The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-11
WOOD SAYS BAKER ARRAY
 TOO LARGE Former Chief of Staff Would Have Only
 25O,O00 Men. FAVORS CHANGE
 OF TRAIEING Condemns Secretary Of Wars Air Program As
 Scrap"

most 25O, 900, adequate for the United States at present, was the opinion of Major Gen. Leonard Wood. expressed | yesterday before the Senate Military
 Affairs committee. considering permanent reorganization of the 1 army He said that Secretary Ba- ker's recommendations for a regular army of 576,OOG officers and men was ] unnecessary. General Wood strongly urged adoption of a policy of univer- sal military training but opposed | many features of the plan inCorporat- ed in the War Departments bill which | recently was introduced by Senator ! Wadsworth of New York.
 General Wood told the committee: | We must maintain an army ade- | quate to the peace needs of the | United States. but I find no reason | for recommending that the strength | be in excess of 225, 900 or at most 25O- i 900. Universal military training should be made a. part of the perma- 1 nent military policy. Then we may he able to reduce the army below the | maximum I have mentioned" An officer reserve of not less than 12O,OOO should be built starting with Germany. General Wood added. He urged strengthening of coast ar ! tillery defenses, development of rail-
 way artillery, a reasonable increase i in the field artillery strength, and ! esta blishment of an independent air l service, but without a new Cabinet | officer at its head. Maintenance of i a small tank service and continued | study of gas warfare were also re- ] commended.
 l This can all be done within the | limit of 25O.0OO men" General Wood 1 explained. Reserve equipment and i supplies should be on hand for an i emergency army of at least 100000 men, the General added. | Opposes Three Months Training Three months training, as prOvid- l ed in the War Departments universal i training plan, is too short. 6eneraI ! Wood asserted. One training period | of six months, extending from April
 to October, and combining a certain 1 amount of industrial training, would i be more valuable. he declared. Gem 1 eral Wood also criticised the War De- 1 partments plan for turning trained i men back into an unOrganized re- l serve, and on being questioned by | Sena tor Wadsworth, strongly reCom- | mended that local reserve units be | maintained to foster morale.
 | Senator Chamberlain asked if uni versal training would tend to mili- tarise the country.
 If you are afraid of that, ask the boys who have been in France" Gen
 eral Wood answered. eve see those
 men coming back hating war and real pacifists in the fullest sense. They
 hate war but they will fight if it IS
 necessary"
 In discussing details of the War De partment bill, General Wood said that
 he had not been consulted in the drafting until after 1t was introduced in Congress. Many of his suggestions
 were put forth in general form which he promised to elaborate for the com
 mittee later.
 General Wood severely criticised
 the handling of aviation since the
 armistice.
 The entire air program is scrapped
 at present" he declared. We ought
 to be going ahead with production and
 training of pilots and fliers in peace
 time. In aircraft we need a compar-
 attvely large equipment to withstand
 the shock of war"
 Senator New said that the total
 production of airplanes in the United
 States during July was fourteen, and referred to the activity of the Allies in aviation development. "We ought
 to go ahead and develop fast fighting,
 accommodating, and bombing planes"
 General Wood repeated We have
 no time now to stop. We can't inn prove overnight
 Discussing promotion of officers, General Wood favored making 25 per
 cent. of the yearly promotions by se-
 lection above the grade of Captain
 The promotion board should be drawn
 by lot. put under oath, and required 10 state it's reasons for each selection in writing General Wood stated. II When discussion turned on the func- ton of the General Staff of the army, Senator Chamberlain criticised Gen eral Wood for having started a ten dency to ''usurp'' the duties of chiefs of supply bureaus while Chief of Staff.
 With all due respect to you. Gen. eral, you were the first offender as Chief of Staff to usurp the functions l, of the supply chiefs" Senator Cham . berlain said.
 } General Wood denied this, and said he had tried to use the office to CO., ordinate the various bureaus and get them working together. All officers had fullest access to the Secretary of War at all times, provided they informed me of their visit,' General Wood explained.
 Senator Wordsworth said there is H general complaint that the General Staff has gone beyond its functions. 1 "I tried to get the heads of the Washington bureaus into the General Staff and stop friction" General Wood said
 We did that during the war. always opposed a little body of men controlling the entire army. I didn't ; want any officer permanently assis.n- ed to Washington It set a danger ous precedent"
 General Wood told the committee 9 | he prepared the data for Secretary of 7 War Bakers brief dissenting from
 Judge Advocate General Crowder's interpretation of the duties of the ! General Staff under the National De- fense act Of 1916 He said General Crowder's instrumentation womb bava