MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1916.

AFTER RECESS.

The committee reassembled at the expiration of the recess, at 2 o'clock p. m.

STATEMENT OF GEN. LEONARD WOOD.

The CHAIRMAN. Gen. Wood, the subcommittee which has been appointed by the Committee on Military Affairs is holding hearings upon the subject of military training for the purpose of the creation of a reserve force, or for any other purpose that may make the young men of the country available for duty, and we would like to hear from you upon that subject. You understand, of course, that there are two or three measures pending upon the subject of universal military training.

Gen. WOOD. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. One bill is S. 1695, another is a suggested substitute prepared by the General Staff, and one by Capt. Moseley.

Gen. WOOD. Do you wish me to make a statement upon that subject?

The CHAIRMAN. We would like you to proceed in your own way, Gen. Wood.

Gen. WOOD. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that in addition to our regular force, including in this the Naval Establishment, we must have a citizenry so trained that they will be reasonably efficient soldiers in case of need. I think that training as a permanent proposition, on the general lines proposed in your bill, will ultimately meet the demands of the situation.

I think there are some modifications which will suggest themselves as time goes on. I believe, however, that world conditions are such that we are not in a position to wait for any considerable period of time to develop our trained forces; nor should we adopt any system which will postpone the immediate training of young men who have reached the military age. Each bill presents certain excellent

features.

I believe we should start as soon as practicable the training of the youth on the lines proposed in your bill, which are substantially along the lines of the Australian system. We should immediately begin the training of the youths who are physically fit during the year in which they become 19 years of age, and I estimate this number as 500,000. I say the year in which they become 19 years of age, fearing that if we take them in the year in which they become 18 we shall have half of our 500,000 fit for military service arriving at 18 years of age after the 1st of July; in other words, half of them would be 17 when they came to us, which is rather young. I feel we should start in with the training of young men in their nineteenth year with the least possible delay and concentrate our entire available energy upon them, if necessary leaving the instruction of the younger boys to be taken up after we have the system in smooth running order. I am convinced that a period of six months' intensive training will be sufficient to give us a reasonably effective well-trained private soldier. I make this statement as a result of four years of

observation of training under the intensive system which we have had in force at the military training camps, a system under which it was estimated by a board of Regular officers that as much was accomplished in one month as is accomplished in four and a half under average conditions and methods of instruction in the regular

service.

That is to say, they have rated one month of intensive training as we give it, which is something over eight hours a day, as equivalent to about four and a half months under average conditions in the Regular Establishment.

I think that is a conservative estimate. In actual hours of work it is equivalent to that performed in an enrollment of three years in an average organization of the militia. It is a character of training that is so intensive that you could not impose a system of that degree of intensity upon any body of men for six months; they would become stale. So we should have to adopt a rather less intensive system, say one equal to 3 to 1, compared with the work we do in the Regular Establishment, so that out of our six months of intensive training we would give young men the same number of hours under arms and the same amount of training they would receive in 18 months in the Regular Establishment. If anyone proposed 18 months in the Regular Establishment as the period of training, and that all physically fit men should take it, the bulk of the people would say it is too long. But six months' training under the organization which we are employing in these training camps would be in value and accomplishment fully 4 to 1 what we give the men in the Regular Establishment. We could not maintain for six months the high pressure of intensive methods which can be applied for one or two months, and as I stated, it would be necessary for us to reduce somewhat the hours of work. We could maintain for six months a system which would give us three times as much work of a purely military character as is given in the average organization of the Regular Establishment. I desire to emphasize this statement as strongly as possible.

And I say again that six months of intensive training in camp, all of it under conditions where the men have nothing to do but receive and absorb military instruction, would be sufficient. The officers and some of the higher noncommissioned officers would require a longer period of training. Speaking now of the private soldier, we should be able to cover pretty thoroughly the instruction in any arm of the service. The instruction of officers would probably have to be carried on on the general lines laid down in the Australian system, with which you are familiar, or on the lines of the Swiss system as modified to fit conditions in this country. There are about 1,030,000estimates vary-men reaching the military age-that is, the age of 18-every year. I think it is safe to assume that not over one-half of those men would be fit for military service—that is, for intensive training. So we would have about 500,000 men a year coming up for this period of intensive training, which ought to begin as soon as the season permits in the spring, say, May 1, and be terminated at the end of October of that year. The men would terminate their training, in other words, in the year in which they became 19 years of age, and then they stand ready for the year of service with the colors on reaching 21.

When I say a year of service with the colors I do not mean a year of service with the colors in the sense of living constantly in barracks or in uniform, but I mean that beginning July 1 of the year in which they are 21 and ending with June 30 of the year in which they are 22, every man who has had this intensive training during his nineteenth year and is physically fit should serve one year in a troop battery or other organization of the citizen forces of the military establishment. The year of service should be commenced by one month of field training. In other words, a course of repetition, in addition to the six months, which he gets in his nineteenth year. It is rather doubtful whether we would be able to give them a full month. We might have to shorten that period of repetition training to a lesser period on account of men in business, but there certainly should be a minimum of 20 days-a month, if we can give it of work in camp.

