The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-30
FRUGALITY HIJRTSARMY SAYS WEEKS Service Weakened Past Danger Point Declares | War Secretary
 CITES ADVICE GIVEN hN COOLIDGE SPEECH President Understated
 Needs Of The Depart
 ment, He Asserts lENUMERATES EVILS
 OF FALSE ECONOMY | |. Nation Will Have Mere Paper Army In Future, Warns
 The Secretary
ENUMERATES EVILS OF FALSE ECONOMY
lRy Associated Press)

w A044A4No SANS IVY VI =. Secretary Weeks a d wis e d President Coolidge in his an- Inual report made public today Ithat conditions in the United States army now have reached kthe stage where "a sound and continuing policy with regard Ito it's necessities must be se- Iriously considered by thed degis- lative department of our, gov Ierninent." f
 In this connection the war secretary declared the army's requirements had been studied with care and fitted into a dO-year program which should be put Into effect by Congress fin manner that will conform not only to the mill starY needs of the military service but Halso to the financial condition of the 2government
 Economy Secondary
 In another section of the report the tstatenent was made that "the pressure Ifor necessary progress and improvement is even greater than the pressure for ECONOMY. luc SoCfcehfy IC1ttCu th " tail the retrenchments made by the army in the last few years in oSder zto effect economies and keep within appro- lpriations made by Congress- ana added : II ! "With the funds allowed during
 the past fiscal year, however, 1t has not been possible either to carry
 out the full mission of the defense
 forces or to practice true economy"
 The statement to Congress made by IIPresident Coolidge in his first mes |ssage, pointing out that reductions in I.the army's commissioned and enlisted hletrength had reduced its power to the 'danger point and asserted that sfurther reductions should not be made" !" was referred to by the secretary. who declared the chief executives words now Kcomposed Gan understatement of the necessities of the case."
 The secretary advanced the opinion Hthat the time had come when the coun- Htry should look further into the future Nwhen considering army problems and fthe year-to-year method of treating such kquestions should give way to continu- ling policy of relief and increased pro- Hyision for the three c0mponents of the military service-the regular army, the National guard and the organized re- fserves.
 GAS we face this unfortunate situa- gtion. like the business man arranging khis schedule of work and his plans for Ethe allotment of funds, and decide that relief is urgently needed and must be Iepread over a period of years" the sec fretary said, i've are faced with two de ltermining factors in American law and scustom. The estimated date when our Eprocess of rehabilitation must be com fplete when the various treaties arising out of the Washington conference cease to be effective, and when the superan- lnuation of the veterans of the World war will have practically eliminated our reserve of citizens of experience in the field, would sesm to require that our |plans for rehabilitation and our ex- lpenditure for that purpose can be spread lover and must reach an end at the ex- lpiration of a 10-year period, providing IEuch A plan and such expenditures be- lgin to be effective at this time.'
 After pointing to defects in the army establishment caused by shortage of off Icers and enlisted men, and again put lting himself on record in favor ot lrl' Icreasing their numbers respectively rom 2,OO0 to 13,000 and from 125,OOO to l150,000, Secretary Weeks said:
 Raps Paper" Army
 "Our entire effort since 1920 has been to apply the principles and provisions of the national defense act in such way that we shall have more than mere paper army, more than the imagi-. mary organizations upon which the Limited States always previously has depended for it's security should major semergencies arise.
 "M further emergencies come to
 the United States, we shall have to create virtually our entire force.
 after the declaration of war, which will be a tremendous task, however
 well conceived. Probably in no other army in the world, cOnse-
 quently, is it so important as In ours that organization, material,
 equipment, training plans and mo-
 bilizatiOn projects should be as sim
 pie as possible. ~
 "0ur greatest peril today is too great a dependence upon theory to the exclu- lsion of, fact. This is the danger against (which the army must always strive. This is the one important fact under living the general situation, as well as the detailed elements. sof our present military situation, fact of which the Legislative department of the govern ment should take ample cognizance in considering the practical projects which sthe army deems essential to the execu- 'tion of the mission assigned to it by law. Unless we are to live upon imagi- nation, the army must have an income that bears q tangible relation to its needs"
 Cites Shortage A
 By way of Illustrating some of the l''deleterious effects of our period of ex- traordinary economy" the secretary