Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-04-04
OFFICERS WORRIED
Indications Are That Many Army
y Men VIII Lose Jobs.
YOUNGSTERS In SPECIAL DANCER
Men of High Rank Nettled by Lack OF
:, Appreciation for Defense Work.
ssR Military N on Want Country to Keep
Bio Fighting Force. r. ... ..". .

Big Ftshtin9 roros. .
These are anxious days for the Of
ficers of the Regular Army, rays
Washington dispatch. 49, Il.
The lads who POLISHED, the swivel
'9chairs in Washington during the war,
and likewise the men wi:o iod -batto4-
ions, regiments, and even. divisions
into the face OF the enemy with no
visible evidence of fear and trembling
to-day are listening nervously for. any
/, sort of tip as to what congress IN
tends TO do about the military forces
of the United States.
-" The younger officers are frankly
anxious about. their jobs, and they viii
teu earnestly how unjust it, would be
to ruin the career g. of one who has
spent four of the best years of his life
in such q place as West Point, only to
be ruled out at time when he, seems
to be in fair way to realize upon his
investment of weary weeks endured
under the scourge of ruthless discip-
line. E.3. .. ..,..-t. ,.s ..
= al Call Policy an Error.
Officers of higher rank will give
you q lengthy disquisition upon the
unsoundness of policy which permits
a, nation, to run from one extreme to
the other in the matter Of national de-
fense and will quote you long figures
ft6 show how much more inexpensive
the World war would have been IL the
government hadn't made such. errors
more recently. They cite the recon-
mendations of various chiefs Of stan
Of illustrious fame TO prove that ESQ.,
O0O-or is it 150,000-men are the IT.
reducible minimum necessary for the
safety of the United States, and then
they inquire anxiousiy whether An
thony of Kansas or Herrick of Okla
,homa has said anything further in
congress recently about reducing the
army to $4,000 men. ..... ,.s
From Secretary OF War Weeks on
down the army is frankly worried.
The higher authorities realize that,
like the demand for reform, the de-
mand for national defense comes in
waves but they are fearful that in the
hysteria for education of armament
the country will lose much of the val
liable ground it gained by the expert
fences of. the World war. a..r...
Opinion of Experts.
81
The following quotations from the
lecture recently delivered at the Army
War College by Colonel John McA.
Palmer and published to the army in
an official bulletin, will show what the
opinion of military experts on the sub
rejct Is: l#.
fit has been the practice of the
United States upon the outbreak of
war to expand small professional
peace establishment into great mons
professional war army, These expan-
sions have always been perfected with
out any perpetuity of doctrine or or
ganization, through which the exper-
fence generated in one expansion
could be utilized in the next. Or, to
q.
put it another way, at certain crises
in our history, with a vast expenditure
of treasure and human energy, we have
erected a great war organization and
then have demolished that organiza-
fion after the emergency. without any
provision for making that expenditure
a permanent national investment. At
ter being forced to militarize q whole
generation we have taken no precau-
ton to make the sacrifices of that gen.
eration a heritage of experience for
the next generation that may be called
upon to bear the stress of war. e..
"No National System"
AT the outbreak Of the Civil wal
we had no national military system,
and such military knowledge as we
had was concentrated in a limited
number Of trained soldiers, most Of
them in the regular army, with a few
others in civil life who had served in
the Mexican war. 1t suddenly became
the mission of these men, without pre-
conceived plans, to impart that knowl-
edge to vast citizen armies Their
visual experience had been limited
generally TO company and battalion
units. / think it is fair to say that
only one leader showed any conception
of the practical business of troop lead
ing in 1861. This was Stonewall Jack
son, and it is interesting to remember
that he had left the piddling routine
of the old army shortly after the
. Mexican war with the deliberate OBJ
ject OF seeking an opportunity to
study military art
by the end of the war we were the
greatest military power on earth. We
had developed powerful military or
ganizatiOn. We had leaders and staff
officers indoctrinated with the latest
Conceptions of strategy and tactics
Our supply officers had overcome the
difficulties of Sherman's advance t
Atlanta. We had a General Staff il
fact, though not in name.
"Remained Great Power
Even after the rehabilitation o
the army we remained for q time ;