Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1920 — STANDS FOR SMALL ARMY [ARTICLE]

STANDS FOR SMALL ARMY

LEONARD WOOD NOT A MILITARIST BUT A TRUE „ AMERICAN. ■ ■ . Newark, 0., April 28.—Leonard Wood answered the attacks being made by the opposition with reference to his military policy. The reply was brought out by- the newspaper advertising in the Marietta newspapers by William Harrington, chairman of the Washington County Harding Club. The advertisement said: “That if he were President he would fasten upon the nation an intolerable military machine—-and that if you would keep your boy in civil life, vote for Harding. If you would dress your boy in khaki and have him carry a gun, vote otherwise. Harte la Wood’s Answer. Wood’s answer made at Zanesville is as follows: “The statement that I stand for everything that represents militarism is untrue. There is no one living in America today who is more opposed to militarism than I am. Statements to the contrary are given out with the deliberate purpose of misrepresenting the situation and creating an entirely false impression. “I stand for a small army—much smaller than that recommended by the present administration and smaller than that authorized by the senate. There is no occasion whatever at the present time, as I see it, for a large standing army. An army of 200,000 men would be ample for all pdace needs of the nation. I have always stood for reasonable preparation. If we had had such preparation the chances are there would have been no world’s war. For Period of Training. “I have advocated a short period of intensive training, a period some time between the eighteenth apd twenty-first year, to be taken in the year most convenient to the boy. Such training should combine military, industrial, and vocational training. This is a matter which must be taken up and decided by the people through congress. Personally I believe our people can safely be guided in -this matter by the opinion of the ex-service men. “No one is more anxious to return this nation to a peace basis than I, and no one is more opposed than I to affix upon the intolerable military machine. Statements of this kind are deliberately false, misleading, and vicious.”