Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-26

nr'gadier General w. W. Atterbury.
VINO served with much distinctio, IN
charge of the transportation department
IN france during the war, last evening
gave his views as to the future militarv
policy of the United States before a
large crowd of his fellow members Of
tne Union League and their friends
General Atterbury was introduced h.
former Governor Edwin S. Stuart wbo
presided, and the speaker was received
with tremendous applause, the audience
rising 10 greet him. He broke at once
INTO his subject, '"The Future of the
United States Army" with the asser-
ton that the world is now and for
many years will be involved and tn :
multuous. The old order of conditions in
this country can never return. Con.
t1nental enmity and political and racial
hatred have not been eliminated and we
may as well make up our minds that we
are now in world politics and we-are
today the one strong nation of the
, world.
Preparedness Needed
A reasonable amount of national nre-
paredness is vital to our continued
well-being, and to obtain this it is
necessary that the army, the navy and
our great industries be co -ordinated.
The first step in this program is the
formation of a national defense board
and thorough agreement upon a ma :
tional policy. The ultimate need will
be the entire manpower of the nation,
but the immediate need is for an or
ganization which can be summoned to
the nations defense at any time.
Then there should be general staff
formed. The outbreak of the war found
each department working out its own
salvation, often to the detriment of
departments equally important. The
great lesson of the war to the United
States is the necessity of a general
staff.
General Atterbury recommended for
the regular army the volunteer sys-
tenn with short service term. Here
he took the opportunity to say a good
word for Secretary Baker, who he de-
clared had accomplished much with the
instruments with which he had to work.
For the second line of defense. he
said, the enlisted militia system was
entirely inadequate. The militia of
Pennsylvania was so efficient and did
such wonderful work that it is hard
to make Pennsylvanians realize how in
adequate the National Guard system is
as a whole. But nevertheless, in Au-
gust, 1916, when the strength should
have been 1900, it was found to be
only 13S, 800 and other figures which
he quoted bore out his assertions.
Universal Service
The volunteer system has regularly
broken down for the second line of
defense as has been shown by every war
that the country has had, from the
Revolution to the present day. Any
system other than that of universal
service means injustice to the individual.
General Atterbury urged the adoption
of system of universal service, which
has been successful in many republics
and limited monarchies. 1t is not at
variance with our ideals, for it is
great builder of the democratic spirit
and its value to the physical well being
of the national alone il worth while.
He suggested six months of military
service at the age of nineteen followed
by three weeks work in the field. This,
he computed, would add more than
half million young persons annually
who could thus be called to the national
defense when needed. 1t would not lead