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Show ! DRASTIC MOVES FDR DEFENSL AREAEITATED Attention of Congress Is i Sharply Directed to the Army and Navy Necessities. GOVERNMENT WANTS ORDERS EXPEDITED Secretary Daniels Would Have Preference Given j Work on Military , Supplies. 1 WASHINGTON. Dec. 11. The atten-! atten-! tion of congress was directed sharply to day to matters relating to both the anny and navy, which Hie expected to bo productive of ngltatlon for even more i drastic measures o( national defense than i have yet been seriously considered. J Secretary Daniels, before the house j naval committee, advocated legislation ! which would compel Bteel companies and other private concerns to plve preference to government orders for military supplies. sup-plies. Jlo will submit a new section for ! the pending naval appropriation bill for this purpose In order to hasten battleship construction, which, he declared, was being delayed by commercial work both in the yards of private builders and In the steel plants. Secretary Baker wrote Speaker Clarlc in response to a house resolution that 71,834 out of the grand totaJ of 16",Soo national guardsmen laken into the federal service up to August 31 were without previous military training. Rejections of enrolled guardsmen for atIous causes operated 1 later to decrease the number of recruits to I a nnrnrlmn f.i rifir- net n t rtA. Ml A forcp British Case Cited. In this connection also army officers charged with the duty of studying events of the European war, both political and military, made preparations to contend before the congressional commtttoe that the fundamental reason for the cabinet crisis In England was the volunteer military mili-tary policy there prior to the conscription act. The experience of Great Britain is viewed by these officers as the strongest of arguments for the establishment of j universal military training in the United Sin tea, as urged in the report of Major General Hugh L.. Scott, chief of staff, and to which the entire American general stuff i.M committed. Another aspect of Ihe national guard y. t ii.i 1 1 1 in came from Quartermaster r: en-cm en-cm 1 Sharpe, who told of a $-5,000,000 deficiency accrued by the war department to accept and pay state troops now In the federal service. If an average of 75.000 men are retained on the border until June 30, he said, tho deficiency will bo Sr.u.OOO.OUO. The universal training ad-vocaU-'H are expected to use these figures In contending that prohibitive cost would he the result oi tho present system if the nation needed a great army. Daniels Explains Delays. Secretary Daniels explained to the naval committee' a statement in his annual re-purt re-purt as to the delays encountered in goL-ting goL-ting tho building programme authorized' by the last session under headway, lie pointed out that no satisfactory bids have been received for the four battle cruisers of the 1017 battleship programme, nor any bids at all for three of the four scout cruisers. They were new types, but vltallv necessary, in the opinion of the general board, the secretary said, and he added: "Every time we make a change and advancement In design the shipbuilders The secretary will ask $t,000,000 a year for the equipment of government yards to build ships, lie inserted a statement in the committee record showing his approval ap-proval of tiie general board's recommendations recommen-dations for twelve-gun. twenty-three-knot, 42, 000-ton battleships in the liUS programme at a probable cost for hull and machinery alone of 515,000.000. The ships will carry sixtecn-inch, fifty-caliber guns, the most powerful weapons ever designed for naval use, mounted three to a turret. The secretary recommended abolishment of the naval prison at Portsmouth, N. II., and the establishment there of a marine . barracks for a thousand men. He sail that marine detachments from the naval academy, the Boston and New York navy j yards and elsewhere would be sent to the i prison ship Southery, at Fortkmouth. Mr. Daniels praised the services of Boatswain Hill, commanding the Southery, and approved ap-proved the suggestion of Representative Roberts that he be made a commander in tiie navy by act of congress. Extension of facilities for enlisted men ; to enter the naval academy were urged I by the secretary. bit he disapproved the suggestion for early graduation of midshipmen mid-shipmen to fill vacancies in the service. He intimated that he might ask later that the pay of all enlisted men on first enlistment en-listment he, raised to encourage recruiting', but did not go into details. |