The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-07-01
Pershing Becomes
 New War Chief
Continued from Page One.) RecopuizeS Civilian Worth.


 The present General Staff will have charge of all routine matters of ad- ministration in the War Department during peace time. That organization would not be interfered with by the wartime machine, but in time of war would function as the Service of Sup ply for the Armies in the Field. General Pershing also has positive soldier should play in our scheme of national defense. As West Point graduate and regular army man" !" the General appreciates the value of the professional soldier as nucleus upon which to build an army. He la bors under no illusions, however, as to the comparative importance of the roles played by professional soldiers hand civilian soldiers during the World War He believes the United States has in her youthful male population the greatest military material in the world, and he saw much of it prove its worth or the battlefieldS O. France.
 The great task, the General be- lieves, is to keep these young veter- ans interested in the army. He to strength of 500.000 or more, and he wants to see the Officers Reserve Corps continued with it's wartime spirit and morale.
 The General believes the present system of training National Guard units is all wrong. Under the present scheme Regular Army officers who do not "ft'' in other jobs are sent out as instructors to National Guard organizations. They are given no particular instructions as to how the work shall be carried on, and each man is free to do about what he p1eases. =
 Decentralization is Aim.
 General Pershing is convinced that instructors should be picked men, chosen because they show particular dertake. He believes the officers so chosen should then be sent to school for six or eight months and given uniform course in military pedagogy in the instruction they are to impart to embryo soldiers to whom they may later be assigned.
 Incidentally, General Pershing is the General Staff. While the na- ture of these changes has not been divulged officially as yet, it is un- derstood that they will be in the di- rection of decentralization. The General intends that there shall be no grounds in the future for the cri- ticism that the General Staff is usur- ping the functions of the War De- partment bureaus.
 Sam Browne Belt May Return
 But the Pershing innovation, which is awaited with greatest expectancy especially by officers who served over
 
 the uniform regulations to include the Sam Browne belt. The question of the Sam Browne belt first came up when the American forces went overseas and the harness was authorized for use in the A. E. F. At that time it was recommended by a board of gen era1 officers for use in the United States, but the proposal was defeated by the opposition, it is said. of Gen eral March.
 Being a full General, General Per shing has the right to prescribe his own uniform, and it is a known fact that since his return to America he has always worn the Sam Brown belt, regardless of the fact that other of ficers may not wear it in the United States. It is expected that just as soon as he conveniently can the Gen eral will recommend to Secretary Weeks that the Sam Brown belt be adopted as part of the American uni form. General Harbord, too, is un- derstood to favor the belt.
 Hence the joy among former over seas officers who, despite two or three years of practice, have never quite godi over the feeling that with out the Sam Brown they are sshalf undressed-' z