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The term universal liability to military training and service is used because the term compulsory military training and service, so frequently heard in discussions relative to our national defense, seems not to be applicable in a case such as ours. With us the people rule and if universal liability to military training and service were ordained it would mean only that the people as a whole have through their representatives recognized the duty of the individual to prepare himself to defend his country and to defend it in case of need.

The system recommended would, of course, within a few years provide the number of trained men deemed necessary for our reasonable security. Moreover, it would be democratic, reliable, efficient, and economical.

It would be democratic because under it the burden of national defense would fall equally upon all citizens without regard to class, and none of the young men arriving at military age could escape training or service by reason of wealth or position. It would make it impossible for any man or group of men to trade upon the nation's necessities in time of war. This is because practically every family would have a representative in the forces called out for defense and would realize that any action detrimental to the Nation's interest would directly affect them personally. Public opinion would do the

rest.

The system would be reliable, because it would produce each year the number of men necessary to be trained and would make it certain that in time of war the requisite number of trained and organized defenders would be forthcoming without delay.

The system proposed would be economical. It would be based upon the recognition by the people of the duty of the individual to render personal service. Therefore, in carrying it into effect the Government would not have to compete in the labor market. A soldier would expect but little pay in addition to his housing, subsistence, clothing, and medical attendance. Bounties and subsidies for personal service would be unknown.

It would be efficient, because it would enable us to prepare adequately for war before war comes. Moreover, the knowledge as to the number of men that could be relied upon to respond to the call to arms would enable those charged with the duty to plan intelligently for our defense. The uncertainty in respect to the number of men that would volunteer for service in case of need under our present system renders the formulation of plans for defense almost an impossibility. It is believed that if an equitable system based upon the principle of universal liability to military training and service is formulated and placed in successful operation, our military strength in a few years would be such as practically to render us immune from attack.

The CHAIRMAN. General, were you here when Mr. Fisher addressed the committee?

Gen. SCOTT. I heard a portion of it. He was speaking when I came in.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you think about his proposition that military training ought to be rather a by-product of industrial training, and that men ought to be trained industrially and their services utilized for military purposes as a result of that training? Do you think such a plan feasible?

Gen. SCOTT. I do not know how you could train men in a military way for eight hours a day and get any more out of them that day. Senator THOMAS. What do you think of his proposition of the effect of the increase of pay to private soldiers to $30 a month upon recruiting?

Gen. SCOTT. I think if you increase the pay and provide a sufficient number to make this force of a proper size that you would go far toward bankrupting the Nation.

Senator THOMAS. In other words, increased expense is prohibitive?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. In your statement here you do not at all claim that a standing army ought to be maintained of 1,000,000 men, or anything like that, but that there ought to be a reserve force that might be called upon in case of emergency?

Gen. SCOTT. A citizen force under the National Government at all times.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you think as possibly the practical solution of the question of the short enlistment? For instance, when a man goes into the Army for a year and out into the ranks of civil life?

Gen. SCOTT. Under the voluntary system?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

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Gen. SCOTT. I see no successful outcome unless the liability is universal.

Senator BRADY. You do not feel that that would help the situation?

Gen. SCOTT. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. It is claimed that men are prevented from voluntary enlistment both in the National Guard and in the Regular Army because of long-time enlistments; that a man does not want to sacrifice so many years of his life in the military service.

Gen. SCOTT. I was recruiting in the service myself on one occasion, for two years at Philadelphia, and it was my experience at that time that men asked very little about those things. The service was five

years.

The CHAIRMAN. The enlistment period?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes; it was five years.

The CHAIRMAN. Now it is three years with the colors and four years with the reserve?

Gen. SCOTT. With the possibility of discharge at the end of one year.

They are discharged in one year if they are certified-if they are able to get the company officers to certify that they are sufficiently trained. Men do not ask those questions very much. They are out of employment, and want some employment. Some few of them are of an adventurous disposition, but the great mass of them are not. Senator THOMAS. Gen. Wood thought that a plan whereby the department, or the authorities, could be empowered to retire a man into the reserves without regard to his length of service, but just as soon as they were convinced that he was an efficient soldier, would be a great improvement upon any definite time under colors. Gen. SCOTT. I think the law is good as it is.

Senator THOMAS. For example, if a man is sufficiently precocious. Senator BRADY. You do not think it would help matters much if you would have them certified out as soon as they proved themselves to be competent for service?

Gen. SCOTT. I do not think it is possible to make a reasonably good soldier in less than a year's training. You have not got them really disciplined and prepared for teamwork with less training, and that is the fundamental trouble. In addition, the average young man can not be given the necessary all-around physical development to withstand the hardships of a campaign in less time. The prevalent misconception in regard to this is probably due to the fact that men may be taught to shoot in a short time, and may be able to march to a certain limited extent, also, and this is mistaken for adequate discipline and training.

Senator BRADY. What effect do you think it would have on our present form of volunteer service to increase the wages of the soldiers to $30 a month?

Gen. SCOTT. I do not think that you would have attacked the main question at all.

Senator BRADY. You do not think that is the main question? Gen. SCOTT. No, sir. You would not be able to get a sufficient number to volunteer in peace time if they got an equal amount of money to stay at home. You would have to pay more than you pay the same class of man when he is at home.

Senator BRADY. Mr. Fisher, in his statement yesterday, seemed to think that would unquestionably furnish us with all of the soldiers we needed.

Gen. SCOTT. I do not think so. Why should a man give up his home and his town and his methods of living, which he has grown up with, to go off for an equal sum?

