Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-20

Military Affairs has based his bill for no
tlonal defense the assumption that there
are 100000 trained citizen soldiers ready
for service. They exist chiefly on paper
Congress must get nt the facts before it can
pass the right sort Of n law.
| MO MORE damnable species of deception
IN can be practiced than that involved in
the attempt to make the nation think it is
prepared for war when IL is not.
Chairman Hay, Of the Committee on Mill.
tary Affairs Of the House, who does not be.
lieve In preparedness, is apparently engaged
in attempt to prove that the nation is
pretty we'll prepared at the present time. He
quotes figures. which he says were supplied
by the Adjutant General of the Army, in sup
port of his contention that there are I,324,700
trained soldiers in the country at the present
time The Adiutant General may have com
piled the figures, but no one familiar with
the sentiment of the army will believe for
moment that he intended the inference to be
drawn from them on which Mr. Hay is insist.
ing. Representative Gardner. who disputes
the statements of Mr. Hay refralned from
quoting the old saying about the trustworthi-
ness of figures and the untrustworthiness Of
f1gurers. and thereby exhibited unusual self
restraint.
Mr.. Gardner, however did cite figures sup.
piled to him by the Secretary of War which
show that Mr.. Hays estimate of the number
of trained men in the country Is $4,000 too
large. But the figures given by Secretary
Baker misleading, for they include among
trained men scores of thousands who would
have to spend at least three months in camp
before they would be fit to take the field
Mr.. Hay puts the regular army at 100000
men, with a reserve of 10000. Mr. Baker says
that there 100000 men in the regular
army, including the Philippine scouts, and that
the reserve is 1900. They agree on the num-
ber in the National Guard, which is about
10000. Mr.. Hay says that there are 995,790
men in the country outside of the organized
forces who have had military training and
are available for service. Secretary Baker
says that at the outside there are only 241, 300.
The disagreement in the size OF the regular
army and the reserves arises because Secre.
tary Baker gives the size of the army today
and Mr.. Hay gives the size it will be three
four years after his bill enlarging it becomes
a law. Mr.. Hay includes in the 995,OOO men
who have training several hundred thousand
who could not be found even If they do
exist He says that $4,000 men have passed
through the regular army in the last ten
years and are subject to call when needed.
The Adjutant Generals report shows that only
1854 men have been discharged from the
army in that time who did not reenlist.
certain percentage of these have died or have
become unfit for service. A conservative esti.
mate would put the number at $780, This
leaves about S25OO instead of 227OO0.
Mr.. Hay says that $50 men have passed
through the National Guard in the last ten
years. These figures may be correct. He
says also that 100000 men have been trained
in the military schools Of the country and are
MI
such schools last year, and only 5000 were
graduated. The records of the War Depart
ment show that only 10000 have been grad
uated in the last ten years from institutions
to which army officers have been assigned.
If the War Department figures are correct,
Mr.. Hays figures are 17S,OOO too large.
President Wilson has said that we must
depend in the future for national defense upon
"a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms"
1t is important that the men who are franz
ing the legislation for Strengthening the ma
tional defense should agree on what "a citi-
zenry trained and accustomed to arms is.
The graduates OF the military schools would
not be classed as trained men by any military
expert in the world. They have learned the
manual of arms and they know how to march
in close-order formation and when they were
in school they looked pretty on parade. But
lndI Is ABOUT all JIle IllllltlN equipment lHdl
they possess. The National Guardsmen are a
little better prepared, but not much. The Ma
tional Guard of this State, one of the best
ganizations in the country, is composed of men
whose actual training is confined to one week
in camp and seventy hours drill year. Those
who have served out their term of enlistment
have received less real training than a soldier
in the regular army gets in three months.
Many men counted in Mr.. Hays reserve OF
trained citizens have left the National Guard
before their term expired. Some OF them were
guardsmen only a few weeks and many more
only a year. These are so poorly equipped
that for soldering they are little better than
the average citizen who has never shot gun.
Before Congress goes further with its con-
sideration of increasing the national defenses
men Of all parties ought TO get together and
agree on a state OF facts so that we may know
exactly where we stand. No bill drafted on
the assumption that we have nearly 100000
men in the country who can be depended on
as a reserve of trained soldiers, when those
figures are disputed. will meet the demands
of the situation. The wise commander always
knows when he goes into battle just how
many men he can depend on, not on how big
a force he can figure out on paper. 1t would
be as foolish for Congress to deceive itself or
TO try to deceive the country as for an officer
TO depend on a paper army in the face of the
enemy.