Omaha daily bee., 1922-06-04
u.s.. Senate Fixes
Size of Army at
$4,000 Soldiers
Annual Appropriation Bill
Carrying Ssil,75O,Oo0 Pass.
ed Without Record Vote;
1880 Officers Provided

appropriation OF Sj4l,7So0O0. the an.
nual army appropriation bill was
passed yesterday by the senate. II
iNcs the size OF the army Tor the next
year At an average ol l95S1 officers
and $4,000 men,
Passage ol the bill which was With
out record vote followed quickly
after a test vote, by which the sem
ate accepted. - TO q. ITS commit
tees action in increasing the house
figure on the sizr OF the army from
$4,000 TO ljj.000 enlisted men. The
strength Of 1880 officers compares
witn ll,000 as voted by the house:
The senate disposed ot the bill
speedily, the measure being taken up
for the first time yesterday ana
passed within six hours. All commit
tee amendments except those affect.
ing the size Of the army were acted
upon within three hours. constituting
what was regarded IS almost a rec
ord by the senate.
The measure now goes 10 confer
cnce with the house but II is not cx-
rcrtcd that the iscussions will begin
before Tuesday.
Amendment Accepted.
Next to the question OF the size
oi the army, the proposition causing
NOS! debate was the amendment sub
mittcd hv the agricultural committee
anpropriating $7.500O00 for con,'n-
uation Of work on the Muscle Shoals
nrojcct. which the senate accepted
without a record vote after prcllnl-
iuarv ,ange which lasted Tor an
hour.
The Muscle Shoals amendment
promised ior a time TO reopen the
whole question OF the government
policy with respect 10 the power pro-
icct but Chairman Norris OF the ae-
icultural commission declared no
nolcv had been determined and that
10 delay work further OIL dam No. :
in the Tennessee river would be an
economic crime"
\though the army strength
a2rccd upon by the senate was re
,rdcd as a compromise between we
,urc OF 10000 sought by the war
apartment and that fixed by the
nu,c. senators, expect hard tight
cforc an agreement is reached with
The house.
Party Lines Broken.
Party lines were broken when the
# vote was taken Nine democrats
,ptcd with the republican majority
4 unfolding the senate committee
%hie six republicans were counted
+. the negative. Democrats voting
# the $4,000 army included Ash
urst, Gerry, Heflin, Kendrick. My
=. Sheppard, Smith, Underwood
.9d Williams. Republicans who
,otcd against the proposition were
.orah. Capper. Ladd, La Toilette,
'orris and Willis.
In opening debate on the army
strength, Mr.. Wadsworth declared
,hc committee believed rock bot
tom had been reached ! that to
make further reductions would im-
peril not only the army organization
as contemplated by the organization
act of 1920, but create menacing
situation for the country in event
OF unforeseen trouble. 1t would be
utterly foolish" he added, to IMAM
a'e the skeleton" of the army so that
it could not be revived in an emer-
gency.
Mr.. Wadsworth referred to the
scacoast Notifications, saying only Is
OF the Is were now manned and that
further cut in the forces would
leave an additional ten or a dozen
i'll the hands OF caretakers.
Hitchcock Replies.
Senator Hitchcock, democrat, Ne
braska, replying to this statement.
contended the country would approve
cut in the army even below the
house figure and added: Our army
is efficient. 1t is able to do more
than the work it has to do now.
What he people want is relief from
the burden of taxes and they would
be willing to take smaller army
to get that relief"
Senators Norris, republican, Ne
hraska, and King, democrat, Utah,
also spoke in opposition to the
larger army. but Senator Borah. re-
publican, Idaho, leading exponent
OF the small army, announced that
he did not desire to drag the ques-
ton into a long controversy, being
willing entirely TO take a vote and
settle it now
An attempt was made by Senator
Hitchcock to eliminate what he de-
>crlhed as pure waste of money in
supplying Sl55,O0O for the operation
OF the Springfield (Mass.) arsenal,
where it was proposed to spend a
thousand dollars day in manuiac-
turing rifles when the government
now has 100000 in store, he said.
He was defeated, however. 40 to IS,
after Mr.. Wadsworth had declared
that was the only place where the
army rifle was now made.