The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-12-21
WOOD DECLARES
militia failure
Country Needs "R8aI Army
Of 1000, 900 Men
URGES UNIVERSAL TRAINING

Commander of Department of East
Severely Criticises Mobilization Of
National Guard, Saying Nothing
Could Have Been More Pronounced
Than Its Inefficiency-Gen. Scott
Also Scores National Guard System.
Washington, Dec. 19.-Major Gen
eral Leonard Wood, commander of the
department OF the east, and former
chief of staff, told the senate military
committee that the national guard is
"a complete and terrific failure" This
country needs real army" of 4,000,-
coo men, he said.
"YOu have seen the guard mobiliza-
ton for border SERVICE" said Wood
Nothing could have been more pro-
nounced than the inefFiciency of that
mobilization"
81 had charge of Y per cent of
that mobilization. There is not one
unit Of the guard at war strength or
fit for war duty.
ut is the fault Of system, the short
age of equipment and the general low
standard Of efficiency"
General Wood proposed a scheme
for the creation of a well-trained and
highly efficient. army of 100000 men.
He declared his plan "anti-militaris-
tic and purely democratic"
"The plain military fact of our pres
ont situation is that we have no ma
tional defense" he said. 1--WE SIMPLY
are not prepared"
Under his plan all youths would be
recruited at nineteen and be given
six months of intensive training, on
the Pittsburgh plan. This would
turn our 100000 soldiers each year,
he said.
"The country is absolutely and com
pletely defenseless against a trained
force" General Wood declared "The
thing today is to get a trained nucleus
Of men as soon as God will let us"
General Wood laid before the sub
committee plan along the lines of
the Chamberlain universal military
training bill, which he said would
easily provide a trained army of 4,0OO,-
coo men at the rate of 100000 a year.
General Wood earnestly advocated
universal military training as means
of national life saving"
Major General Scott, chief of staff
of the army, detailed to the commit
tee why the general staff considered
the volunteer system wholly broken
down inefficient and useless. and
urged that it be discarded for a uni
versal system of liability to training
and service.
General Scott, disclosing much Of
the army war college material, hither
to regarded as confidential showed that
the army general staff now believes
that instead of 100000 available men
which it considered sufficient as a
start to defend the country against in
vasi0n, the country should have 800
600 fully trained men at the beginning
of a war with 9 like number ready to
follow in ninety days. The change is
based on the development of the Brit
ISM army, the organization of great
Canadian forces and the British al
lance with Japan.
With such force available, the
army general staff, General Scott said.
considers the United States practically
immune from such an attack as mill
tary strategists believe might be ex-
pected from the victorious set of pow
ers in the European war.
Walter L. Fisher, former secretary
of the interior, opposed the bill for
universal training. He declared him
self in favor of adequate prepared
ness, but he pointed out that there was
a radical difference between a mill
tary policy for defense and one FOL
aggressive DO1icv