The Cordova daily times., 1921-01-07
BITTERNESS
 OVER PLAN 10
 RECRUIT ARMY
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES.

 committee and Secretary of War Baker are in big row over the army recruiting situation. Considerable bitterness has developed between Baker and members of the committee.
 The situation in a nutshell may be described as follows: The last army appropriation bill only made appro- priations sufficient for an army of 175,000 men and about 14,OO0 officers. That is congress only provided money to pay an army of this size Despite this fact Secretary Baker for months has been striving to recruit the army to 287000 men and he has already re- cruited the army to nearly 225, ,000 rank and file. As a result of this the war department will have to ask con- gress for a deficit estimated all the way from $60,000000 to $1O0,OOO 900. This deficit is on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars asked from con gross for the annual expenses of the army for the next fiscal year The mix-up in the situation has been caused, according to Secretary Baker, because congress in the last army ap- propriation bill authorized an army of 287O0O men but did not provide funds to maintain and pay that num- Der, the appropriation being limited to pay and subsistence for only 175,- GOO. MT. Baker claims that the bill not only authorized him to recruit the army to 287000 in number but he construed the bill so that he claims it was mandatory on him to raise 287,O00 troops. Sharp issue has been taken with this stand of Mr. Baker by members of the house military committee, who claim that MT Baker under the terms of the bill, was ac. tually authorized no recruit only the number appropriated for, viz, 175,OOO men.
 As result of MT. Bakers enthus- iasm to raise the ranks to nearly 30O,. 900 the war department, it was report ed today, is faced with the fact that after February there will be no funds to pay either officers or men unless congress agrees to quick passage of a deficiency bill.
 Baker and General March, chief of staff of the army, have been "grilled by the house committee over this sit uation, and sharp clashes have re suited at some of the hearings be tween the secretary, March, and mem bers of the committee.
 The thing that annoys members of the committee is the fact that Mir Baker cannot give any explanation as to why so large an army, numbering 28700 men, is needed at this time MT. Baker had no explanation to such question. He merely contended that the army appropriation bill directed him to recruit the army up to the limit authorized but not appropriated for
 The clash shows that there is still lack of teamwork between congress and the war department, which has, in fact existed ever since MT. Baker has been secretary of war, and which was more violent during the world war than at any other time during the Baker regime. MT. Baker accordingly to some members of congress, has simply "flOuted" the wishes of house and senate in regard to the army re. cruiting. The secretary, however, can hardly care anything for these criti, cisms because it is now less than two, months when he will leave of flee, on March 4, next.
 Some members of congress believe, and say so, that Baker is merely a mannikin for the powerful general staff, and in effect is under the com plete mental domination of the gen erals of the staff. It is the generals, the congressman believe, who have rushed the recruiting program and all Baker did was to weakly approve whatever proposition was advanced by the general staff and sign a few official orders.
 Despite the row over the recruiting situation the adjutant general of the army, Maj. Gen. Peter c. Harris, is going ahead with the recruiting cam, paign. In his hands is the raising of troops. On December 15 a telegram was sent out from the adjutant gen. erals office directing all recruiting officers to immediately start an in tensive recruiting drive to fill up with recruits the Fifth division, stationed at Camp Jackson, Columbia, s. O. Only recently an intensive recruiting drive filled up the Second division, at