The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-04-07
Army and Navy Smaller But
Reserve Strength orsatsr.
Than e Was ~ Years Ago
" NIA serx,es

years ago today, when this country
entered tho World War, our Allies
took one look at reports Of our un-
dersized and ill-equipped offensive
forces and disconsolately agreed that
about Ill they could expect from
America was money, food and raw
materials for war manufactures.
But Il another such emergency
should arise today The situation would
be much more encouraging, In spite
Of the fact that we now have . slight
~ smaller navy and regular army
than on April 3. 1917. The important
difference u that. on paper, the Unit
ed States Il infinitely better prepared
tor war.
II 100000 men now were to spring
to arms overnight, authorities would
know exactly what 70 do with them,
where and how TO train them, and
could assign them at once 70 COM
panies, battalions. regiments which
already exist In skeleton form. There
was no such organization scheme prior
to the National Defense Act Of 1870
and the Four Army Plan Of 1888.
More Men Available
More than 10000 officers and men
of the National Guard, well trained,
uniformed and fairly well equipped,
would be Immediately available for
action. In 1917 most Of the National
Guard was not subject to the call Of
the president, and its organizations
were broken up ~ the drafting Of it,
individuals.
A mobilization would bring some
10000 reserve officers from civil life
to take up military duties which they
have trained and studied to perform.
There was no organised reserve in
1917. and no plan. a. at present, for
training civilians for reserve commits.
eions.
The United States ranked below the
British Empire and Germany In ton
mage Of fighting ships when We en-
tered the war. We now are second
only to the British Empire, and Ger
many Is out Of the picture.
In 1917 we had neither combat air.
planes nor pilots. Today We are third
In the world In number Of war planes.
However, according to Major Q. ].
II. MacKen1ie-Kennedy, British pio-
,eer In aviation development, We are
sixth In number Of factories making
fighting planes and motors. And the
machines we have. he calculates, are
80 low and inefficient that American
air forces theoretically could be de-
feated even by the tiny Belgian ar.
mazda, or by 20 per cent Of the Brit
ish, 40 per cent Of the French, Of 50
per cent Of the italian, Russian Or
japanese air forces. OF course there
are many American experts who dis
agree.
Scarcity Of Officers
There are other unfavueable -.
poets Of the comparative picture. At
the time Of our declaration Of war the
total strength Of our army was le0,-
Oo0-less by 10000 than the peace
time armies Of italy or Japan, and
about one-fourth the sire Of the Brit
ish, French or German armies before
they began fighting. Today the
United States has Z maximum mill
tary strength Of 10000, more than
half reserves. France and Italy each
have fifteen times that number,
counting trained reserves. and Japan
five times Is many. Even Germany,
with = treaty army Of 100000 has IN
additional trained reserve Of 1000 900.
Our 100000 still may seem like .
lot Of soldiers, but tho figure = less
impressive when whitfield down 70
available uniformed troops. Our reg
llar army numbers II 900 officers and
ll7,000 men, but many arc stationed
in the territories. In the continental
United States, aside from soldiers
assigned to schools, CCC camps and
the like, there are only 26o0 officers
and 10000 mon scattered about the
country in nine skeleton infantry and
three skeleton cavalry divisions.
Skeleton" Il the right word. too;
General Douglas Macarthur, Chief q
Staff, has declared that In many
cases there Is but one officer On duty
with an entire battalion.
AZ for ordinance and other mater
ial, General Macarthur has said: That
most Of the army's present motor
equipment was built during the
World War ana Is obsolete . well %
largely worn out. That except for
about half . dozen machines, every
tank In the army Is Of World War
manufacture, inadequate In number,
obsolete In design. and useless for
modern warfare. That the United
States has spent about 100000 since
1890 for experimental and develop.
ment work in mechAni1ation, while
within four years England appropriat-
ed $20, 900. 900 for army mechanisatton
projects.
Rifles imported
On April 8, 1917, the United states
had about 100000 Springfield rifles.
model Of 1903, for it, fighters. Gov
eminent arsenals could produce only
700 Z day. and actually had no speci-
fications ana blueprlnts which could
be turned over to private nianufac-
turers. 20 We had 10 depend On In.
field rifles which were being made
for the British.
We also had 70 depend on the Al.
lies for machine elns-the Ohaut-
claaut automatic rifles Of the FfelAeh.
the Lewis gun and the Browning ma
chine sun, both the latter Inventions
Of Americana. We had no u nm.
guns, infantry howitsers q trench
1nortars worth mentioning. For field
artillery " had . few 6.inch pieces
Of German manufactured These
proved unsatisfactory anyway. % ~
bought the famous French 70's. We
had absolutely no medium Or heavy
mobile artillery, no practical instru@
ments for indirect fire. We had some
motor transport facilities. thanks %
General rershirg6 truck supply
trains used while chasing villa In
Mexico. hut No had no ar service
chemical warfare Or tank oorp6.
fhs rtcttre Today
Naturally the picture y quite dit
ferent now. Technicia,as have -.
velopsd atmor- piercing bullets, better
machine guns, semi automatic Should-
-. Sss.s. nsaaeAen SAssHaAA 1n1se uel11 sannA1AAA