Having finished this period of intensive training in camp, men remain for the balance of the year in a Federal organization maintained at war strength, completely equipped in every way and ready for service. Its officers will be men who have been trained in the Officers Reserve Corps or elsewhere. Its entire enlisted personnel will consist of men who have had six months of intensive training followed by a course of repetition. Their status, so far as freedom of movement, business, etc., are concerned, would be that which now pertains in the case of the National Guard. Each year's class will represent about 500,000 men, or about double the present National Guard at war strength. Its force will be composed of young men at the age of physical best and minimum dependent and business responsibility. They will have known in advance that they are to render this service during their twenty-first year, and in case of a call such as has recently been made those affected will be men who have made preparation for just such a contingency. They will be men in the full vigor of youth and whose withdrawal for service will cause a minimum of hardship and inconvenience. If conditions should exist which render it probable that more than 500,000 men might be needed in case of a call, the class should be held for the colors for an additional year, which would hold in a condition of immediate readiness the class of 21 and class of 22, or 1,000,000 men. If additional classes were needed they could be called by successive years, 23, 24, etc. I should include in the first line troops men from 21 to 28, inclusive. In other words, I would have the service begin with the twenty-first year and terminate with the twenty-eighth, or a period of eight years. This would give us a total of approximately 4,000,000 men who have had as good training as it is possible to give them in that time. Ordinary casualties would somewhat reduce this total, but it would be safe to say that we should have available at least 3,700,000 in this first-line group and probably more. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that the classes of 21, 22, and 23 will have had as good training and be as well informed and prepared for the discharge of their duties as the bulk of the enlisted personnel of our Regular Establishment to-day, including the regular reserves.

The CHAIRMAN. Suppose you had the number of men you speak of trained in the manner you suggest, how long, if they were called into

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service, would they have to be trained to become proficient or efficient soldiers?

Gen. WOOD. They will be as well trained as are our regular reservists when they report and should be immediately available. It is proposed to give them 30 days' repetition training when called to the colors.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Gen. WOOD. They will size up very well with the men of the regular organization to-day and be better trained than half of them. I do not think that the people at large realize that the Regular Army is a constantly changing organization. The men are constantly coming and going. Under the system of intensive training we are going to give the men instruction under conditions which will be at least equivalent to three to one in the regular service in effectiveness and efficiency. I speak with absolute certainty from experience in this matter; at the end of six months you will have men as efficient on the average as the average of men in the United States Army at the end of 18 months.

Senator BRADY. Do you think that six months' intensive training is equal to three to one of Regular Army training?

Gen. Wood. Absolutely. There is in my mind no question about it. A great deal of the time of our Regular Establishment is wasted time in a military sense. The men have much nonmilitary work to do. They are busy, but it is not military work. Our men are stationed in small posts, a handful here and a handful there. Organizations are only partially filled up, and when turned out for instruction oftentimes there is only a small portion of what should be a full organization present. The officers have many detached duties; the troops are very seldom assembled in large bodies for the instruction of the higher units. Under the training system which I trust will be inaugurated all organizations will be at war strength; they will be in camp under conditions which will reduce nonmilitary work to the minimum; the training will be most valuable to our officers, for it will be the first time most of them have had an opportunity to handle a war-strength organization appropriate to their grade under conditions which will permit the maximum amount of time being devoted to purely military work.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever made any estimate as to the cost that such training would entail upon the Government?

Gen. Wood. I have not gone into it in detail. It is largely a matter of equipment, food, and transportation, and the wear and tear of arms and equipment. There should be no pay for this service. It should be part of a man's service to the United States, to the Nation. I will make an approximate estimate and insert it.

COST FOR 6 MONTHS' TRAINING FOR A HALF MILLION MEN PER YEAR BY INTENSIVE METHOD.

Only Infantry, Cavalry, and Field Artillery considered in estimates. Training for for special arms would be such a small percentage of the total as not to change estimates materially.

Infantry, 206 regiments...

Cavalry, 20 regiments..

Field Artillery, 60 regiments..

Men.

400, 670

26,800 73,020

500, 490

Total Infantry (400,670)..

Men.

$54.00

16.65

3.20

6.73

.47

8.74

89.79

35, 976, 159. 30

Cavalry (calculated in same way, allowing maintenance of 1 horse for

every 5 men under training):

Per cavalryman.......

Total Cavalry (26,800).

1

Field Artillery (calculated in same way, allowing one-fifth horses for

114.05

3,056, 540.00

118.28

8,636, 805. 60

35, 976, 159. 30 3,056, 540. 00 8, 636, 805.60

47, 669, 504. 90 7,507, 350.00

55, 176, 854.90

Initial expenses (reduced number of animals for Cavalry and Field Artillery used in

As the wear and tear on camp equipment requires replacement of practically all after 12 months' use and the cantonments will last 10 to 15 years with average annual expense for maintenance of 2 per cent initial cost, it is assumed the cantonments will be established and maintenance calculations have been made on that basis. The equipment for transportation, for purchase of animals for Cavalry and other mounted organizations, for any individual equipment for soldiers, for special equipment for the various arms and corps, are not included in the initial expenses, as all of these are necessary for the reserve stores of any troops which we may have to raise, and are now presumably being accumulated for our reserves, volunteers, and militia, in the place of which this civilian force is being contemplated.

Maintenance and overhead charges.

Additional clerical help and office supplies (War Department and department headquarters)..

Reserve officers, noncommissioned officers, and cooks (pay and allowances).

2 $1, 000, 000. 00

318, 000, 000. 00

It is appreciated that the proportion of these arms under training is not that required for the best organizations of the Army. The expense of training these arms, however, is considerably greater than that of Infantry and the essentials of discipline, physical training, and organization can be obtained as well by the Infantry training. In the event of war we should probably call in case of need additional classes of those trained in the Cavalry and Field Artillery. For example, if we would call four classes of Cavalry we should have (allowing for casualties) approximately 100,000 trained men, and three classes of Field Artillery would give us 200,000 trained artillerists.

This is less than estimate for similar services at present. Simpler system contemplated.

* As a comparison the National Guard pay is $27,000,000. Act approved Aug. 29, 1916.