The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1919-07-05

army reorganization which was sub
United az Il,. last ScSSi,'I .ulo,ycd the {
recruiting uf regular army "f Il liz
'c more tlrn half Il mill.un m"u. This
plan, although il receive uo attention
at the last session. f"rEI> il part tht
basis Of present d!ScjSNi"H. and out o.
il eventually VIII BE- h"ol:at the new
organization scheme. Whatever Il ma!
hr. = scheme which ii ad,uted may -
~ the board H. soon as thy League o,
Nations becomes n ry.L!ty.
Fight Over General StsG Pan.
1t would bc untruthful t. say tina
the majority OF representatives ant
senators believes thar even with .
pcaCr-amou--;lli-nati pact the
strength oi the regular army of the
United States should he ni>het
close To The vanishing point. The lic
puhlicanS, it i said, intend Ia give the
country standing army of diminished
numbers. Whether ~ rot they vii
sanction universal military trimming %
course YET remains To- be- determined.
1t is useless To Try 10 hide the fac
that there j. Il pretty row going oI
among the ranking officials of the reg
ular army today. The general staff
many army officers say. is Il rattle
close corporation. The charge is tina
the STATS intention is if it can secur,
congressional sanction for it's genera
plan, To make the general staff the all
mall of army administration. Tn,
chiefs of army departments and Blu
rcauS as they exist today are antag
oniStic, bitterly 81, To lany of tn,
plans which the general staff is trying
! to put into effect with legislative sane
ton. Congress must determine the
right in the matter. rs
Army officers who are opposed to the
staff plan say that il Ii is put int
effect it will mean the complete sub
ordination of the views of men VIII,
know their business TO the views o
men who only think they know thei'
business. 1t would be Il tedious ans
thanklesS job to go into the details o
the things which the general stat
seems to want to accomplish. Putin,
it broadly. the staff critics say that 1
wants To run the army; that IL want
tn be chief of artillery, chief of In
fantry. chief of engineers. chief OF
ordnance and chief of everything else
unless il be the medical corps.
| Officers May Criticize Freely.
Within the next few weeks. IL the
purveyors of the news consider tn.
matter of Importance enough, ths
country will learn that army officer
of high rank are not afraid TO speaI
their opinions when the shield of con
gress is thrown about tRera,- An arm,
officer giving his views beforeNa com
mittee OF congress is protected ill.,
right to criticize the doings of his So
periors, although, of course, he Is ex
pected to keep away from personalitie:
that are personalities only.
Discipline and Il feeling OF loyalt,
TO the service have kept scores OF
ranking officers of the army quiet dur
ing the past few months. An immense
amount of bitterness of feeling has.
been engendered by the reOrganiza..
ton plans of the general staff. The.
staff will defend itself and officers Of
other bureaus will attack.
Women's Legion of Great War.
Washington is taking the Initiative
in organizing the wives. mothers and
daughters of men who fought In the
great war. An association has been
completed In the district of COlumbia4
Ii is TO be known as the Americnn
WOmen's Legion of the Great War.
This is q local organization, but th{|
belief here is that eventually the scopf
of the work will he nation wide. I'd
fact, some of the friends of the move
ment believe the women of the coun|
try who have close relatives In tho
war should undertake to form an orr
ganiZatiOn somewhat like that of tho
American Legion recently formed II.
st. Louis, and which has for its OBJ
iect the banding together in fellow
ship Of the soldiers who fought agaInsf
Germany.
IL is true that the American Legior
will admit to membership women who
did war work of certain kind. n
does not contemplate. however, the ad.
mission to membership Of women sim
ply because they were either the
wives. mothers. daughters or sisters
of active combatants.
The Washington organization offers
membership to the female next OF
kin" to veterans of the war. The
wives. mothers and daughters of en-
listed men are just as welcome as are
the women relatives of officers. The
intention is to make the thing thor
oughly democratic. Representative
women have the organization In
charge. and for time will conduct its
activities. II is likely that before
long officers of the organization will
he chosen from the ranks Of the WON
en- whose next of kin were enlisted
men.
Mrs. Eustis Is President
Mrs. William Cochran Eustis has
been elected president of this District
of Columbia association. She Is the
daughter of former Vice president
Levi +. Morton. who In his ninety sixth
year Is still living. Mrs Eustis Is the
wife OF a soldier who saw service In