Evening star., 1925-03-26
MILITARY SCHOOLS
PLANDR|vEF0RA AID.
Urqe Students and Alumni to
Show Congress Need of
National DefenseS.

gloomy pictures OF lnc ooS"uci@
condition into which Congress has
allowed the military to drop since the
glory and glamour of the war emer-
pency were drawn before the Asso-
citation of Military Colleges and
Schools of the United States at its
annual convention today at the
Washington Hotel by Brig. Gen. Hugh
A. Drum, u. S. A, assistant chief OF
staff. Cantonments and forts which
would have to be relied upon in time
of war are decaying, surplus war
materials are being used up rapidly
in fact, the whole war plant is going
to pieces, according to Gen. Drum.
Even the training of its youth to
efficiently take its place in the fight
ing lines In time of war is in danger
of being curtailed. If the curtailment
continues, the Officers Reserve Corps
will be wiped out in Is years or so
according to the general-and all be-
cause Congress will not provide the
funds, according to Gen. Drum, who
sounded warning of what the future
might bring.
Plan Drive Upon Congress.
And the delegates promptly re-
sponded. They Immediately ordered
gress with the necessity of making
appropriations sufficient to maintain
tho military dignity of the country.
The organization will form a liaison
with the Association of Land Grant
Colleges and together they will ask
every alumnus and every student to
collar his Congressman while he is
home this Summer. Student bodies
Will be told to impress their Congress
ma
ture voters.
No formal vote was taken on the
matter. Col. Sandy Beaver. Gaines
Vile Ga, presiding, announced that
the Legislative and executive commit
tees of the association would be i'm
mediately instructed TO put out their
scouts and get the Congressman in
his home.
Training Essential
Gen. Drum said that when the ex-
citement of emergency had passed
people We're prone to fall into the be-
lief that the world moved on
mechanically, and this was the condi-
ton today. He pointed out that in
the MeuseArgonne, where there were
plenty OF mechanics. the real fighting
was done by physical and moral
strength, such strength as can be de-
veloped only by military training in
schools and colleges. He pointed out
that the citizens and reserve officers
training camps had been carried on
at a reasonable figure during the
past, and large numbers had been
trained, with the comparatively small
appropriations, because of the fact
that the surplus war material was be-
ing drawn on.
If the Officers Reserve Corps is 70
De Kept alive beyond a period of Is
years, he said. it Is necessary TO con-
tinue training 5000 students a year
10 take care OF losses through age
and other causes
Cen Drum said that the surplus
stock of the War Department will be
exhausted in 1928, and many articles
long before that time. and therefore
1t is absolutely necessary to have ad-
dltional funds if the training is to be
kept up.
Entire Army Handicapped.
He then pointed out that all
nranches or the Army are faced with
the same financial difficulty. The en-
tire plant is suffering, he said; 1t is
being neglected. Right now 40. 600
ofncers and men are being quartered
IN the old wartime cantonments. and
the department is faced with the ne
cessity OF raising the cost of clothing
10 the regular soldier from sac to
$40. Next year. he concluded, will be
most serious one from a national
defense standpoint
Maj. F. B. Wilby, United States
Army General Staff, discussed the
proposed tests. outlined by the war
Department for the selection Of hon
or colleges. He laid before the body
the plan for the tests
Lieut.. Col. Roy FELTON, Farrand Ct
John Military Academy, discussing
the tests, criticized disadvantages
which might be incurred by the large
institutions as against the small in
stleutions In the proposed method of
marking. Maj. E. B. Carey, u. S. A.,
Tetlred, president of ST. Johns Col
leee' Annapolis, Md, discussed the
naval training unit which has been
established there, and Col. Royal p
DaVidson, Northwestern Military and
naval Academy, discussed appoint
Hents TO Annapolis and honor grad
yates of honor military schools.
The convention will conclude it's ses-
siohs thls afternoon with the election
OF orncers for the ensuing year
Military training from a national
standpoint is worth every cent snan,
for 1t, even IL war is abolished. Secre-
tary or War Weeks declared in an
ADDRESS read last night before the
twelfth annual banquet of the as
sociation. Mr.. Weeks was scheduled
to be present, but found he could not
return from Florida in time, so he
delegated Assistant Secretary of War
Dwight F. Davis to read a ared
address
Ihe secretary said no more conyinc-
ing evidence of the value of military
schools and colleges is needed than
that they are notably free from the
many unsound theories, ideas and
practices that thrive like choking
weeds in some of our other educa-
tional institutions" he continued.
Need Curb on License.
military schools, are more import-
ant to the United States than similar
schools of other countries because
there is nothing here approaching
universal military training, the Sec
retary concluded. I'VE need the re-
straining influence that comes from
military training because of the wide
spread freedom that exists throughout
the land" he declared.
Commissioner Of Education j. J.
Tigert spoke on the policy of some
institutions TO include every known
subject in their course and declared
they are trying to teach so many
things that the students are learning
much that is not so. The military in
Stilutlon, however, Is In restricted
field and has the advantage over
many types that are so modern they
are trying to meet every demand
made upon them"
The military institution is needed ''at
this time. when there is such a useful
disregard for authority and law" Mr..
Tigert declared. The school that
teaches discipline and respect for au-
thority 'is the most important thing
any institution could strive for" he
added. Mr.. Tigert said he was