Milford chronicle., 1921-01-28
UNCLE TED'S
BEDTIME STORIES
THE WORST FRIEND
OF THE U. S. ARMY


"Oh! please Uncle Ted" pleaded
Jack. Johnny and have been play
ing all afternoon with our tin sol
d1ers and we do want to hear story"
you're an awful tease sometimes,
Jack" replied Uncle Ted. "And you
know 1 get tired once in a while.
Well, you have given me an idea.
You say you have been playing with
your tin soldiers all afternoon, so I'll
tell you a story about the United
States army and the worst friend it
ever had"
"Who is that?" asked Ruth, who
had Joined the interested circle.
"None other than the man to whom
President Wilson has given the job
of looking after the army, Newton D.
Baker, Secretary of War. Before we
went to war with Germany Mr.. Bak-
er was one of our best little pacifists.
In fact, it was due to him probably
as much as to any one else that the
country found itself in such an ut
terly hopeless state of preparedness
when we faced war. The story of the
cost of that brand of pacifism you
know very well. 1t cost the country
an awful lot both in lives and money.
Now recently, he has become very vim
dictive and has fought for an enor-
nous army much greater than the
country needs with the result that
Congress does not trust his views in
the matter"
"I shouldn't think they would"
spoke up Johnny.
"That's right, Johnny. Mr.. Baker
has given the men in Washington who
make our laws entirely too many rea-
sons for going ahead and doing the
things that they know Mr.. Baker
doesn't want. What seems to be the
answer to this change of attitude re-
garding the size of the army is that
because millions of voters went to
the polls and voted to turn down Pres
ident Wilson's league of nations, Mr..
Baker thinks we should have a big
army"
"Well we didn't have his league be-
fore the war, so why shouldn't we have
had big army them" asked Jack.
"Of course, Jack, that is one way
to look at it, but really his argument |
isn't at all sound. In 1919 he asked or
rather demanded that Congress make
an army of more than 100000 men. |
Congress, acting wisely, cut that down
fifty per cent and placed the size of |
the standing army at 100000 and only |
made provisions for enough money to |
support an army Of 175,000 men for |
1920 and 1921.
"Now what do you suppose Mr.. |
Baker did right away? Instead of fol- |
lowing the wishes of Congress, made !
up of the representatives of the peo- |
pie of this country, he absolutely turn |
ed up his nose at them and started a |
campaign to recruit men to the army, |
spending thousands of dollars on ad-
vertising, until when Congress went
into session last December they dis
covered that he had an army of 22O,-
900 men, which had made a deficit of
$40,000,000. The Military Affairs Com
mittees of the Senate and House of
Representatives got busy. A resolu-
tion was offered in the Senate order
ing him to stop recruiting until the
of men had dropped to 49,
900, the figure for which funds had
been provided by Congress and they
found it necessary to place Mr.. Bak-
er under bond to keep him from
throwing away the public money.
''When Mr.. Baker was demanding
that no less than 100000 men be kept
under arms at all times General Per
shing said that 175,OOO would be
enough. 1t was agreed that General
Pershing's figure was safe one and
hat to go below that might be unsafe.
The Senate has now settled on an ar
my of 175,000, brought about by a res
Olution introduced by Senator Harry
5. New of Indiana When the matter
was being discussed in the Senate
many things were said regarding not
only Mr.. Baker but Secretary of the
Navy Danields as well.
"In fact, it was Senator Reed, Dem