Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-13

at least division of regular troops un-
til large Army could be trained. I
stood out against this up to the time I
left Washington, May l3, as member
of the Root commission TO Russia.
Policy Was Carried Out.
My policy of a division was the one
carried out later by Gen. Bliss, my
claSSmate, and four months younger,
who succeeded me as chief of staff 1t
was not until some time later that the
policy of the Government was formed
to send a large Army, probably some
time after the draft had proved sue
cesSful
The fact is that everything was done
by the War Department that it was
possible to do at that time. We had
TO wait upon Congress for law by
which we could raise an army. We were
all too busy to talk about what we had
done, and it is possible that Gen. Per-
shing, who was in Washington only for
short period, was not fully informed
of what had been done before. His main
attention was without doubt directed
toward getting his expedition ready to
sail as soon as possible. He may, too,
have been told things that were untrue
by disgruntled officers as sometimes
happens.
The supplies called for by the general
staff were made the basis of representa-
ton before Congress by the supply de-
partments which had obtained options
on all kinds of material and supplies
needed. The kilograms had been written
and we were ready to close the options
the moment the declaration was signed
by the President, thus preventing Seiz-
ure of these supplies by spectators,
thereby causing an immense saving for
the Government over what would other
wise have had to be paid.
We were all waiting in my office for
notice of the Presidents signature, and
when it was telephoned from the White
House took project calling for the
expenditure of $50, 000,0 900 to the Secre-
tary Of War, of which he was already
cognizant, and he was warned again
that this money had not been appro-
priated by Congress and its expendi-
ture under such circumstances was
penitentiary ,offense. 1t was signed
and the staff was en- route to file the
kilograms confirming the options with
in less than five minutes.
General STAFF Small.
The general staff was much restricted
and hampered from the time of Gen.
Corbin. Some members of Csngress
were inimical to 1t almost from its IN
ception, and, as Gen. Pershing remarks,
Congress had lately reduced its num-
Der In addition, Congress had enacted
that no more than half of this made
uuace number should be stationed in
Washington at one time. This gave
me less than 20 officers of the general
staff with which to lay the basis Of
the great war at a time when the
armies of France and England had each
over 500 officers on their general stats,
and nov, in a time of profound peace,
our number Of general staff officers
approximates 100.
This small number of general staff
officers was worked to their limit and
it Is surprising they accomplished as
much as they did All the chiefs of
staff since Gen. Corbin had to fight
continually until after the breaking out
of the war and the enmity of a section
of Congress was overcome.
1t is fact that the general staff
never had a real chance until then.
OF course, after contact with the allied
STATS during actual war, much was
learned that Gen. Pershing, and no one
else over here, had had an opportunity
! to learn, and our general stan Is now
the peer CT any. a
(Copyright, 1881, by North American News
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