In Hawaii, Col. Ladd said, there were now three regiments of infantry, the First, the Second, and the Twenty-fifth; one regiment of cavalry, the Fourth, and six or eight companies of Coast Artillery. The three infantry regiments were short about 2,000 men, and he assumed that the recruits sent from Fort Slocum had been ordered to Hawaii in accordance with the intention of the War Department to fill the big gaps in the ranks of the troops in the Islands.
    In his report to the House of Representatives in January, 1912, Secretary Stimson explained that it was the purpose of the War Department to recruit the organizations in the Philippines and in Hawaii to full war strength.
    One of the things that public men in Washington have feared most in connection with the Japanese situation was that the war spirit might be stirred in this country over the circulation of reports that the Government was making preparations for hostilities. They feared that an exaggerated notion of the situation might be encouraged throughout the United States and lead to incautious utterances that would give a wrong impression to the Japanese.
    That a large number of the Japanese people resent the discrimination against their countrymen in California goes without saying. That this is shared to a considerable extent by the Government of Japan is shown by the vigor with which Viscount Chinda presented his case to the State Department. But the attitude of the Ambassador is characterized by great courtesy, and President Wilson himself is authority for the statement that the current exchanges have been conducted in a spirit of utmost friendliness.
    The President explained a few days ago that the reticence shown by officials of this Government in furnishing information about the character and extent of the exchanges was due to a desire to prevent, anything from being published that might interfere with the frank consideration that had marked the dealings of the State Department with Viscount Chinda.
    It is in this spirit that the exchanges are taking place, and the Administration is encouraged to believe, now that the irresponsible talk of war has been quieted, that the situation will improve and a satisfactory basis for adjustment, honorable alike to Japan and the United States, will be reached.