The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-11-28

I
 priations Upon Materiel.
 The principal purpose of this
 section is to point out in some de-
 tail the shortages in materiel that now exist in the American army. These deficiencies appear in all
 most every class and type of weapon and equipment and in cer- | tain items are so serious as to make
 the American army relatively obso- lete General MacArthur has listed a group of items totalling about $170,000,000 in value that are es- sential to a proper readiness for defense Included in these are such projects as mechanization, motor ization, aircraft development and modernization of our field and anti aircraft artilleries. An extensive program for motorization of the National Guard Is an important feature of the whole plan. The chief of staff points out that sums to make good these deficiencies were requested from the public works administration but notes also that up until the end of the fiscal year no decision had been reached as to the amounts that would be furnished by that body. He makes the point that money expended for these purposes could be put into circulation without de- lay and would be very effective in relieving unemployment.
 6. Effect of Reduced Appro- priations on Training Effiency and ersonnel.
 This section expounds the creed of the war department with re- spect to the value of training and skill in modern warfare, making the point that such training is more necessary with the complicated weapons of modern war than it has ever before been in the history of the world. The chief of staff states that there is a general failure to understand the value of training to a miliarty force, and elaborates his conviction that the employment of insufficiently trained troops has been responsible for the loss of thousands of American soldiers in campaigns of the past. It is Gen eral MaeArthur's belief that under present financial authorizations no part of the army is trained as adequately as it should be. This section concludes with a paragraph setting forth the army's minimum needs in personnel and training opportunity. These requirements include
 For the National Guard: Main tenance at not less than its exist ing strength, with forty-eight drill periods and two weeks active training annually.
 For the Organized Reserve: 120,000 officers, with two weeks active training for at least 30,0O0 of them annually.
 For the Regular Army: Enlist ed strength of 165,O00, with ad- equate opportunity for practical field training.
 For the k. o. T. c. and the c. M. T. C.: Support of programs equivalent to those carried out un- der the 1882 authorizations.
 2. Future Trends in organiza- tion, Training and Equipment of the Army.
 The chief of staff analyses the effects of post-war developments in the scientific field upon military training, organization and tactics. He shows that to be efficient the army must remain abreast of all I LllCSO 0SNOiOPAAiO1Ato e1AiA III oS constantly supplied with reasonable quantities of the latest and best types of weapons produced. The general staff has concluded that any major war of the future will see a rather noticeable swing away from the heavy and ponderous armies that have characterized wars of the past seventy-five years and that in their place will ap- pear more mobile and powerful though somewhat smaller organ nations. The report refers spe- officially to some of the more im- portant improvements that have been made during he postwar period in arms and equipment, and points out that the American army is woefully weak In all these. Gen. eral MacArthur's plan for modern ization of the army includes all those revisions in organization, equipment, tactics and doctrine that will make the man-for-man effectiveness of the army of the United States equal to that of any other in the world.
 8. Factors Affecting Morale.
 In this section the chief of staff refers to the old and continuing problem of adjusting pay and pro- motion in the army. He advocates adoption by Congress of a specific promotion plan. which is summar- ized in the report. So far as pay is concerned, he presents statistics to show that pay of the army has for many years been unreasonably low and demonstrates that certain features of the various economy acts have operated to affect mili- tary personnel with peculiar force. He specifically advocates the elim- ination of the 15 per cent pay cut for all enlisted men drawing less than $30 per month and the re- peal of that provision of law which denies pay increase for length of service or prom otion.
 g. Special Considerations Ap- plying to Civilian Components. This section invites attention to specific considerations that apply to the civilian components but which affect the regular army very little or not at all. He pays tribute to the patriotism and value of these elements and urges increased op- portunity for training by the or ganized reserve and the restoration to the National Guard of full 70 TA -A