The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1921-10-07
snough in zero weather here to keep
the political pot boiling.
War Departments Saves Money.

Budgetman Charles G. Dawes IS
that Secretary Weeks has succeeded
in shshing Things. Perhaps am put
ting it somewhat rudely, and perhaps
Secretary Weeks may not like 1t II
he should happen ito see lit, but am
convinced that hes wishes he had not
been compelled to save money along
certain lines, although perfectly WILL
ing to save it along other lines.
Congress has cut the American army
force to 10000 men by an act of leg
.islation. OF course here is q big saw
ing and the credit for it cannot go to
the secretary Of war, because it u
what might be called perforce saw
ing, but it is said that the secretary
has saved money in other ways ana
believes that he has done it without
hurting what is left of the service.
The American army today has about
t13, 900 officers, possibly 1850. Seem
ingly this number is disproportion'
ate to the number of enlisted men,
but the word of the War department
lis that there is work enough for all
these officers to do, and that there Is
no necessity Of cutting down the COM
missioned personnel. Your CORE
spondent has reason to think that
Secretary Weeks is strongly opposed
to any decrease in the army officer hst.
i; Many May Lose Commissions.
, There is fear, however, in the serv.
ice that when congress gets through
with Mr.. Fordneys tax and tariff
Legislation, it will turn it's attention
to the army and will legislate some
hundreds and perhaps thousands OF
men out of their commissions. "A
great many of the young officers en-.
tered the service on the. plea that
they were needed, and it was a 2patri.
otto duty to serve their country.
Some of them left good paying posi-
lions in private business with assured
futures to answer the call. The proc
ess of sending them back to civil life
by legislative act might be called
something worse than heartless. 1t
probably would be bad business any
way. sE-..- .,zF ~,
. There are some ranking officers OF
the army who think that a decrease
in the commissioned personnel is pos
sible without working an injustice
Ito the younger officers. Probably the
means for securing a reduction which
is being thought on by some Of these
ranking officers may seem bit heart
less also, but, if their met hod of sreduc-
ton in the officers lists is adopted no
body will suffer heavy pecun1ary loss,
although they may. suffer somewhat In
soul. 49,. ,..r~... ,.,..,-. =, .-...i~-
! There are military men who think
that there should be- a lot Of con-;
ipulsory retirementS in the service.
Officers who have served 80 years can
be retired BY executive order, but al
ways in such a case there necessarily
must be a suggestion that the officer
has outlived his usefulness, or that he
better than others can be spared from
active duty. .-...,-.uu,.,,. T.,
! There are also agood, many officers
who Voluntarily can sretire because Of
the length *of theft service, but who
have some years 70 70 before reaching
1.-THE age limit Whe etirement is com
puIsory. The suggestion has been
that some Of these men might be in
iduced to retire to make room at the top.
!. Creating the. Reserve Corps.
]; General Pershing and his staff are
hard ut work trying to create a real
reserve, corps for the army. There
ARE. something like $4,000 reserve off,
GERS who already have been commits
stoned. This seems like large num-
lber, but it is not enough in case the
United States should be compelled to
raise another army like that which
went to the front, or, was ready to 60
Ito the. front in 19lS.,' Ill., ~.
! The real need of the reserve. corps
Staday, of course, lis enlisted reserve
strength. AS vet There are few en-
listed men in the reserve corps. It
will be difficult to bring the young
Americans into the reserve unless in
,ducements are offered. Just what
course will be pursued is not yet
known, hut 1t lis said that the gem
eral staff hopes to have a real re-
serve army. \. 55.s .iB'
1t is < aimed that the, work of re
CONSTITUTE 1.-THE National Guard and
of conduty 1g citizens training camps,
has been carried on with energy. AL
the great combat DIVISIONS which won
such high distinction. during the World
war, are Ito be reconstructed. It is
known that the strength of all the
National Guard units which the War
department has recognized since the
first Of the year, is $4,000. Last
March there We're only 1862 federally
recognized National Guard officers.
Today there are virtually twice that
number and this is a marked and sat
isfactory increase, Of course. nj,
The work Of organizing and local
izing the reserve corps units into staff
corps areas is now in progress. OH
GERS have been selected in each area
and small number of enlisted men
have been turned over to each corps
area to helpin the work Of organization.
-.A--,. =
I. Z, A. a.s4 ssa t,sg5sat IN. W
Put in Uncomfortable Night.