The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-08

Washington, Dec. S.-The volun-
teer military system again has prov
ed itself failure and should De re-
legated to the past. declares Major
General Hugh L. Scott, Chief of Stair
of the Army, in. his annual report
made public last night Baslng MS
conclusions on the showing OF the
federalized national guard, when
modified for border duty and the
fact that strenuous recruiting cam
paigns for both the regulars and
guardsmen have produced negligible
results, General Scott says:
I'm my judgment the country will
never be prepared for defense until
we do. 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 son lshould go out
and defend or be trained to defend
another woman and her son who re-
fuses to take training or give service
The only democratic method is for
every ulHu LII ul6 yOuLA " DCOO1LC
trained in order that he may render
efficient service If called upon in
war"
Taking up the question Of the Ma
tional Guard in its Federal status,
General Scott declares the training
period of rs days in three years pro
vitded by the new National Defense
act is wholly Inadequate
I'm my judgment, he says, 1t
precludes this force from being made
fit for war service until 1t has re-
ceived 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 a Vital misrDnception Of the
facts in this regard Unless the Fed
eral1zed guard which congress sub
stituted for the citizen volunteer
army Advocated by the General Staff
can be given greater training Cen
eral Scott says, the country faces a.,
serious situation -
aAnd 1t is very doubtful" he con-
tfnues, .n we viii be able to do 30
and keep the force recruited The
difficulty that is now being exper-
fenced in obtaining recruits for the
regular army and for the National
Guard IN service ON the border,
rainses sharply the question Of
whether we win be aaoae to recruit
the troops aufhuRized I'm the National
Defense act"
In spite OF the fact that the pre-
paredness agftat5Dn stimulated inter
est, General Scott asserts, three
months of recruiting left Many ma
tional guard urdts STILL below mini
mum strength EVERY effort WAS
made to get the men, he EayS. a
-house-to-hDuBe camxRss BEING ccm-
Quoted in some sections
'tThe failure" Eays the. report,
should make the whD1e people to
realize that the volunteer system does
not and probably WIFI not give UP
either the men we need fr training
in peace or for service In WAR
General Scott gives at length Btatis-
tics on the National Guard 1nobdMxa-
ton available when his report WAS
written September 30 He shows that
in II states with $500 enrolled
guar dsrnen at the time Of the call,
more than 10 per cent. failed to re-
spond and 20 per cent. Of the remain
der could not pass required physical
tests, making the force d per cent
raw recruits when it went to the Dor
der Brought up. to war strength, he
says, the force would have BEEN rs
per cent. green men and useless for
war purposes for many rnurrtfas.
These figures probably hold good
for the entire body of the National
Guard" the report adds
An aggregate force of 151, O96 Of
fcers and men of the guard were
mustered into the federal service I'M
der the call and about 11O,957 were
on the border a month and a half
after the cali was issued The gen.
eral conrmends highly the efficiency
of the railroads in handling the mob
ifization.
Turning to recruiting In the regu-
lar army, the report Says that the
service was 20, 1870 short Of it's au-
thorized strength ON August 81 last
Between March Is when congress-