New Britain herald., 1916-12-18
ENGLISH JAP PACT
 AMERICAN MENACE. ARMY HEAD CLAIMS
Gen. Scott Pleads Against Yolun- teer System and for Uni
 VerSal'Military Training
|. s. NOT PREPARED TO
 RESIST INVADING ARMY

His Plan Would Practically Render -~Js Immune From Attack Within Few Years. He Tells Senate Com-
 mittee-Points to Call for Volun-
 teers on Mexican Border as Proof
 of Failure of Voluntary Service
 Washington, Dec. 1S.-Major Gen. eral Scott. chief of staff of the army 7told the senate military committee to- day that the army general staff, recommended without apology that the volunteer system be discarded be- cause ''the time has come when this country, unless it intends to avoid war at any cost" must resort to universal liability to military training and ser i >.ice-''
 Arranging the volunteer system as extravagant, inefficient and dangerous, the chief of staff told the committee that universal training would be democratic, reliable, efficient and economical and within a few years practically render the United states immune from attack.
 tIt will be democratic, he said, because the burden of national defense svould, fall equally upon all citizens. It would make it impossible for any man or group of men to trade upon the nations necessities in time of awar. The system would be reliable =. because it would. produce each year ' the number of men necessary to be trained It would be economical be- ! cause it would be based upon recog- x hilton by the people of the duty of 4.ae Individual to render personal ser- Vice and in carrying it into effect the government would not have to com pete in the labor market. It would be efficient because it would enable us to prepare adequately for war be- fore it comes.
 Mexican Situation Object Lesson. < At the outset General Scott pointed 1out that the Mexican crisis had talled 7 to recriti many National Guard or ganiZations even to their minimum peace strength.
 '',The failure should make the whole people realize that the volunteer system does not and probably will not give us either the men we need Tn peace or for service in war ne sald. Reviewing the intensive training which European and other nations require, he declared that if American troops
  trained and splendidly disciplined forces they would require training and discipline at least equal to that ot their opponents.
 The lessons of the European war, the general said, had demonstrated that a higher standard of training h and discipline were required than was possibly considered necessary before and that most of the European na- tions for that reason found they could not develop them in less than two years with the colors.
 '-It should be obvious," said he, 'sthat 192 hours training prescribed for the national guard is utterly in adequate to prepare this force for war service"
 For war with a first class power the general staff had previously esti- mated that 500,0O0 fully equipped troops should be ready at the out 5 break and that 800, ,000 more should s be available in ninety days. In view of the lessons of the war, the general staff was not of the opinion that these numbers should be tripled and that 15O0,O0O fully equipped and ready troops should be available with an- other 100000 to follow in ninety days.
 Possible Menace on North.
 This is due'' he said, ito the fact A. that one of the powers involved in the war whose territory extends the whole length of our northern frontier, has increased it's army from rela- ttvely small force to a strength ap- proximating that of the other great powers. Due to the fact that our northern neighbor Is largely an island ;. empire, a great portion of any trained force it may possess can be spared for use in a distant theater of opera tions because, although an island em- pire, the control of the sea gives it practical immunity from invasion where troops would have to be trans ported across the sea.
 "It should be pointed out also that E our northern neighbor is in alliance s with a powerful oriental nation-an- k~ other island empire-and for the same reason when acting in alliance with a power which has control of the sea, has ability to send it's army of 2,225 900 men to any part of the world without danger of invasion.
 T think a mere statement of these facts makes it clear that at present we are practically defenseless before the veteran armies of our northern neighbor and could easily be crushed by the existing coalition of the Island empires.
 "A factor which has in the pas
 (Continued on Eleventh Page.)