Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-26
BY HERBERT COREY


nice little army we used to have:
All full of soldiers and everything
Mules so fat and slick they looked
like walruses. Generals all happy
and content Doughboys with Shout
ders thrust back. Every one pleas
ant except the company cooks.
That army is just memory. The
present army is pretty well shot u
By the end Of September, or earlier
it will be completely shot. 1t is
today about as cheerful as one OF
Billy Sundays converts just before
conviction. It's morale is about as
high as that of a man locked in the
butchers ice chest. Surf bathers at
Atlantic City have distinct yhearG
the groaning of the soldiers at Camp
Meade on a clear day.
Do not jump at conclusions. This
is not an attack on the lovely new
idea of economy, by which several
trimming drops are to be caught at
the spigot of the government barrel
while a few billion squirt out through
priations 1t has nothing to do with
economy-or at least very little. It
ia merely an effort to present one
point of view held by the army. To,
wit:
HOW the Army Feels About It
"That if the army is to be GU
down-well and good. But cut il
with some common sense. Don't de-
stroy it."
To begin with. Congress has di'
rected that 10000 men be discharg'
ed. The general staff passed along
the congressional order. The com
bination gave good old Jack, the
well-known private soldier, chance
to get out of uniform. There's moth
ing the boy does with more facll
ity except, perhaps, getting back II
again. The three-year men will get
bonus, which. with travel pay, vii
amount to perhaps 500. Some saw
ing soldiers have a good deal more
to their credit. Livewire youngsters
as are most of the regulars, cal
have a lot Of fun on $500 in any
regular city. Take it from him.
A regular soldier always grum
bles. Else he is not regular sol
der. This goes for generals and sec
| ond lieutenants as we'll as for pri
Yates. The private is always honine
| for a change. He sees a chance
to get out of the service, see the
world, get a job on a schooner or II
wheatfield, maybe get as far west
as Salina, Kansas. or Toxic, and go tc
the movies. The fact that there are
thousands of voorhees, men just now
does not deter him. He figures that
he can always get a job somewhere
for he has been trained into eff
cient muscularity. When 1T gets colo
enough for duck shooting he can &C
back to the army. That's his gen
eral idea.
designations Numerous
| Therefore about One-halt OF the
| present force is resigning or Will re
sign. This, of course, is just guess
work, but it is official guessWork by
officers who know their. men anc
men resign it makes the work of the
rest just that much harder The
police" work of keeping a canton
| ment clean is trifle when divided
among the 10000 men of division
But when a couple of thousand have
to do police, the job is different. 81
more send in their papers. The ne
consequence is that the army is no
merely being reuuced 10 skeleton
1t is rapidly becoming the jaWbone
of the Neanderthal Man.
I'VE have about 500 men now il
our regiment, one officer told me
From what the first sergeants tel
| me, about 500 will resign. That will
leave us with 300 men to run the
| show" s5IS
The trouble is that each regi
ment has 10 different services which
must be KEEP up in order that the
regiment shall be expanded properly
sion comes. There are the companies
| of course, and the headquarters
force and the machine gunners anC
what not. Each of the 13 service!
| must have an "overhead' in person
mel. 1t must have its officers anC
| non-coms and clerks and cooks ant
| mule-paStors. By the time the neces
Sary personnel for the Is services is
deducted from the 800 total strength
of this particular regiment, the ac-
tual strength of the regiment in
rifles will be about four and three
| tenthS.
How One Battalion Snrunk
Out of my battalion" said anoth
er officer, II expect to retain abou
enough men and officers to make III
one small company"
The line officers feel that wha
should have been done, when the or
der came to cut down costs, would
have been to get rid of Il certain
number of organizations as wholes
and maintain those remaining in {