New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1915-08-12
THE HEAD OF OUR ARMY SPEAKS

THE HEAD OF OUR ARMY SPEAKS
General Leonard A. Wood, head Of
the United States army, contrary to
Ills usual reticence, has come out for
adequate arraament. and has branded
the present method Of volunteer en-
listment As foolish. He takes sharp
rap att former Secretary of State
Bryan. branding his assertion that we
can raise a million men between sun
rise and sunset as "assinine.'
Our system of raising volunteers
General Wood. He>fails, however, to
mention in just which way this
system has been failure. Whether
from lack of volunteers or proper
methods of handling them. If he
speaks from the latter viewpoint he
may be right. If he means volunteers
have failed to respond in this country
to the call of arms he is undoubtedly
wrong,
One need go back no further than
how readily the American citizen re-
spends to the call of arms But there
is some sound reasoning in the gem
erals remarks pertaining to our de-
not depend upon them. our regular
army, while not to exceed sane pro-
portions, should be of such size as to
warrant protection to the country.
In the days of the Revolutionary
war volunteers were just as good SOL
diers as men raised in the profession.
In those times every man could shoot
and shoot straight. In this day and
generation there are few sharp
shooters among us, and, what few we
have would be practically useless COM
batting an enemy equipped with all
the modern appliances of war.
The machine gun has practically OBJ
liberated the rifle. 1t takes a platoon
of we'll drilled men to handle a ma
chine gun. Therefore, these men
must be trained as part of the regular
standing army. #*.:
At the next session of congress one
Of the big fights will be waged over [
the bill providing for better national
defense. 1t is to be hoped that the |
congressman who represent this Sec |
ton of the country will have the in I
terest of their people at heart and lend
a helping hand to any measure that
will make for the betterment Of the
safeguarding of all that Is held dear
to the American heart.
Our coast defense is thing that |
needs attention and the highest facili-
ties should be placed at the disposal of
those in charge of our military affairs.
General Wood has made the sugges-
ton that we should have sixty thou
sand troops for foreign garrfsons and |
from one hundred and sixty thousand |
to one hundred and seventy thousand |
mobile troops within the continental |
boundaries of the United States 1t |
would take forty thousand: officers to |
govern an army of such size. Com I
! pared to our population Of one hum
| ored million souls, 1t Is readily seen
| that a standing army the size General
| Wood recommends is not too unweild-
| ~, nor too large, nor would it verge
on the military. An army this size,
coupled with we'll trained state troops,
| would do away with the necessity of
the raw recruit, the result of frenzied
volunteering. In time of danger the
country need never fear, however, for
the lack Of volunteers. Patriotism has
Eeen instilled in the American breast.
| All that is needed is an army big
enough and capable enough to safe
guard the nation.