Evening star., 1924-05-25
Poland, Surrounded by Foes, Advances;
Problems Met in Reclaiming Nation


for plebiscite and it's independence.
The Ruthenians. or white Russians,
are making little trouble at present
but in the eastern provinces of soviet
Russia there is a great demand that
White Russia be incorporated in the
soviet state
A foreign Office official said to me
that it would be another four or five
years before Poland's external and
internal affairs were settled in such
a way as to be satisfactory to the
Polish government and Poland's So
100000 citizens.
All who accuse Poland of militarism
do her an injustice, according to Gen.
Vladislav Sikorski, Polish minister
of war, who explained to me the rea-
sons why Poland had an army of
almost 100000 and could not reduce
the number.
The Polish army now consists of
thirty infantry divisions of three
regiments each and ten cavalry bril-
gades, and the country is divided into
ten military districts" said Gen. ST.
korski. The numerical strength in
times of peace is approximately go
600 men. During the last bolshevist
war we had under arms about 1,OOO.-
600 men who have been gradually de-
mo obilized, the army having been
placed on a peace basis Compulsory
military service lasts two years, but
in view of the unsettled economic
conditions the minister of war is
authorized to grant.to soldiers agri-
cultural leave of absence and even to
discharge them before their two
years are up. In that case they be-
come members of the reserves.
Volunteers who enlisted in 1920
and are now of draft age are not re-
leased from the compulsory service
The necessity of bringing up the
training standard and of registering
all members of the reserves compels
the supreme military authorities to
conscript all former volunteers. but
of course, they are grapted far-reach-
ing privileges.
Well Trained and Equipped.
'In 1920 the army was modified;
today it is on a peace footing. The
basic difference between these two
armies is not only in their numerical
strength; 1T is also in the fact that
many military institutions and or
ganizations needed during the war
an army in peace time is training
training-training! 1 repeat the word
because the logical conclusion is that
we should have as many of these
students as possible learn the proper
trade of soldiers-namely, how to
use weapons.
Our army of 1920 was well known
to foreign CORE respondents. OF our
army today 1 can say without exag-
gerated self-praise that it is we'll
trained and well equipped, especially
if due consideration is given to the
difficult financial situation of our
young republic My opinion has been
confirmed by those of such well
known foreign experts as Marshal
Foch and Gen Lord Cavan.
I'm spite of our recognition of the
great Importance of technical means
in modern warfare, the all-important
services of the tank corps, of avia-
tion,a and so forth, we are compelled
to restrict our activities in this d.
rection, as all technical improve
ments call for considerable expense
and are within reach of only the
wealthier states. For that reason
these branches we are developing on
only a small scale.
Why Poland Needs Peac&.
TT is my opinion that the numerical
strength of the Polish army has been
reduced to a level below which we
may not go if we care for the safety
of our borders. A peace army is only
a preparatory school, training citizens
to become soldiers in the future. We
are still far outdistanced as regards
the strength of reverves by states
that took the leadership in the world
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