The Washington herald., 1916-12-28
Army and Navy News

Failure to gain government recognition
win force the American Legion to dis
band after January l. The American
Legion was incorporated In March, lslb.
with the object of discovering and uniting
men who could and would give their mill
tary and technical experience for the
defense Of the nation In time OF war.
As result Of the legion's activity.
more than 1900 men were found to pledge
| themselves to give their services to the
government The legion did work neg
| lected by the government, keeping track
Of men whose enlistments had expired
in the army and navy, and keeping on file
the names and qualifications of the thou
| sands of others ws1o volunteered.
The member Of the legion were d.
| vided into more than eighty classifica-
tions. There were wireless operators.
chauffeurs. ayiators. surgeons, telegraph
ers, cooks, interpreters. and scores of
| other professions and occupations, skill
ed knowledge OF which Is essential In
modern warfare.
I All these names have been turned over
| by the officers Of the Legion to the Coun-
ell Of National Defense, and II IL hoped
that the government will keep and make
use Of the records gathered by the legion.
Possibly 10 per cent OF the men enrolled
by the legion gould qualify as commits
| stoned officers.
When the league was formed, It was
lndorsed unofficially by Maj. Gen. Leon
ard Wood.
I'VE must disband because We cannot
get government recognition" says DR..
John E. Hausmann. secretary OF the
legion. II have made countless trips to
Washington to learn why we could not
get 1t, but although the army and navy
men supported our work, could get no
satisfaction from the Secretary Of War"
The American army of the future
should be made school Of productive
enort, not merely school Of purely
tactical training according to Dr.
George Frederick Kunz, of New York,
| who lectured recently before the section
Of social and economic science at the
sixty-ninth meeting Of the American As
sociation for the Advancement Of Sci
ence, in session at Columbia University.
He said the entire population Of the
| United States should be card-catalogued
and the men classified according to their
various abilities. He favored increasing
the pay of enlisted men to 30 a month,
| naf of which was to be retained by the
government as savings account until
his enlistment was over.
AT present." he said, "a fair percent
age OF our regular army Is made up Of
soldiers OF fortune and soldiers OF mis-
fortune. What we want are soldiers ~
| the best stamina-serious, earnest men
not only good soldiers, but trained work
i ers"
J fhe high cost OF living NAV have a
very marked effect upon the new blood
IN the army. the speaker pointed out.
More than 70 per cent of the applicants
! tor the army have been rejected in the
| past because nf nh
he said, "and with the higher cost OF
living. less vigorous physical develop
meht may be expected in future ap-
| plicants"
The recommendation of the chief Of
! staff Of the army that graduates OF
the West Point Military Academy next
June be assigned to duty as instructors
at the civilian camps has been approved
by Secretary of War Baker. This can
be accomplished. however only By
modifying to that extent the detached
: service law, which now operates to re-
! Qutre that the officers who are COM
missioned from West Point shall at once
join the commands to which they may be
assigned as newly appointed second
| lieutenants.
| 1t is hoped by the military authorities
TO obtain an amendment of the "Manchu''
law. at least to this extent, II not more
in general directions as has been recon-
| mended by Gen. Scott and urged in the
hearings before the military committees
| of Congress Last year some of the
| graduates of the Military Academy sur
rendered their graduation leave and took
J part in these camps If it is possible to
I delay the operation of the "Manchu" law
in these cases for a few months. the War
Department believes that much benefit
could be derived to the civilians under
military instruction by the presence o.:
these enthusiastic instructors.