The Cordova daily times., 1921-03-15
OFFICERS FOR ARMY TRAINED
 BY COLLEGES,
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

training by the war department in the Harding administration, it is said by departmental officials. With the reg ular army reduced in size, the nation al guard in a run down condition be- CGu5A Of the failure of the militia bureau to build up a new national 1 guard quickly, and with no prospect of universal military training enact ment by congress, the subject of re- serve corps training has gained much i more attention in the department and in congress than has hithertoo been the case.
 Aside from the annual training of the reserve corps and the special training that is now available to them at the Camp Bennings infan- try school, there is a vast field for the students reserve corps in the schools and colleges, and there re- mains much to be done before this part of the national defense is fully developed.
 With the masses of the citizens an war occurs many years from now when the veterans of the World war are too old for service again, the principal staff of the republic will be in the large number of reserve corps officers and graduates of the students officers reserve corps. Ma this system will be soon developed to it's utmost capacity, and will be- come a settled policy of the nation. In the World war the United States was not only greatly hampered from . lack of q universal military training system, which resulted in vas' masses of recruits entering camps absolutely untrained, but there was | also a great lack of officer material. i The officers had to be trained no ] less than the rank and file. With | development of a great officers re- serve corps and a big and complete | students reserve corps, the next war should find this country well sup piled with plenty oG officer material more or less trained, who can imme- diately take charge of the great armies of untrained recruits that will l have to be raised in a hurry, and get these citizens ready for the battle l fronts necessarily much quicker than 1 if the recruits had to wait for of ficers to be trained as instructors, which was largely the case in the last war.
 Already good beginning has been made by the war department in ex- tension and development of the stu dents reserve corps. Ninety-six col leges and universities will soon be training officers for our future armies, if the bill for federal catet- ship" prepared by Representative Hull, of Iowa, is approved by con l gress at the next session.
 This bill provides that each state may designate two colleges or uni versailles at which student officers will receive military training at gov ernment expense. Any boy is eligible for the training but must devote one hour day for four years to mill tary subjects, and upon graduation must serve five years as a member of the officers reserve corps. The president, members of the senate, and the governors may each desig military course in the educational in- stitutions. Any poor boy may be able to take advantage of the training for all expenses during the college course would be paid by the government.
 Under this plan it is contemplated that between nine and ten thousand bright and able bodied young men would be trained. The ages for such training would be between eighteen and twenty-four. The cost to the government is estimated to be eight 1 IlIllUuS d y6dI-d very Cu6dD pT1CS to pay for securing a tremendous lot of good officer material for our fu- ture armies.
 The educational institutions, desig mated for these courses would be named by the governors of the states, but subject to approval of the | secretary of war
 It is estimated that this bill would soon build up trained officer reserve of about one hundred and | fifty thousand, nearly all of whom would be eligible for commissions in our armies of the future.
 Many members of congress and military officers generally have given their approval to the Hull bill, and are anxious that it be enacted into | Iour oCo,,,-