Evening star., 1921-01-09
THE ARMY


that the chief of the militia
bureau should be the onl,
militia officer serving in such bureau
Z The controller Of the Treasury so in
: terprets the meaning of that part OF
+. the act. reading as follows:
Tho President may also assign
: with their consent and within the
: limits of the appropriations previously
: made for this specific purpose not ex-
: cneding five hundred officers Of the
: National Guard who hold reserve COM
: missions to duty with the Regular
: Army" etc.
In other words, the controller holds
: that the service of a militia officer in
: this bureau is not duty with the
: Regular Army
: In justice to officers of the Regular
: Army connected with militia affairs. il
is their belief that such ruling was
: unprecedented. that the evident in
tention of the act was to permit the
service of National Guard officers in
: the bureau. In fact, they are Of the
: opinion that this service would en-
: hance the knowledge of these officers
: by placing them in a closer and broad
: er contact with National Guard mat
: ters. 1t is probable that the incom-
: ing chief Of the militia bureau, Col
: George c: Richards, National Guard
: officer. will appeal to Congress to cor
: rect this apparent oversight
: MIR. Hull ON Procurement.
:, Methods Of procurement indicated
: by plain words in the reorganization
: act are not being carried out by the
department" This was the statement
: made by Representative Harry E.
: Hull, member of the House COM
mittee on military affairs. The law
A~ r.. Y,,n hot
the assistant secretary of war, un-
der direction of the Secretary of War,
: shall be charged with the supervision
of the procurement of all military
supplies and other business of the
War Department pertaining thereto"
: Instances were cited of the pur-
chase OF ordnance outside of govern
arsenals. of which there
: are now five in number. ''Of course
said Mr.. Hull, 'if a saving can be effect
ed by outside purchases. have nothing
Ito say. Last years appropriations for
supplies called for around one hun
dred and fifty million dollars. If one
third of this amount had been used in
government manufacture our five ar
-senals could have retained their or
: time of emergency. Instead, how,
ever, of following the policy laid
down in the reorganization bill, al
most this entire sum has been ex-
=pended for the purchase of materials
: from private manufacturers. while
government arsena1s have been in
zsome instances dismantled, or their
reduced to a minimum amount
ing to almost total ganization. 1t
lis the specific duty of the assistant
-tention of the reorganization act. The
purpose Of his function in
: procurement is to avoid in future
: such mistakes as were made dur
=ang the late war; when not one sin
in the United States
=was fired on any battle front in Eu-
rope. However, i've naval guns man
-ufactured before the war began were
fused near Metz-less than one month
member Of the military committee. it
: will be my purpose to make an eff
-fort to see that the principle sub
scribed in the reorganization bill is
=strictly carried out"
: New supply Training School.
: In line with the policy Of developing
: Army specialists, the quartermaster
general has announced the opening.
January Is. Of subsistence school
: at Chicago. The course necessary to
strain a corps Of experts in the pur-
chase and inspection of food supplies
: covers q period of eleven months.
: Theoretical and practical instructor
: harvesting or manufacture. care,
grading and shipment Of such COM
: modities as packing house and dairy
products, forage. four. cereals. teas:
,conees. etc. The practical part OF
{ visiting Of stock yards, mills. can
: neries and various industrial plants.
: The student personnel Is made up OF
: omcers and enlisted men who have
expressed desire to take the course
e. aAlA ryGf
: have proved in service a natural
: ability for the course. A specified
: rating attained upon graduation
: makes the graduate eligible for
Quartermaster Reserve Corps com.
mission. According to the statement
-of an officer formerly in charge of
@Schools Of like character to the one
about to be opened, graduates are
-etted TO command lucrative Hveli-
hood ID civil life. 1t is a known fact
qualified In the study Of food sup
piles eventually confines himself to
particular commodities upon which
continue research work and study.
NO school Of its kind exists In this
country which affords as thorough
and practical a course of instruction
In the subjects taught as does the
Army subsistence school.
Demands Military Justice.
= Severely criticising the War De-
for what he terms illegal
methods" of "B'' classification boards.
sRepresentative Charles P. Caldwell.
before the House committee on mill
. tary affairs. on Thursday last, in.
Etroduced a bill to amend the national
: defense act, Ito establish military
: Justice, etc" These boards. according
to Caldwell. expressed opinions not
based on facts relating to these off,
eers, nor were they in q position
Ito pass an equitable opinion" Accord
ltng to his statement. there have been
: about 500 officers of the Regular Army
view of their discharge or forced re-
Efirement from the Army.
Citing several cases. Caldwell stated
Ito the committee that to his knowl-
: edge some OF these officers, none SUBJ
: 5ect to court-martial were not given a
fair or legal trial: that rules Of evil
sdence as used in civilian courts were
mot rendered. and from his experience
while attending one OF these classin- :
. cation boards in Governors Island
5 he found the legal procedure used
was "a disgrace to Anglo-Saxon laws,
particularly those Of the United
States" He further charged that only
5evidence detrimental to an officer was
used; that in one case among the evil
ldence against an ofiicer was an un-
: signed paper, which the ofhcer was
I. assured prior to his hearing would not
=be used. but which appeared in the
9 evidence. Further claim was made
that ofacers expressing a desire to
have civilian counsel represent them
swero given to understand that such
San action would not enhance their cases.
According to Caldwell. 1t was due to
( publicity given out by the press that
:. The pSmeS of 9,,fudrede of of7cerS or