Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-15
OPPOSITION TO
CUT IN SIZE OF
ARMY IS LIKELY
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal.)


listment expires, and while normally
the fuctuation in the size of the
United States army is not a matter
Of general concern. there are indi-
ca tions Of widespread disappointment
among the young men who had been
rushing into the army to get the
benefits of the new educational sys-
tenn.
From practically every army corps
area in the United States has come
word of the success of the educa-
tiona1 and vocational training syst, n
which has been in operation for
about a year. Enlisted graduates of
commercial courses are serving as
instructors and clerks in many posts,
graduates of printing schools are
earning, since their separation from
the service, good wages in the print
ing trades, and enlisted men who
have studied agriculture and tractor
work are finding many opportunities
to. make good use Of their training
1t is safe bet that the education
al system started in the army has
come to stay and that it is the first
time the peace-time army has had
something attractive to offer that re-
crult1ng has been an easy task. The |
big question is how far the United
States government should provide
educational opportunities for the
many boys who want the military
life as well. Either the cutting down
of the t.rnly to $4,000 men will mean
some plan whereby enlistments are
accepted for a year and no longer,
or else the regulars who have been
IN the service for years will have to
be encouraged to seek honorable dis
charges so as to make way for the
youngsters desiring vocational and
general education.
Comment on system
Commenting on the educational
system, Major General Liggett, of
the Ninth corps area at San Fran
cisco writes:
"Education is necessity; voca-
tlnonal training is necessity. Recre-
alton is a necessity. The present
scheme of operation has proven. by
obtaining definite results, that the
program of educational and vocation
al training and recreation can be sue
cesssfully carried out in the army"
Major General c. p. Summerall,
j., writes: "The only way by which
anyone can understand the magni-
tude and the far-rea ching value of
education and recreation to the army
and to the country, lis to visit the
classes and the shops and see the at
dents. and the DEVOTED zeal of the
teachers.
when the first division went to
Camp Zachary Taylor in the last
days of September, 1919, it carried
several thousand of the veterans who
had borne the hardships and priva-
tions of campaign and battle and
who by their courage, loyalty and
fortitude had contributed to the vic
tory that brought honor to our coun-
fTTT hn1
manhood and character that could
come only from self-sacrifice and the
ordeals through which they had
passed. They were approaching the
end of their enlistment and were
destined to return to civil life with
out any skilled trade or profession
commensurate with their intelli-
gence, character and experience. In
deed, they could secure only the low
est class of labor with the smallest
remuneration. They found themselves
sadly outdistanced by men of infe-
r1or type who had remained home
and acquired both skill and prosperi-
ty in the industrial world. The in
justice was so great that we at once
endeavored to give as many Of them
as possible start in some trade
through the courses of instruction in
uncommon to see men with four
service stripes and two or three |
wound stripes in a class learning for !
the first time the elements of read |
ing, writing and arithmetic. Their |
country had allowed them to grow |
up in ignorance, but they had repeat |
edly offered their lives for it in bat |
tie in order that the ideals of this |
same country might endure"
General Harbord's Letter.
Major General J. G. Hartford, COM
handing general at Camp Travis,
Texas, writes:
when L was assigned to this div1-
sion last winter, on my return from |
France L looked on the new educa-
tional requirement in the service as
one of those fleeing fads of which
we have so many times been the vic
Tins in the thirty-one years I have
worn the uniform. l approached it
with the intention of carrying out the
orders to the best of my ability, but
with doubt as to the wisdom of the
possibility of combining it with the
necessary military training except to
the disadvantage of the latter.
have changed my views and I not only
believe the educational and vocational
work to be permissible in the army,
but eminently desirable"
Brigadier General George Bell, Jr.,
commanding general at Camp Grant,
writes:
Educational and recreation work
is producing wonderful results for
the country and the army, and moth
ing in this present generation has
accomplished as much. These state
ments are borne out by the surprise
and qualification expressed by prom
inent business men and others who
we'll as by the testimony of college
men"
Major General David c. shanks, of
the first corps area, Boston, writes:
1.-TWO years ago congress made its
first appropriation for the establish
training in our army. have served
more than forty years in the army
and during all of that time / regard
the appropriation for educational and
voca tional training as the most i'm
portant, beneficial and far-reach1ng
of all appropriations"
General Bullard Comments
Major General Billiard, of the sec
ond corps area, Governors Island, n.
Y, writes this comment: "The sys-
tenn of education and vocational
training introduced into the army in
the last two or three years, as shown
by my own experience with parents
of enlisted men, has helped to re-
move a former prejudice against
service in the armJ., Official papers
cate that the parents of minors who |
have enlisted in the army are much |
more willing now to see their sons
continue in the service for the sake |
of the clean recreation and education |
they are now receiving"
The foregoing series Of comments |
from the veteran officers Of the |
American army was not written for |
publication but they give a birdseye |
view of how the new plan is being |
who hav- been shouting for big APP |
denominations for this or that purpose |