The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-12-08
VOLUNTEER SYSTEM
is A FAILURE


has proven itself a failure and should
be relegated to the past, declares
Major General Hugh L. Scott, chief of
staff of the army, in his annual report
made public last night Basing his
conclusions on the showing of the fed
eralized National Guard when mobiliz-
cd for border duty, and the fact that
strenuous recruiting campaigns for
both the regulars and guardsmen have
produced negligible results, General
Scott says:
"In my judgment the country will
never be prepared for defense until we
90 as other great nations do that have
large interests to guard like Germany,
Japan and France, where everybody
is ready and does perform military
service in time of peace as he would
pay every other tax, and is willing to
make sacrifices for the protection he
gets and the country gets in return.
There is no reason why one woman's
son should go out and defend or be
trained to defend another woman and
her son who refuses to take training
or service. The only democratic method
Is for every man in his youth to be-
come trained in order that he may
render efficient service if called upon
in war"
Taking up the question of the Ma
tional Guard in it's federal status Cen
cral Scott declares the training period
Of rs days in three years provided by
the new national defense act is wholly
inadequate.
"In my judgment" he says, "it pre-
cludes this force from being made fit
for war service until it has received at,
least six months additional training in
time of war.
The report reiterates the opinion
that it takes year of intensive train
ing to make soldier and adds that
the country and Congress appear to-
have vital misconception of the facts
in this regard. Unless the federalized
National Guard which Congress SUBJ
stituted for the citizen volunteer army
advocated by the general staff can be
given greater training, General Scott
says the country faces serious sit
uation.
"And it is very doubtful" he con-
tinues, eff we will be able to do so and
keep the force recruited. The difficulty
that is now being experienced in OBJ
tanning recruits for the regular army
and for the National Guard in service
eli the border raises sharply the ques-
ton of whether we would be able to
recruit the troops authorized in the
rational defense act"
In spite Of the fact that the prepar-
edness agitation stimulated interest
while the effort was being made to
bring the border forces to. war
strength, General Scott asserts, three
months of recruiting left many Ma
tional Guard units still below mini
mum strength. Every effort was
made to get the men, he says, house
canvass being conducted in some sec
lions.
"The failure" says the report,
should make the whole people realize
that the volunteer system does not
and probably will not give US either
the men we need for training in peace
or for service in war;"
General Scott gives at length sta
tistics on the National Guard mobili-
zation available when his report was
written, Sept. 30 He shows that in
IN states with 5000 enrolled guards
men at the time of the call more than
10 per cent failed to respond and 20
per cent of the remainder could not
pass required physical tests making
the force as per cent raw recruits
when it went to the border. Brought
up to war strength, he says, the force
would have been rs per cent green
men and useless for war purposes for
many months.
"These figures probably hold good
~ viz OAA1AC DOoy VI Tile 1NdClOHdI
Guard" the report adds.
The aggregate force of Isl, 096 of
ticers and men of the guard were mus
tered into the federal service under
the call and about 1925 were on the
border a month and half after the |
call was issued. The general COM
mends highly the efficiency of the rail-
roads in handling the mobilization.
Turning to recruiting in the regular
army the report says that the service
was 29,130 short of its authorized
strength on August 81 last. Between
March Is and August 81 only 8,463 |
additional men were enrolled.
at is cause for sober consideration
on the part of every citizen of the
country when the fact is fully under
Stood" General Scott says, "the units
of the National Guard and regular
army have not been recruited up to
war strength in the crisis we have
just passed through"
The report shows that the modified |
National Guard force not only was
more than $1,000 below war strength
but was more than 1000 below .au-
thorized minimum peace strength.
General Scott urges drastic censor
ship laws to protect military secrets