The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-09
PLAN SWEEPING
 CHANGES IN ARMY Means Abandonment of 16O Army Posts GEN. WOODS VIEWS Concentration Seems to Be Watch word in Both the Naval and
 Military Establishments-To
 Cover Wide Area
Nv RoDENICK CLIFFORD

Washington, July S.-(Special.)- sweeping change in the administration of the army, embracing the abandonment of practically one-half of the 16O army posts now in use, is proposed by the war department, according to the recent ad- mission of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, i chief of staff, before the House committee on expenditures in the war department. | The announcement by General Wood closely follows that of Secretary Meyer of the navy, who told the House commit tee on expenditures in the navy depart ment that he contemplated abandoning all but three naval stations on the coasts of the United States
 l Concentration Is to be the watchword in both the naval and military establish ments. The danger attending a possible foreign invasion has prompted the navy | department to consider the concentration | of the naval strength. The mobilization on the Mexican frontier, or rather the difficulty in bringing about an effective | mobilization, is behind the conviction of the experts of the war department that a number of the smaller posts should be | anbandoned.
 q trust that this committee will not press me to name the army posts that are | to be abandoned" said General Wood. | ''If we were to announce the list In ad- vance it would mean that the depart | ment would be flooded with protests That has been the trouble heretofore in | recommending the abandonment of any post.
 Local interests are naturally alarmed | when 1t is proposed to abandon any of these posts," said the chief of staff They begin to offer objections. and, ir many instances, they offer good ones. l Yet, the good of the service demands 1 that a number of the smaller posts be | consolidated. If I have my way, we vii abandon perhaps one-half of the posts. | "I may say frankly that we now have l a board at work on this problem. Int | board Is composed of experts from thu | army war college and war department it self, and, as soon as the board is able 1 to make Its report, I shall ask the con sent of Congress to a plan to concentrate our strength at central points,"
 General Wood admitted that the recen mobilization of troops on the Mexican | frontier had not been an entire success 1 Viewed from the standpoint of a skele | ton division, the mobilization, said tn, | one considers the mastering of th' war strength of a division, as frankly | admitted by General Wood, the mobili l zation had been failure After two months, acknowledged General Wood, nc regiment had been brought to its full | war strength, and those that approached | it had been supplemented with recruits.
 "We were not equipped with reserv supply of artillery, ammunition or othe necessaries,'' added General Wood, in ex blaming why the mobilization had bee only a partial success.
 "Scatterd garrisons,' said Genera Wood, have made the instructions o officers in command of large bodies o troops practically impossible"
 General Wood predicted that there b considerable objection to the abandon ment of any post that may be selected b. the army board.
 What kind of influence is brought t prevent the abandonment of these posts :? inquired Chairman Helm of the commit tee. "Is it political?"
 General Wood replied that it was no necessarily political, but that the mer chants citizens and officials of any cit, naturally would fight a plan to take sol diers away from their particular locality
 Although General Wood did not fur nish the House committee with the name: of the posts that are to be abandoned bs the army, he indicated that the garrisons in the far west would be hardest hit Many of these smaller posts, observeJ the general, were established at a tim, when Indian outbreaks were a serious menace to the communities where they occurred Of late years, 1t was pointed out, the Indians have become more peaceful, and it is not now necessary tc maintain such strict watch over them
 "In some western states, continued the general, there are perhaps a half dozer small garrisons which might well be com bined into one." He suggested to the committee that 1t would be better to con centrate these soldiers at one point rather than maintain separate establish ments at places that are more or less in- accessible.
 General Wood admitted that the gov | ernment has spent many thousands of | dollars in recent years in equipping some of these army posts. And yet, he urged, | it will be etter to abandon these posts and sell the buildings to the highest bid der than to maintain them al d pecuniary loss and great inconvenience to the | United States government
 | Heretofore we have rather hesitated to come before Congress and urge the abolition of posts upon which so much money has been spent" he explaind, "and 1t may be for this reason that the war 1 department hds so long neglected to rec ommend the needed changes. l have no | criticism to make of former administra- tions. nor of the appropriations they have receivd from Congress for the upkeep of these garrisons, but we are planning to do away with the old regime, and to con centrate our strength.
 There is bound to be no objection to our plan from those who are interested in keeping the posts in the respective locali- ties, but I can promise the committed that the next estimates sent to Congress will contain recommendations for the abandonment of the smaller posts which we consider as detrimental to the servict because of their inaccessibility and the fact that the garrisons are too widel, scattered
 General Wood explained that by small post he meant a post that guar tered less than one regiment, and h, added that the larger portion of the arm! is scattered over the country in this man ner.
 The plans of the navy departme>>t an' the war department are destined to b>>ni about d fight in the House and the Sen ate. as the delegations in Congress fror the various states affected by the pro posed "corsentration will be urged b tneii constituencies to prevent any ac ton that will remove the sailors and sol diers-and their spending money-fror the navy yards and army garrisons
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