The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-12-01
Universal Training
as Means of Building
Military Strength
INCREASED STANDING
ARMY RECOMMENDED
Approves General Staff Bill
for Regular Estab-
lishment


perience plainly shows the necessity for
fundamental reorganization of the
army and of the war department it.
self. Secretary Baker declared to-day in
his annual report. He recommended
that the emergency organization, re-
duced to the peace time size. be made
permanent, and approved the general
staff bill for regular establishment
adequate in size to be the nucleus of
any great military mobilization the
country may be called upon to make"
and backed up by a system Of hniver
sal training.
"In such a policy" Mr. Baker said,
"the accent is upon the citizen and not
the soldier; the officers becoming per
manent corps of experts and the men
body temporarily devoting portion of
their time to military training in or
der that they may enter civil life with
a sense of national service and with SUI
perior equipment for success"
at is difficult to believe" he said,
denying any danger OF militarism,
"that an army could be formed of
Americans, educated in our common
schools, raised in the free and demo-
cratic atmosphere Of our institutions,
which would still be hostile to those
institutions and liberties The world
war has shown quite clearly that ar.
mics reflect the spirit of the people from
whom they come rather than create
a spirit of their own, 50 that the size
of the army is not SO important from
the point of view under consideration
as the kind of an army"
The selectiye service law was accept
ed as a fair means of assigning men to
military service in time of war, Mr..
Baker said, but compulsory service in
time Of peace would be "a poor substi.
tute for the volunteer principle proper
ly applied" Raising a standing army
by financial inducement is too costly
to contemplate, he added, leaving only
the method Of making enlistment in
the army an educational opportunity"
to furnish the troops.
The recommendation for an increased
standing army he declared, should not
be taken to indicate Discrimination to-
ward the prospect of disarmament.
Those who know the spirit of the
American army the secretary said,
will not ascribe TO it any provocative
temper. There is glory left in the ca
reer and the sacrifice of the soldier,
but the mild and spectacular contests
of an earlier age have become a stern
and cruel business, and while there is
cheerful Willingness to encounter the
privations and make the sacrifices
which it demands, the men Of the Amer
lean army are abreast with enlight
ened men everywhere in the hope that
more humane and rational processes Of
and loss Of armed conflict. They are,
however, Of the belief that so long. as it
is necessary for us 60 maintain an
army at all we are not justified in
having an inefficient army, and their
recommendations are to be viewed as
setting them apart as men who, by
reason Of their experience, are quail
fed to speak upon the provision which
should be made for the common good
anu tit tJilhhpi pibbSNllbu HAOulu tHt
test of war become unavoidable.
The plan recommended, Mr.. Baker
said, looks 10 the establishment of sys-
TENS Of schools teaching the formal
branches OF education and adding to
them the skilled trades, 80 that at the
end Of a term of enlistment, the young
man entering in his 18th year will 20
back to civil life with the physical set.
up which the open, athletic life of the
army gives, and with the education and
training which will make him more val
liable in civil pursuits than he could
otherwise have BEEN Social and rec
recational opportunities also must. be
supplied, he said, so that the graduate
from the army will bring back with
him the social virtues which result from
education OF mind and hand acquired
in an environment made stimulating
by the presence of high purpose and
sense Of service, and generous associa
tion with his fellows
"The military policy recommended by
the war department, therefore, involves
new army created with new spir-
it, having wide civic usefulness, and of
such size ana organization as to be an
adequate reliance IN case OF need, the
report said.
MI Baker sad the operations IN
France would be dealt with IN the spe,
cal report beng prepared by General
Pershlng. Not even the allied war
council, ne said, had realized the effect
upon Germany OF the accelerated move
ment OF troops and supplies from the
United States, and all plans had been
prepared for vigorous campaign in
the spring Of 1919.
Had not the great troop movement
of the summer Of 1918 been carried