The CHAIRMAN. Or for a less sum?

Gen. SCOTT. Our enlistments fluctuate very much with the economic condition of the country. There is labor enough now for everybody at high prices, way beyond anything that the soldier gets. I am told that Mr. Ford pays $5 a day; that that is the lowest pay in his establishment.

Senator THOMAS. That is the minimum.

Gen. SCOTT. Yes. Now, why should anybody go and subject himself to the discipline or to the hardships of living on the Mexican border in time of peace for less money unless he has a patriotic feeling which comparatively few people have?

The CHAIRMAN. General, is there any antagonism between the Regular Army and the National Guard?

Gen. SCOTT. I think that the Regular Army has struggled for many years to make the National Guard a success.

The CHAIRMAN. And they have done it in good faith?

Gen. Scort. Absolute good faith.

The CHAIRMAN. You were on the border-what in your opinion would have happened in case the National Guard had been required to cross the border and engage in actual warfare, with the amount of training they had?

Gen. SCOTT. We never contemplated sending them across the line until they had been trained and hardened.

The CHAIRMAN. What would have been the effect of sending them across as they were?

Gen. SCOTT. We feel that they would practically have destroyed themselves marching through that country.

The CHAIRMAN. They can not stand strenuous service even without war?

Gen. SCOTT. No, sir; it would not have been possible for them to have stood, for instance, what the Regular Army was compelled to stand.

The CHAIRMAN. As a result of the training they had, were they able to endure what they were compelled to go through?

Gen. SCOTT. I think you will find the actual condition of the militia as reported upon by inspectors-some 70 inspectors-in that printed book [indicating].

The CHAIRMAN. This is the report on mobilization of the Organized Militia and National Guard of the United States for 1916.

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir. You will find there the reports of some 70 inspectors of the conditions that they found there.

The CHAIRMAN. That does not question the personal courage of the individual?

Gen. SCOTT. Absolutely not. We have some of the best material in the world there.

The CHAIRMAN. They make splendid soldiers?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir; if they had a system under which they could be properly organized, trained, and disciplined.

Senator BRADY. How long do you think it would have taken you to harden them for service and drilled them for efficient service? Gen. SCOTT. Some of them are not hardened yet.

The CHAIRMAN. It would have taken how long to have fitted them for actual war?

Gen. SCOTT. The English do not now allow their troops to go to the Continent in less than 11 months.

The CHAIRMAN. After they have been taken to the mobilization camp?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Was it not the same way with the Canadian troops?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir. Nobody is now allowed to leave England for the first line trenches with less than 11 months' training. Now, practically all they give them, as far as I can find out, is a training for trench warfare. They would have to add very much to that training if they were to have a country over which they would have to march long distances and operate and maneuver against each other.

Senator BRADY. You think it would have taken 11 months to have prepared all the militia and National Guard that were sent to the Mexican line to fit them to engage in battle?

Gen. SCOTT. We were very fortunate in that we would not have been pitted in that case against trained troops. The Mexicans are not what we call trained troops, but it would have taken fully that, if not more; that would be the minimum against any of the trained troops of Europe.

Senator BRADY. Do you not think in that case it would have been better to have had these National Guard troops trained in their home States and hardened in that way before?

Gen. SCOTT. We could not wait. We were confronted with the possibility of immediate attack.

Senator BRADY. Yes; but I understood you to say they would be absolutely unfit for immediate attack.

Gen. SCOTT. They were, but their mere presence on the border caused Mexico to change her attitude. Instead of talking about raiding Texas, they do not talk about it any more.

The CHAIRMAN. Just the presence of the National Guard there accomplished what you wanted?

Gen. SCOTT. Without firing a shot. There was quite a time there when I stayed up every night in the War Department, up to 2 or 3 o'clock, hourly expecting that the attack had been made somewhere, either on Gen. Pershing's command or on Douglas or nearby

towns.

Senator BRADY. You feel that their presence on the front prevented a good deal of that?

Gen. SCOTT. It gave our people protection on the border for the first time in five years.

Senator BRADY. Do you think the mobilization of the National Guard on the border resulted beneficially to our country?

Gen. SCOTT. Very beneficially. The presence of the National Guard, in addition to the Regular Army force on the border, completely changed the attitude of Mexico toward the United States. They had some 20,000 Carranza troops mustered around Pershing's force, and we expected every hour to hear of an attack, and in addition to that there were some 14,000 Mexican troops within about 35 miles of Douglas, Ariz., where there is an immense quantity of property, and a city filled with men, women, and children who would have been practically defenseless.

The CHAIRMAN. Did it not do another thing that was beneficial to the country; did it not call attention to the unprepared condition of our armed force?

Gen. SCOTT. That was incidental. It was not done for that purpose. It was done to protect the lives and property of Americans in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, and we had to hurry a good many troops to the border before they were fully equipped, and we did that in order to let the Mexicans see-that the soldiers were coming, and as I told you, I sat up from 2 to 3 o'clock in the morning nearly every night in the War Department waiting to get a telegram saying the thing was on. We would not have been surprised at any moment to have had a telegram that the thing was on.

The CHAIRMAN. How many of the Regular Army did you have on the border?

Gen. SCOTT. About 40,000, and they were strung out for 1,200 miles.

Senator BRADY. How many soldiers did we have in the Regular Army at the time we passed the national defense act of June 3, 1916 ? Gen. SCOTT. We had 94,596 in all-the Philippine garrison, Hawaii, Panama, and the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. That is a combatant force?

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