ARMY & NAVY: For Defense

“The War Department has received, during the evening, dispatches from all corps area headquarters describing the results of the defense test. These reports show that more than 16,792,781 person have particpated, and that there have been 6,535 demonstrations.”

If 16,792,781 persons did not take part in Defense Day exercises (one person in every seven), at any rate a large number had a hand. The official bulletin compiled from the reports of corps area commanders may have contained some pardonable exaggerations.

But the idea was simple—to get the people accustomed to the initial steps which must be gone through in a national emergency. Parades, sham battles, demonstrations were an incidental means of dramatizing the idea.

In Washington, General Pershing and President Coolidge reviewed a parade of 30,000 people. Secretaries Hughes and Weeks looked on. Major General John L. Hines, the new Chief of Staff and successor of Pershing, Admiral Edward W. Eberle were part of the group. In 6,534 other communities, lesser officials did the job.

General Pershing issued a farewell statement in honor of the day which was coincident with his retirement:

“To participate in ceremonies attendant upon the retirement of officers and enlisted men, as I have done numberles times, gives one no adequate idea of his feelings when his own turn comes. But even in severing an association that has lasted as long as mine, there are some compensations. I can look back over the period and see the evolution of the Army from a small body of highly specialized Indian fighters, for the most part remote physically and mentally from the great mass of their fellow-citizens, into the Army of today—Regulars, National Guard and Reserves—two-thirds of which are civilians participating in the business, political and social lives of their various communities, but none the less integral factors in the national scheme of defense.”

In the evening he talked by telephone, with Major General Robert L. Bullard, at New York; Major General Harry C. Hale, at Chicago; Major General George B. Duncan, at Omaha; Major General Charles G. Morton, at San Francisco.* Connections were made so that all five heard what the others said, and radiocasting stations spread all their remarks far and wide.

Pershing: “Hello, General Bullard . . . Please don’t sing for us this evening.”

Bullard (warbling old West Point song): “Faint heart never won fair lady.”

Pershing: “How did Defense Day go in the Second Corps Area?”

Bullard: “Bully! Bully!”

Pershing: “How many citizens turned out in New York?”

Bullard: “About a million.”

Pershing congratulated Bullard, switched over to General Hale at Chicago. Pershing:

“What success or lack of success ?”

Hale: “No lack. . . . We put over a powerful peace demonstration in the Chicago area today.”

Pershing: “Most gratifying.”

General Pershing then told General Hale that there had been “a wonderful turnout” at Washington, that President Coolidge had reviewed. Said he: “Just one word more before I terminate my active service at 12 o’clock tomorrow. I don’t know anybody who wants to turn the hands of the clock back and it doesn’t make much difference.”

Hale: “I, too, will soon follow in your footsteps. . . . Success and happiness. Goodnight, General.”

Omaha answered the next switch of signals: “This is Duncan talking.”

Pershing: “Is that you, George? Did you hear what Hale and Bullard just said ?”

Duncan: “Yes, I listened. . . . They only echoed what happened in this corps area. . . . We regret to hear you say goodbye to the Army.”

Pershing thanked him, reminisced briefly, hung up.

Coincident with the military tests, which brought National Guardsmen and reservists to the colors, which provided for the temporary enrollment of Red Cross nurses and civilians everywhere (even in Paris 250 men registered for service), the captains of industry rallied around their desks for the national defense. It was a great game. In the Engineering Societies Building in Manhattan, Judge Elbert H. Gary, Chairman of the U. S. Steel Corporation, received a hypothetically frantic order for railway equipment.

“Crowley,” he cried, “See to that!”

“At once,” exclaimed the President of the New York Central, and began to execute orders right and left, which went humming out in code over imaginary telegraph lines.

Came an order for untold wealth.

McRoberts,” shouted Judge Gary, “Attend to this!”

“Aye, aye, sir,” called the Head of the Metropolitan Trust Company, jumping forward.

As the myriad demands were made, so they were met by a ten-myriad of orders. It was a great game whether or not it all happened as reported. In the end, the captains of industry were rewarded for their labors. A telegram arrived:

“JUDGE ELBERT H. GARY:

“Please be good enough to communicate my good wishes and the assurance of my deep interest in the purposes of the gathering which is being held today by the leaders of the industrial and engineering activities of the country. The national power in these departments is one of our firmest reliances for prosperity and security.

(Signed) “CALVIN COOLIDGE.”

*General Bullard was Pershing’s classmate at West Point (1885). General Duncan was a plebe when Pershing and Bullard were yearlings. Generals Morton and Hale were in the Class of 1883.