Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-08-15
FOUR MILLION MEN COULD GO
THROUGH GERMAN LINES WHEN
NECESSARY, SAYS GENERAL MARCH
France on June 80 Next Year Volunteer Enlistment
Would Automatically End if Age Limits Change.

so, but simply says to him that II he
does cease he shall, under such regu-
lations as the president may pre-
scribe. subject himself to the draft
as though he had not been exempted
in the first instance" 75-
ing men. The desire of the admins
tration is to establish limits, both
maximum and minimum, which will
accomplish this program and at the
same time disorganize the industries
Of the country as little as possible.
''The policy of the war department
is to put the maximum number Of
rpen IN France with the idea Of short
ening the war. We found from fig
ures furnished by the provost marshal
program of 80 divisions in France by
June 80. 1919 with 1S divisions at
home. These divisions consist rough
ly of 100000 men to division. After
prolonged study Of the available man
power Of the United States the pro-
>vost marshal general showed that it
was necessary to drop to 1S years Of
age and go to As in order to get the
men to carry it through. All the men
obtained. under the proposed change
in the draft law-approximately g.
3OO,000-we expect to have in France
by June 80, 1872
General March told the committee
that he was unqualifiedly in favor Of
having the army composed of as
many young men as possible. Young
men between 1S and 20, he said. not
only do not have any encumbrances,
but they are better fit physically.
The president" said General
March, "has finally announced that
the American military policy from
this time on is centered on the west
-
diverted from that one thing. The
war department has now adopted this
as policy and it is the policy of the
United States that the military pro-
gram Is to be centered in France,
Must Furnish Enough Men.
THE purpose Of America is to fur
nish enough man power to whip the
Germans from now on. The only way
that Germany, can be whipped is by
America going into this thing with
her whole strength"
Then America has got to put
enough men over there to whip Ger
naany?" asked. !. Senator Kirby.
THAT issit In a nut shell,,. General
Aa ;fs b FeR'ss apss us % w,n ss ihe 4 Wsr u AID
we can win it., How long. it VIII take
will depend exactly upon what we do.
If we drag along with this thing and
put a small force over there we will
be playing Germany's game. 1t is my
belief that with an American army OF
100000 men in France under one
commander-in-chie we can "a
through the German line whenever
We please" -
This law" the general added, twill
let us lean on Glass 1 until June 80 of
next year. We reached the conclu-
sion that the enlarged program was
necessary on July 3O.''
Baker Explains Steps.
'After the recess of congress-" the
secretary said, 'the study Of the
situation went on and few days. age
it became clear to us that the 80 di-
maximum which we could possibly
hope to accomplish and that to &C
complish that it would be necessary
to change the age limits from the
present limits to 1S to As"
Secretary Baker said he asked the
surgeon general for formal opinion
as to what changes he would recon-
mend. to, which the surgeon general
suggested the ages 1S to 49,
THE bill as it is written meets with
my entire approval" declared 'Secre-
tary Baker. Asked by Senator John
son, Of California, If he believed the
pending bill was essential to carry out
the purposes of which the United
States entered the war Secretary
Baker replied: -
II believe that to be the fact. MY
own judgment about it originally was
that 10 should be the minimum and
1 came to the 1S minimum only after
Thorough study of the situation and
with some reluctance but finally be.
lieving 1t to be necessary to secure
the appropriate number Of men,"