The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-23
FEAR BOL LSHEVISNl WOULD ARISE IN TRAINING CAMPS Think Youths Would Re sent Officers Mistreat-
 ment. WHOLE SYSTEM IS
 FULL OF DANGER Plan Modelled After the Selective Service
 Plan.

Washington, Sept. %. - The dan ger of making Bolshcvists out of young men by sending them to camp for military training, where they vouII risk being mistreated by inex- rcrieuced officers, was raised in the House Military Affairs Committee Saturday az an objection to the sys- tenn of universal military training proposed by the War Department.
 "NOu will have to be careful who tho officers are" said Representative James lEep., lIlChigauD. If boys go off lo camp and are mistreated it might make Bolshevis-s of them in- stead of soldiers"
 Gen. March, Chief of Staff. ad- mitted some officers get into the army who had no experience in dealing with men. but he thought this could be avoided under the plan suggest ed
 If young men go into camp preju- diced aga-nst the system and officers begin to lord it over them, you can see what would result - prejudice would be raised against the entire army said Representative AIcKen- zie lReD.. InD. The whole system is frauEhL with that danger"
 eve have now in the Regular Army replied Gen. March. "a large number of trained men and we want to have an officer assigned to pre- pare the younger officers who under stand the morale involved and who will get the men in the right -rame of mind. Young officers will find their work supervised by older men,
 ''If young men should go home would it be deseration?" asked MT. James.
 Absence without leave" corrected Gen. March.
 Don't you think he should receive more consideration than older men ?''
 We have a graded system of pun .shments,' said Gen. March. If a man is an absolute descrter his case should be dealt with on its merits. There will not be these severe sen tences that you saw in the waE." He said trials would be by court martial.
 Replying to a question by AIr. James who asked if the young men could be sent to the Mexican border or Siberia, Gen. March said: None will be sent in time of peace"
 That depends on what the Presi- dent calls peace; We have men in SiberI1 now" replied lTr. James
 ''The men aro not to be used for anything except training" continued Gen. March. T do not believe this bill compeIs service of them in peace. The President now. under existing law. can send the Regular Army any where, any time"
 He stated that the enforcement Of universal military training would be under local draft boards similar c0 r74F4
 The entire plan is modelled after the Selecuve Service Act he declared.
 Gen. March said the principle of promoting officers by selection won many converts in the army during the war, and should be continued by law in the new reorEaniza tion bill
 Tt would be a line thing if we could eliminate politics from the army-that is, pull" said NIr. Kearns.
 Chairman Kahn said selection had been followed with some diss7tisfac- ton in the navy, stating it was not a panacea for all their ills.~
 'I have heard of some mutterings myself said Gen. March 'I have always believed in selection. It ap- plies in business and everything else. !"
 "I have wondered if the boards of selection will have the courage to re- fuse the power of influence of some Senator or Representative, declared Gr. Mckenzie (Rep., III).
 Yes. I think so," replied Gen. March. Under this bill the Presi- dent and no one else can stick in a name to save his life.'
 Army recruiting officers have been cautioned to exercise all diligence to prevent the enlistment of boys under eighteen years of age without pa rental consent.
 Discussing the matter in a state ment issued today, the War Depart ment says:
 This IS essential not only in jus tice to the individual and his parents but for the reputations of the mill tary establishment and for it's ac- tual enfciency."
 Continuing. the statement says: Care VIII be taken 10 make clear to all applicants for enlistment that while the War Department will send men enuBtinS for special assignment under existing authority to the place for which enlisted, all should thor ougllly understand that they will be available at any time for transfer | to any place to which the United States troops may be sent"
 116,698 New EnIistments.
 New Enlistments reported to the War Department now aggregate 115,- G2S. These include 79,367 reported !, weekly from camps up to and inc1ud- 1 ing Sept 20. and 37.331 reported | daily from depots and depot posts l and including early returns of Sept | 20.
 Of the men enlisted. 14.171 express ed A preference for service in Europe, | 4 315 for Siberia, 5.226 for the Philip | pines Department. 2.0s4 for Hawaii 1 ABA for the Panama Canal Zone and ! 262 for Alaska. This leaves 92.2O6 |