Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1921-02-17
ARMY TOO LARGE
SAYS UNCLE TED
TELLS CHILDREN PRESIDENT
WRONG IN VVETOING MEAS
| URE PASSED BY CONGRESS

TED, ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC
Uncle Ted" said Jack, who had
just come in from visit to Johnny
Jones house, won't you tell me-
some more about our army. You re-
member you told us story about it
not long ago."
Sure, Jack" replied Uncle Ted,
There's good story about it, too.
You see when Congress passed the
law to cut the army in size, President
Wilson refused to sign il. In other
words, as ! have explained to you
before, he vetoed the bill. Il went
back TO the House of Representatives
first and it was passed there over his
veto by vote of 271 to 16.
But his biggest defeat and the
thing that proves how Congress is
thinking hard on economy these days
was the vote in the Senate on this
bill. ONLY ONE MAN VOTED TO
UPHOLD THE VETO. He was SEN
ator Kirby, democrat from Arkan-
sas. AS far as / can find out, this
is the first time any Presidents veto
has been oVerridden with almost
unanimous vote. Sixty-seven Senat-
ors voted for the bill and, as say,
only ONE against. Nowhere in the
country is there any support for the
Presidents position in this matter,
and certainly no President was ever
more out of tune with the people on
real domestic questions of inn
| portance."
How big will the army be now?"
asked Jack.
THE bill reduces the army from
100000 to 175,000. While that is
important in itself, it is far more i'm
portant because it shows that Con-
gress is actually accomplishing some
thing to help reduce our high taxes
and demonstrate that economy will
take the place of the wanton waste
and extravaganza that we have had
for the past eight years. Why should
we have such big army anyway?
Just look at the thousands of ex-
service men in the country today
who, if an emergency arose, could
quickly take their places as trained
fighters!"
why didn't the President think
of that?" asked Jack.
Simply because his argument was
an echo of the argument from Secre-
tary Baker, who, in turn, is simply
an echo of the general staff of the
army. And certainly the general
staff wants a big army. The bigger
the better for them. But Congress,
reflecting the feeling of the people
of the whole country did not look at
1t from the same light. They real
lied that such big army is not nee
essary, first of all because we have
plenty of trained men at present as
result of the war. And then, too,
they realize that most of all, it is
time that we start cutting down the
expenses of the government, which
have been so tremendous.
You see, President Wilson bases
all his arguments on questions of
this kind on his one-tracked idea of
a league of nations, and what he
thinks will happen to this country If
we don't join. Don't think for a
minute that the few friends of the
world club plan have given up all
hope of getting the United States
mixed up in 1t. President Wilson
has been telling us ever since he
brought the peace treaty back with
the world club in it, that the world
would come to an end if the United
States didn't agree to the treaty and
join the club"
We'll, it hasn't" spoke up Jack
mo, far from it, Jack" said his
Uncle. ''The world has shown a
steady, well-founded recovery from
the war. Each and every country,
with few exceptions, is gradually
getting back to the same status as
before the war. America has not
only shown that she has rapidly re-
covered, but she is in a stronger po-
sition than ever before. We have the
money, and the world trade Is at our
door if we, get busy and listen to the
knock of opportunity, and we are
more respected by Europe than
ever"
why more respected, Uncle Ted"
asked Jack. 81 don't understand"
why, Jack, we are more respect