The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-03-08
ARMY TO
BE REDUCED
Congress Planning to Make
Big Cut in Budget

100000 and possibly $50. .0OV,-
! 0OO will be slashed from the ldSet
| estimate for the war dcpa -tment
by the house appropriations sub
committee which is framing the
army appropriation bill! for the
fiscal year beginning July next.
members Of the subcommittee pre-
dicted tonight.
The measure. they added. not
only will provide that the enlisted
strength Of the army be reduced
from it's present strength of 81
! coo to $4,000 men on July !. but
+! that the number of officers be Inn
tied 10 1900 as compared with
the present. strength of 1900 on
! the active DIST.
| War department estimates wcr(
revised and pared down by the
budget bureau to approximately
! 1865, geo. 900, for the coming fiscal
year. S293.000,000 of this amount
being requested for the army and
| the rest for non military work such
as improvements to rivers and har-
bors
Concern was expressed in army
circles tonight over the prospective
forced reduction of the regular cs-
F.! Both Secretary Weeks
and General PcrShinE. appearing
recently before the subcommittee.
urged that provision DE made Tor
/ an army of 10000 mon. and the
subcommittee in deciding upon H.
600 az the maximum rumber of Of
ticers has disrcgarlcd the recon-
mendation Of General Persh'ns.
who outlined plans for wedding
out" inefficient officers to bring the
| force down TO the 1900 in eHpec-
I tation of then increasing the Of
ficcr personnel to 1900 by comnis-
sioning officers in tho Junior grades.
A reduction of the army to H.
1000 enlisted strength. it was. point
ed out by department officials.
would mean an actual effective
force of little more than 10000
men. as tho regular turnover. due
to expiring cnlistments. recruit
training and other conditions,
| keeps about 10000 men on the av-
erage continuously out Of the active
ranks.
The proposed reduction also. 1t
was said. would mean heavy cd :
ditional curtailment Of various army
activities L, X Ii a u 8 II ve studies
made in the department rs to the
! most advisable course to follow II
another sharp cut in strength was
| made are known to have indicated
j that the coast defense except for
/ % fcw larhors of vital Importance
must he virtually abandoned hy tie
/ regulars in order that the regular
establishment might l'e able 10
continue its prjma:. mission IN
! trainip.- The national guard and or
Sanizcd reserves.
1t has already been suggested
/ that if the regular establishment Is
| TO b. reduced the bulk Of The coast
| defense work might be transferred
I to the national guard or organized
! reserve. LII lIlS tNtill VI 1bi 'ii'~'
! 20 per cent. reduction in the au-
thorizcd strength Of the army. as
tentatively fixed upon by the house
subcommittee. it appeared possible
tonight that only The guns of II
| few major harbor dcfcnscs such as
{ New York and San Francisco
would be retained by the regular
p; establishment. the other dcfcnses
! being left to the SECOND and thira
! lines of defense in the new system.
! Another activity which might be
subjected to cutting before pariuS
| down Of the mobile forces to meet
/ congressional action WAS under
taken probably would be aviation.
it vas said It was regarded as
! likely that the flying service also
might be transferred Us Ear is pos
/ sblc to the national guard or or
Sanizcd reserve clements Of the utW
army.