Evening star., 1923-05-26
WEEKS SAYS ARMY
IS 46TH FROM TOP
Hits Peace Extremists, Deny
ina 85 Per Cent of Budget
Used for War.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associa ted Frcss.
SAN FRANCISCO. May 26.-The
standing Army Of the United States
stands forty sixth on the list of ac-
tive armies of the world and is too
small to accomplish what is intended
for it to do" Secretary of War John
w. WeGlS said last night in an ad-
dress at Il public banquet given by the
Association of the Army of the United
States. Other speakers were United
States Senators Francis +. Warren of
Wyoming and Samuel NJ Shortridge
of California. Representative julius
Kahn of California and Maj. Gen.
Charles G. Morton. commanding the
9th Corps Area.
The present standing Army should
be brought back at the earliest pos
sible date to the minimum of 100000
enlisted men and $4,000 officers the
Secretary said.
"The extremists who are hoping to
promote peace by urgent methods are
, being led into many inaccurate state
Inents in their cndeavors to prove Il
faulty case. 1t has been generally
repeated, owing to the activity OF
some of our so-called peace societies.
that our government is spending 50
per cent Of its budget for military
purposes and that we are prepal ing
for a mighty war. The truth of the
matter is that we are now spending
proportionately less for national de-
fense than in 1915. when we we're
admittedly unprepared for The war
that was coming upon us.
Small Reduction Possible.
IAN analysis of the governmental
! expenditures in thirteen of our larg-
est cities shows that approximately
/ Il II 1Ir,r- T.f fs1N~ Ig
spent for the upkcep of our Army
and about 6 cents for Army and Navy
together. In other words. if, the so
called peace lovers succeeded in their
efforts to abolish completely our MIL
itary forces the result would be mere
ly to reduce the dollar of taxation to
about "a cents. Such 4 bargain sale
reduction is certainly not important
enough 10 warrant IL departure" from
the teachings of the respected lead
ers of the past and from the obvious
dictates of the wisdom of the present.
The true spirit of economy relative
to war is to eliminate or decrease the
cost of war by paying the insurance
rates of protection against such
calamity.
FINALLY, there has been n strange
recurring tendency to bsiittlc the i'm
portance of and to attack the main
tenanCe of the National Guard. Have
you thought of the enduring history
Of your guard? Although yours is
one of the comparatively younger
states some of the units of your state
forces have q history of nearly three
quarters of century of constructive
Influence At the time of
our entry into the world war your
National Guard contributed about
5000 trained soldiers for the country.
Importance OF Unity.
"As long as the American people
take sides against each other we may
be confident that they will arrive at
safe and sane conclusions--if permit
ted to decide their disputes without
external interference. When external
interference throws the balance to
one side or another, IL is, however.
time for us to forget our differences
and eject the outsider from our coun-
sells. Partisan among ourselves, We
must be united before the world.
This radical activity will cease. 1t
has already lost most OF its force with
public opinion.
THE suggestion of mi1itarism that
is SO frequently brought against our
government by those who would dis
arm us is a serious one. We owe it
an investigation. What is militarfsm?
The militarism to which we object is
the reliance upon material force for
the accomplishment of purpose. Mill
tarism among nations corresponds to
rowdyism among individuals. Is it
the well developed athlete who is
most often the roWdy? Does physical
perfection and ability in self-defense
imply lack of spiritual effort? L be-
lieVe that it is the fabby gunman or
the sickly drug addict who most fire.
quently resorts to the use of force
among Individuals