Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-12-08

proved. itself a failure and should be rele-
gated 10 the past, declared Major General
Hugh l.. Scott, chief of staff of the army.
in his annual report made public last
night. Basing his conclusions on the show
ing of the federalized national guard when
mobilized 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 new
er be prepared for defense until we do as
other great nations do that have large in
terests 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 j. will
ing to make sacrifices for the protection
lhe 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 10 take training or give service.
The only democratic method is for every
man in his youth 10 become trained in or
der that he may render efficient service if
called upon in war"
Taking up the question Of the national
guard In its federal status. General Scott
declares the training period of seventy
five days in three years provided by the
new national defense act j. wholly made
quate.
"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 addition training in time of
war"
The report reiterates the opinion that
i il takes year of intensive training to
make a soldier and adds that the country
and congress appear to have a vital mis-
conception Of the facts in this regard. I'm
less the federalized congress substituted
for the citizen volunteer army advocated
by the general staff can be given greater
training General Scott says the country
faces serious situation.
"And it is very doubtful," he continues,
IF we will be able to do so and keep the
force recruited The difficulty that is now
being experienced in obtaining recruits for
the regular army and for the national
guard in service on the border raises
sharply the question of whether we will be
able to recruit the troops authorized in the
national defense act"
In spite of the fact that the prepared
ness agitation stimulated interest while
the effort was being made to bring the bor
der forces up to war strength, General
Scott asserts three months Of recruiting
left many national guard units still below
minimum strength. Every effort was made
To get the men. he says, house to house
canvass being conducted in some sections.
"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 statistics
on the national guard mobilization avail
able when the report was written eptem
her 30 lie shows that in eleven states
with 16.600 enrolled guardsmen at the time
Of the call more than ten per cent could
not pass the required physical examina-
tions. making the force forty-three per
cent raw recruits when 1t went to the
border. Brought up to war strength, he
SAYS, the force would have been seventy
five per cent green Hn and useless for war
purposes for many months.
These figures probably hold good for the
entire body of national guard" the report
adds.
An aggregate force Of Isl ,096 officers
and men of the guard were mustered into
the federal service under the call and
about ll0,957 were on the border month
and half after the call was issued. The
general commends highly the efficiency of
the railroads in handling the mobilization.
Turning to recruiting in the regular army
the report says that the service was
29,l50 short of its authorized strength
on August 81 last. Between March 10,
when congress authorized bringing the
army up to war strength by adding twenty
thousand men, and August 81 only S,463
additional men were enrolled
II i cause for every sober consideration
on the part of every citizen of the coun-
try when the fact i fully understood, Gen
eral Scott says. 'that 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 national
GUARD force not only was more than ninety
lseven thousand below war strength but
WA mora than four thousand below au-