Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-04-26
CLEAR WAY FOR
FIGHT ON ARMY BILL

~ accoTuance With the advice
OF the war department. and the army
general staff will begin In earnest
aohQay IN both houses Of congress.
20 The senate to-day the administra.
tloh oiil supported by Senator Cham
oetia1n, chairman of the military
committee, and majority of his
committee associates was formally
started on its way to vote. There
was some debate, parliamentary tan
Sles were disposed of, and the wav
cleared for uninterrupted considers
ton of the measure.
Present Reports In House
~ tse house the majority and mi
uofi'y reports were presented from
the military committee and the hill
VIII come up Monday with Repre-
sentative Kahn leading the commit
tee minorlty's fight for the adminis.
lta5ion's plan, while Chairman Dent.
aeaaing the majority of the commit
tee' dlrects the opposition urging
'flai OF the volunteer system before
FesoFtlng to the selectiye draft nlan
o. the war department.
lt'o minority plan signed by eight
members of the committee, includes
: letter Secretary Baker to Chairman
oent' declaring thatany compromise
90 the departments plan would be
attended by unfortunate results .
The Majority Report
The majority report, signed by
lhalrman Dent and eleven others.
said in part:
ihe bill authorizes, but does not
lilrect the president to issue call for
sn army of 100000 in the first placa
md of an additional force of 500 900 /,
tf necessary under the law now ia
existence.
The bill further authorizes presi.
dent to proceed at once with the req.
'stratlon of all male citizens between
ae ages of 81 to 40 as provided in the
piah Of the war department fora
draft.
Ihat all Of the machinery author
zfa the draft of SOC, 900 for the first
iofce and of the additional 100000
72lii be put in operation Mt once.
Three Months to Register
~ Wili require, according to the
testimony Of the secretary of war be-
Iore the military committee, at least
three months and probably longer to
complete this registration-in the
neaa1lne, If the president sees fit.
ne 's thorized TO call for volunteers
sad upon the completion of the reg
stfatiou he has the absolute power
10 decide whether he will take an
army OF volunteers or organize one
bg draft.
"The bin proyjdes that the organi-
zatlons of ali forces, other than the
regular army, shall be composed Of
assn who come from, and of officers
appointed from. the same state or
locality as far as practicable.
Both the volunteer and the draft
features of the bill authorized the
fresldent to refuse to accept either
oy enlistment or draft the services Of
persons needed in the industrial,pur-
suits OF the country,
The Volunteer System
vi the place for volunteers in the
administration plan the minority
gays:
Some of those who favor the vol
unteef system point with pride to the
iact that 1000 volunteers are enlist
ing every day at the present time.
According to a letter from the secre-
tary Of war to the chairman of the
committee 724,71s volunteers will be
required for our regular army and
the national guard organizations, It
would therefore take 724 days, in
cluding Sundays, or about two years.
to get the volunteer forces required
for those two branches alone OF our
military establishment. Does that
look very hopefulp''
A detailed explanation Of the bill
by Senator Chamberlain was the only
long speech in the senate today. Sey.
erai- senator's are known to be pre-
pared to discuss the merits of the
volunteer and draft systems at length
and leaders are not hopeful vote
can be reached until the last Of next
week, There was nothing today 10
change their opinion thatthe bill viii
be passed by : substantial majority
IN these days Of high priced -four
many are finding out to their SUR
prise that the lower grades Of flour
make just as good tasting bread as
the winter, better looking sorts. Il II