As thus amended the sentence commencing in line 1, page 2, will read as follows: "Each officer of the Construction Corps so transferred and appointed shall have the lineal position and precedence in the line which he would have held had he remained in the line or had his original appointment been in the line except that if the lineal position and precedence in the line which would be given any officer of the Construction Corps so transferred and appointed is junior to the lineal position and precedence in the line given any other officer of the Construction Corps similarly transferred and appointed to whom he was senior in the Construction Corps on the date of the passage of this Act, he shall be given a lineal position and precedence in the line immediately senior to that given such other officer.'

With respect to the six officers mentioned above, the exception is intended to accomplish the following result: The three naval constructors commissioned from sources other than the Naval Academy, if transferred to the line would be given the lineal positions they would have held had they been appointed originally in the line and the three naval constructors who are members of the Naval Academy class of 1919, if also transferred to the line would be given lineal positions immediately senior to them. The existing relative seniority of the six officers in this group with respect to each other would be maintained.

This bill will result in no additional cost to the Navy. recommends the enactment of H. R. 6204.

The Navy Department

CLAUDE A. SWANSON.

CREATE THE RESERVE DIVISION OF THE WAR

DEPARTMENT

APRIL 1, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. FADDIS, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6674]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6674) to create the Reserve Division of the War Department, and for other purposes, having considered the same, submit the following report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass: The committee felt that this bill will tend to encourage the Organized Reserves and make them more efficient and proficient in their preparation. It appears that about 78 percent of the officer personnel of any army which we may assemble to meet a major emergency will be composed of Reserve officers. Since so large a percentage of those who will be directly charged with the organization and leadership of the unorganized reserves that will be called into the service of the Nation to assist in its defense in the event of a war will be Reserve officers, we believe that in time of peace such an organization as is proposed by H. R. 6674 in the War Department will tend to give to the Organized Reserves a sense of their importance, improve their morale, and emphasize the necessity for their keeping abreast of all progress in the art of warfare, and thus promote the efficiency of this most essential component of our system of national defense.

THE CHIEF OF THE RESERVE DIVISION

One of the serious questions before the committee in connection with the proposed legislation was the source from which to draw the chief of this division. There was a proposal that the chief should be from among the officer personnel of the Regular Army. After carefully considering the whole question and recognizing that there is force of argument on both sides a majority of the committee has de

cided that the chief of this reserve division should be a Reserve officer. This officer will be appointed by the President of the United States and selected from among the graduates of the special course of the Command and General Staff School of the Regular Army. Thus we are assured that a civilian soldier of high standing, in regard to general equipment, education, and experience, will be selected by the President for this most important assignment. The fact that such officer must be a graduate of the special course of the Command and General Staff School is a guaranty that the officer selected by the President will have the necessary technical knowledge and personal interest in the Officers' Reserve Corps. Furthermore, it is practically certain that the officer selected by the President to head this division will be a man of outstanding ability and character and something of a national personage. Being drawn from civilian life, the officer to head this new division in the War Department will bring a prestige and a popular support to the War Department which might not be had if the division were headed by a Regular Army officer.

WHO EXCLUDED FROM HEADING THIS DIVISION

By amendment to the bill, the committee provided that no Reserve officer now on duty with the War Department at the time of the enactment of this act should be eligible for appointment as chief of the Reserve Division. The provision is not intended for any reflection whatsoever upon the spendid Reserve officers now holding an assignment and detail with the War Department. It merely means that the committee believes that the chief of this new division would come fresh from civilian life and should bring to this division the point of view of the civilian soldier.

While it may appear to some students of this proposed legislation that the new Reserve Division will have little power, yet it will give a dignity and a station, a sense of importance and improvement in morale to the Organized Reserves. There is some analogy between the proposed Reserve Division and the National Guard Bureau. There is certainly ample justification for the feeling among the Reserve officers that their particular problems and difficulties are not adequately understood by the regular professional Army officer. This feeling is not due to the belief that there is any prejudice or lack of sympathy on the part of the regular and professional soldier, but it is felt that it is due to inability to understand what the Regular Army soldier has never experienced. Only those who have had to face the problems of making a living and of paying taxes, while also keeping themselves abreast of the progress of warfare, can_understand just what the problems of the Reserve officers are. The Reserve officer not only receives no pay for his years of study and preparation to defend his country, but, as a matter of fact, if he is alert and belongs to the Reserve Officers' Association of the United States, pays his annual dues, buys books, subscribes to magazines, gives much of his spare time to the study of military problems, and provides his own uniforms and equipment, he is out of pocket at the end of each year. He does this because he loves his country and because the work or preparation to become a defender of his Nation is interesting to him. It is not unnatural for a man to feel an impulse to assist in defending his country. In a nation such as this where we depend to a very large

extent upon the nonprofessional soldier in time of war, we must take every opportunity to encourage all patriotic impulses of this nature. It will be necessary to wipe out thousands of years of experience and tradition to remove from the breast of a man the impulse to rush to arms if this country is invaded or his country's rights denied. Let us by all means encourage this most manly of all impulses.

It will ever be impossible for America to maintain a standing army large enough to defend her in time of war except by the levying of enormous taxes. In any major emergency dependence and reliance must be placed upon those who will be called to arms for the period of the emergency. In this class will be included not only the Reserve officers but those civilians of the unorganized reserves who, by whatever method of selection or by selection under some draft system, will constitute at least 80 percent of the fighting personnel of our Army, and will be officered by Reserve officers.

It is the opinion of this committee that since it is charged with the policies relating to national defense, it would be lax in its duties if it did not do all within its power to increase the efficiency of the Officers' Reserve Corps.