Gen. SCOTT. No; that includes the noncombatant force, but excludes the Philippine Scouts-5,604.

Senator THOMAS. Does that include coast defense?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator BRADY. How many have volunteered since that time and been taken into the service?

Gen. SCOTT. In the Regular Army?

Senator BRADY. In the Regular Army.

Gen. SCOTT. Up to include November 30, 19,327 had been enlisted. Between July 1 and October 1, 1916, the Adjutant General reports that vacancies in the enlisted strength of the Regular Army have been reduced by 10,974.

The CHAIRMAN. Reduced instead of increased?

Gen. SCOTT. The vacancies have been reduced-the number of vacancies.

The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes.

Senator BRADY. That would indicate then that you had that many volunteers, would it not?

Gen. SCOTT. They have had 19,327 volunteers, but we have been discharging soldiers for expiration of term of enlistment or other

causes.

Senator THOMAS. How short is the Regular Army now of its effective minimum strength on the border?

Gen. SCOTT. On the 15th of December, which is our last summing up, the authorized strength of the Army was 126,552, and the actual strength was 100,902.

The CHAIRMAN. So it was below the authorized minimum strength? Gen. SCOTT. It is the difference between 126,552 and 100,902. Senator THOMAS. About 25,000, in round numbers.

Senator BRADY. Is it the intention to go on and fill up the full quota of 126,000?

Gen. SCOTT. If they will enlist.

Senator BRADY. If you can secure them you will take that many volunteers?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir; that is what you authorized us to do. We can take to the full quota, 126,000.

Senator BRADY. There are that many places for men to volunteer for?

Gen. SCOTT. On the 15th day of December we were that number short.

Senator BRADY. What I was trying to find out was how many soldiers had volunteered since that act was passed. You have that information before you. My understanding is that the Government has made every possible effort to get good men to volunteer in the service since that bill was passed.

Gen. SCOTT. Except to raise the pay.

Senator BRADY. You have presented the matter to the agencies and through postmasters, and everywhere it could be presented in order to get them to volunteer?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You have had more recruiting stations than usual, have you not?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator BRADY. That being the case, do you think it is possible for us to secure a volunteer service by the present method?

Gen. SCOTT. Not in the numbers required; not so long as the industrial condition is as it is at present, and I do rot think it is possible, even with a low ir dustrial condition, to get the great numbers that are required for our purpose, even if pay should be raised.

Serator BRADY. This seems to indicate to me that it is a very true statement that it is going to be impossible under existing conditions to secure these volunteers.

Senator THOMAS. We had preparedness parades last summer, and I will guarantee if the recruiting stations had been present when parades were abandoned they would not have got one-half of 1 per cent of the people to enlist.

Does the difficulty of obtaining recruits apply as well to officers? Gen. SCOTT. We can train the officers.

Senator THOMAS. Take the officers of the National Guard; are they short also?

Gen. SCOTT. No; they are not short. But trained officers are very short. They have got to get somebody to fill the positions, but the majority of them are very poorly trained. There are some officers in the National Guard who have a very high degree of training, but the majority have not.

Senator BRADY. Under the conditions you just mentioned you still lack 26,000 of having sufficient to fill the present quota required by law?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator THOMAS. Do you not think the matter of preparedness is largely impersonal; that is to say, we are emphasizing preparedness and we expect somebody else to do the actual fighting?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes; they say, "Let George do it."

Senator THOMAS. Yes; we will parade and let George do the fighting.

The CHAIRMAN. In the report on the mobilization of the Organized Militia and the National Guard of the United States in 1916, under the head of "General remarks," on page 72, you have this-I give it by way of illustration of the other statements made in the report:

Maj. H. A. Smith, in his inspection of the

There is just a dash, he does not name it.

Infantry, says: "History shows an ansence of economy and efficiency following a hasty raising of soldiers. These men are not trained soldiers and would encounter in a hasty campaign all the difficulties to be encountered by any body of men undertaking an intricate business based on constantly changing conditions, and would show the same absence of results; and in the case of soldiers the stake is human lives, property, national ideals, and honor."

Now the report goes on and names none of the organizations that were inspected, and yet the reports are given as efficient. Why does not the report give the names of those different units so that the public might see just exactly what members of the National Guard were efficient and what were inefficient?

Gen. SCOTT. We did not desire to give the names of any particular organizations for the reason that it might be construed by somebody that the War Department was making an attack on that organiza

tion.

The CHAIRMAN. So you have given the results without giving the names?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Could those names of the different units that were inspected be obtained at the War Department by Congress, if we wanted them?

Gen. SCOTT. I think a call by the committee on the Secretary would produce that and any other information.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you not had more or less difficulty in retaining officers and enlisted personnel of the National Guard after mobilization?

Cen. SCOTT. There have been great efforts made for the discharge and resignation of individuals, and a great many efforts for the recall of the organizations.

Senator THOMAS. And great activity in attempts to secure commissions; at least, that is my experience.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, the pressure is not only by individual members of different units, but the pressure came from their home States to get them out.

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Both as individuals and as organizations?
Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, any force of that kind would naturally be more or less inefficient, would it not; it tends to disorganization?

