Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-08
.PERSHlNC MAKES
ANNUAL REPORT
u. S. Must Take Air Ofeh-
sive In Case Of War,
He Declared.

must i b prepared pse ;.take tHs imms
diate defensive" in the air in case 81
war. and to SO expand its air strength
thht-tt eventually can assume its 81
fensive, General Pershing declared
today in his annual report as chief o.
This is the basis Of our preseh,
defense policies with all our arm.
and should bes considered mini,
num-" the general of the ;armie.
continued. "A Very important par,
in such q defensive would be thu
operations OF an effective air service
General PershinE said he desired te
call attention to the condition Of TIL
air service today and the fact that
there existed a present shortage o.
pletely balanced and ADEQUATE serv'
ice Of this Vital component OF de-
Tense"
mo man can estimate. with prresen,
certainty the value which can bt
ascribed in a few years to the posses.
sion of IN adequate resourcefufness
in the air. he said. 1T is certain
however, that the Influence of all
power will become increasingly great
and that the nation cannot AFFORD tc
neglect this rim.
Air Service Vital.
THE air service which we develot
should be capable Of offensive appli.
cation. This does not mean that We
must Immediately build an air serv.
ice that could take the offensive
against any great power or Efoup Of
powers. 1t does mean, however; thai
we should have a force that can take
can, during a reasonable period OF
operations, expand to the strength
required for an Offensive"
The report said the reserve of air.
planes for such a policy and ev4r
facilities for personnel training were
lacking, and that industries ana the
air ways Of our county are not pre-.
pared for an er1ergehDy.
Il earnestly hope, therefore, Gen
will be taken to bring about the ef.
fective cooperation Of states with the
agencies of the national government,
to the end that this vital need car
be ehectually filed"
Proud of Army.
Discussing the development Of the
army and post war reorEanizations
the general said he had witnessed
with appreciation the Accomplish
ments Of the. present administration
in attaining efficiency and economy Of
operation, and it has been a source
Of distinct pride to observe the re-
He pointed out, however, that he re-
garded the army at its present
strength Of $4,000 officers and $4,000
men as below the minimum re-
quired for effective performance OF
our various Missions
1T is my conviction" he said, "that
our regular force ID cut too much for
safety and that q strength OF at least
$50. 900 enlisted men and 1900 Of
icers should be permanently fixed as
the minimum"
Mobilization Plans.
Outlining the plans Of the depart
ment for future mobilization, General
PershinE said!
I'm onr. general plan Tor etnerk-
ency mobilization, it Is Contemplated
that in major eventualtty our rekt-
LAR army would expand from it's
limited peace strength to form nine
also kept at a very low peace foot
ing. wuuld form Is infantry divisions,
and the organized reserves. always a
mere skeleton in time Of peace,
would FORM 81 infantry divisions. each
to furnish a proportional strength in
corps, army and general headquarters
units.
'fof the organized reserves this
cOntemplates a, total Of 80 infantry
and cavalry divisions and nine groups
OF n-divisiohal units. These are
allocated to geographical areas on
the basis Of density Of population.
A one looks back upon our ex-
perience at the beginning Of the past
year, 1t lis easy to appreciate what a
tremendous advantage this would
give us were our forces again re-
quired to mobilize. A glance at the
estimates involved in the fuliilment
OF this plan would also give assut-
ance of the relatively Insignificant
cost Of the project. as compared to
this money wasted during the former
mobilization.
Finally, the resulting mobilization
would be Of q character that might
versary and hence the advance would
be OF great weight In the main
.tenance 0f, peaceful relations"