The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1921-07-14

United States Senator from New
York. Chairman, Senate Com
: mittee on Military Affairs. :.
MANIFESTLY, it is impossible for
the United States to support in time
of peace a standing army large
enough to secure the country against
a major attack. To attempt, to do SO
would bankrupt the treasury, and
what is more important, would seri-
ously threaten our political institu-
tons. The other method; to wit, de.
pendence upon citizens summoned to
the colors to feet the emergency, is
the only one which the limitations OF
the Federal Treasury will permit
and the one which the spirit of ouI
institutions demands. Indeed, in ouI
wars, the part-time or citizen sol
diers have made up the greater por.
ton of our armies, the full-time or
regular soldiers, comparatively few
in numbers, forming merely nucle-
us for the great wartime armies.
In all our wars, including the last
one, the citizen soldiers have been
called to the colors in great num-
bers, either through the volunteer
system or through the operations Of
a selective draft. And in every case
the overwhelming majority Of these
citizen soldiers have Joined the col
ors unframed and utterly unin-
structed in the tremendous work thus
suddenly thrust upon them.
In other words, we have never
prepared or men for battle until af-
ter the battle commenced. Every
sensible man knows that this has
been and always will be most ex-
travagant and indefensible method
of defending the country. While we
have been fortunate in war, So for
tunate indeed as to blind a great
many of our people to the possibility
Of defeat or serious reverses, never
theless it cannot be denied that we
have wasted lives by the thousands
and dollars by the billions, thus i'm
posing upon all the people burden
of anguish and taxation far heavier
then the circumstances have warrant.
ed.
At the conclusion of the great war
with Germany number Of men,
bers of both Houses of the Congress
set to- work to establish by legisla-
ton a military policy which, without
draining the treasury or threaten
ing our institutions in the slightest
degree, would put the country in q
condition to defend itself promptly
effectively and at the smallest cost
in lives and money. These men set
to work to learn again the lessons
Of our past wars and especially the
lesson taught by the war against
Germany.
Finally, the legislation was put
into shape, introduced in both Hous-
es, debated back and forth, and ad-
justments an readjustments made in
conference. Having passed the Con-
gress, it received the approval of
the President on June a. 1920.
What does that legislation provide
in the way of military policy-the
first ever adopted by Legislation in
this country? In general, it contem-
plates that there shall be in actual
practice but one Army of the United
States; that the Army of the United
States shall consist of three elements
% the Regulars, on duty all the
time-:full time soldiers; (2) the Ma
tional Guard whose officers and men
while living the normal life of civil
ians shall perform military duty
(drills and maneuvers) part of the
time and shall hold themselves in
readiness to meet any emergency
arising within or without the coun-
try; (3) the Organized Reserves,
composed of citizens commissioned
or enlisted in great citizen reserve
force, living the normal life of civ
ilians but organized into appropriate
military S;s:its, trained and equipped
as circumstances and the condition
OF the treasury permit, and liable to
active military duty only in case of
war declared by Congress.
Into this organized reserve, grin.
cipally, is to be gathered the man.
power of the nation in the event of a
war OF the first magnitude, whether
the man-power is to be summoned
through the volunteers system or
through the draft.
In Section of the Act of June a
1920, we find the most important
mandate of the entire Act, for It is
that section which expresses the pol
lev