Gen. SCOTT. They feel, as far as we can understand, that there are a great many men coming back from the border in the National Guard who have lost their positions, and they have been taken by men who stayed at home, and they feel resentment that while they were doing something to serve the country the men who did not try to defend the country are reaping the rewards of their former industry.

The CHAIRMAN. That is one of the reasons you give for universal military training?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That the slacker stays back and takes the job of the man who goes to the front?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And the permanent men have it while the volunteers lose it?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that not generally true?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes; frequently.

Senator BRADY. Do you not think generally that a good deal of this dissatisfaction that you speak of, and desire to be relieved from duty in the National Guard, comes from the fact that the law as enacted changed the status of the National Guard and forced them into a duty that they had not volunteered to perform?

Gen. SCOTT. Well, we have heard a great deal from the National Guard in past years. They wanted to be the first line. Their representatives here no doubt told you that they wanted to be the first line. Now, here is the opportunity to be the first line, and the National Guard feels that those burdens should be more equally distributed throughout the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. How many of the National Guardsmen took the dual oath that is prescribed by the act of 1916 and became, what the act intended, Federalized?

Gen. SCOTT. The number inspected on the border serving as Organized Militia, who have not taken the oath required by the act of June, 1916, is 21,884.

Senator BRADY. How many have taken the oath?

Gen. SCOTT. These figures relate to the border now.

The num

ber of men inspected was 128,517. All of those men except 21,884 have taken the double oath, or 107,706.

Senator THOMAS. Roughly speaking, about 15 per cent?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator BRADY. Considering the conditions in our country at the time these men joined the National Guard, for the purpose of defending the State under the old oath-as was really the intent of the lawdo you not think that is a pretty good per cent who would change from the plan that they had volunteered under to accept service that was created by the new law?

Gen. SCOTT. I think the National Guard, as a whole, have taken the oath very willingly.

Senator BRADY. That is my judgment, and I am glad to have you confirm it.

Gen. SCOTT. Of the men the Senator refers to, the number enlisted without any prior service who have taken this oath, are 60,299. They were not in the guard-they were a lot of recruits. They were new men altogether that enlisted after the call and under the new national-defense act.

Senator BRADY. Those men understood what their obligations were?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir. There were some 7,258 on the rolls that disappeared; we do not know what became of them. They never showed up at all.

Senator BRADY. Senator Chamberlain, our chairman, has given. a great deal of thought, and an immense amount of labor, to the preparation of the bill that we are considering at this time. If the bill is passed and becomes a law, it is going to necessitate other changes in the plan of our national defense. After all the experience you have had with the National Guard and the volunteer method of raising soldiers in time of need, what is your suggestion that we should do with the present law relative to the federalization of the National Guard that we have passed, and is now in operation?

Gen. SCOTT. I would keep it in force until such time as by other means you have a new force to replace it.

Senator BRADY. Your thought is then, to permit the law to remain on the statute books just as it is and to gradually change to universal service.

Gen. SCOTT. My idea is that you should take universal service. and training as the basis of our military system and enact a new law that would get us a real Federal force without any dual control, and after we got it organized and actually started sufficient to have something to use in case of sudden emergency, allow the National Guard to return to the State's control entirely.

The CHAIRMAN. As it is, it is the only force we have outside of the Regular Army?

Gen. SCOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator THOMAS. In other words, whatever substitution should be decided upon should take effect gradually and not instantly? Gen. SCOTT. Yes; because if you wipe out the National Guard you have nothing to replace it.

Senator BRADY. That was the point I wanted to have you make clear.

The CHAIRMAN. General, is there anything else that you desire to state? I suppose you would come back to the committee on call, would you not?

Gen. SCOTT. I have a number of suggestions that I could make if I had the time.

Senator THOMAS. In other words, you are not through?

The CHAIRMAN. We will be very glad to hear you now, if you desire.

Gen. SCOTT. I might say something with respect to the defects of the national defense act of June 3 and the omissions, if you have the time to give me.

The CHAIRMAN. Does that apply to this universal training?
Gen. SCOTT. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Then I hardly think we ought to go into that now. We can do that when we come to discuss the appropriation bill. If there are any amendments that you want to suggest, or want to embody it in a separate statute, we can do it; but at this time we desire to confine this hearing to this one subject.

Gen. SCOTT. I have with me a letter from the Secretary of War to you asking that you make these changes as to the General Staff and other matters, and I have directed the Judge Advocate General to put them into legislative form, provided you want them. We do not want to give you this in legislative form unless you would like to have it in that form.

The CHAIRMAN. We would like to take that up as a separate subject, and when the Judge Advocate General gets that in proper form we can have a hearing on that particular subject.

Gen. SCOTT. Very well.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything further that you want to suggest with reference to this universal training other than what you have already stated?

Gen. SCOTT. No, sir; I think I have covered everything.

The CHAIRMAN. If we want to call you back again we will do so. Gen. SCOTT. I would like, if possible, to have you inquire of Col. Brown, who is present and who was on Pershing's expedition, with respect to the long marches in order to satisfy yourselves upon that point.

The CHAIRMAN. We would like to hear from Col. Brown. (Col. Brown's statement will be found on p. 151.)