Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-12-19
NEED 100000
SOLDIERS IN US.
Senate Committee Hears Army
Men Flay Present Defense
System in America.
NATIONAL GUARD A FAILURE
Gen. Wood Urges Military
Training for Every Amer
lean at Age of 10

WASHINGTON, Dec. is. TIL,
lhoblli@ation Of the national guard for
border service was described as a
"llthry failure, emphasizing the
Urgent necessity of abandoning tbc
Noluhtcer system as the nations re-
i'n'e Tor defense, In statements to-
uny ny Major General Hugh L. Scott.
cnltf or staff of the army and Mn ior
General Leonard Wood comma ndina
the eastern department. before the
S,hatc SUBCOMMITTEE considering the
nam nei lain universal military train
ing bill.
Hoth OF the generals advocated
UNIVERSAL training. General Wood de-
Jh,red mat the country now is utterly
ueienSelcss against "A well organized
foe; that the mobilization was n
tragedy and that IL the guardsmen
rau met good troops they would
never nave known what Int them"
iencral Scott told the COMMITTEES that
lessons drawn from the present war
proved that In case of war with a frs,
cIhss power the United States would
immediately need "a trained force OF
l'5OO'O0O men with another 800, 600
available within ninety daps.
Suggest Raise IN Pay.
ON the other side of the question
'N'''''iA''' waiter L.. lSnHr
or Chicago, former secretar OF tho
interior. who opposed universal serv.
lee tho I've stood for adequate defense
measures and suggested A regular
army of hal "A million. lie thot IL
the pay Of piiviitcs were raised to $40
nonth t"e service would be more
attractive to recruits.
General Wood. from whose depart
Inent went eighty five thousand OF
me E1IlIdSmpp ~ a
OF the men enrolled when the call
came, an average Of 30 per cent Of
each company had to be droupcd for
physical defects and the organizations
went to the border filled up with
n cen men.
a Tragedy. Says Wood.
Its been tragedy" he said. But
worth all IL cost II we only profit by
1t. II was not the fault OF the officers
or men. but OF defective system.
II we had been compelled to meet
good troops down there, IL would
nave been a scene of carnage. The
guardsmen would never have known
what hit them"
What should we do with the ma
tional guard. general" senator Hrady
asked.
1T should be replaced as rapidly az
possible with men trained under q
SflNlit SYSTEM, General
Wood replied when the system
has been well started. would drop
the national guard entirely from any
scheme Of national defense altho wa
want every officer and man of them
In the new plan, But it must be n
straight out federal force
vet the states must maintain tho
national guard or some other force"
Senator Bradp suggested
'I hplipNp "A httl Oh Ia
maintained by each state. not a mill.
taIy force" explained the general.
The police are trained to control
while troops are trained to Kill There
Is less resentment when men are
handled by police than when troops
arc called out. The people feel It Is
the policemans business"
General Wood outlined his own
plan for universal service which In
effect would be a combination OF tho
Chamberlain lill itself an adaptation
Of the Australian system, and the
French general staff plan. His scheme
would provide that all physically III
men be given six months training dur
inc their nineteenth year, passing then
into the organized reserve to be avail
able for the first line duty only be.
tween the ages of 21 and ?2, after
which they would he passed into tho
unorganlzed reserve until 30 The re-
suit would be n constant force of
trained men with full equipment OF
more than four million. he said, in
addition TO stlnding army OF go. 900
composed of men who were pro-
fossional soldiers by personal ihclina.
ton.
Insure Us From ATTACK.
~ do not think any nation would
attack Us" he remarked.
Senator Thomas asked what the
general thot of the feeling of the ma
tion toward universal service pro-
pCsals
~ believe the people will endorse
II today" General Wood answered.
Labor is with YOU when you make
II absolutely certain that all men. rich
or poor. will share alike in military
service"
Senator Thomas called attention to
MIR Fishers suggestion that raising
the pay Of rhe regular army to $3n n
month would bring In al the men
necessary, The general said this
merely would extend the evils of an
already hopeless military system that
had failed the nation In every war.
And in this present mobilization"
he added, 1--WE can not get the men
for either the regulars or national
guard"
General Scott will go into details
as to the mobilization when he re-
sumes his testimony tomorrow.