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Star - 12/19/25

[[image - political satire]]

COL. MITCHELL SUSPENDED FROM SPEAKING FOR FIVE YEARS

HOLY SMOKE! I MUST LOOK UP THAT LAW TOO!

TERMINAL TIPS 

REED RULES

DEATH TO DEBATES

HOUSE CLOTURE LAW

DAWES

Berrymore

DAVIS OPENS WAR ON FRICTION IN ARMY; PLANS DRASTIC ACTION

Will Move if Disciplinary Object of Mitchell Case Is Lost on Services Resisting General Policies.

Star - 12/21/25

If certain elements of the Army are slow to accept the Mitchell court-martial verdict as a disciplinary object lesson, Secretary of War Davis is planning drastic action to check tendencies to combat policies of the War Department, it was learned last night. While the exact identity of the disturbances which the Secretary has in mind are not disclosed, it is known that the post-war reorganization caused concern among special groups of officers whose units became absorbed by parent organizations.
Mr. Davis' object in this respect is a determination to bring complete teamwork back to the whole service. He has insistently preached close cooperation as an essential Army gospel in his many public addresses since he succeeded Secretary Weeks, drawing on his experience both as an athlete and a combat officer in France to drive home his point.
With the Mitchell case out of the way in so far as its disciplinary reaction is concerned, Mr. Davis sees no reason for further delay in bringing its significance home to any other branch of the service  where there has been evidence of open disagreement, in the period of post-war reorganizations and uncertainties, with settled departmental or national policies. 
The Secretary is said to have been compelled to consider putting a check on the tendency in certain special service to be as free in combating policies--some of them written into international treaties of the United States--as Col. Mitchell and his following have been in the united air service movement.
The war left many difficult Army reorganization problems. The immediate slashing of Chemical Warfare Service activities to little more than research work is a case in point. Another is the struggle in the Quartermaster Corp to get back functions which broke away during the war, such as the Transportation Service. The Construction Corps and the Finance Corps, which continues as a virtually independent branch, have been reabsorbed by the parent Quartermaster Corps, just as the wartime Tank Corps has been merged with the Infantry for combat purposes.
In all these absorbtions, specialized groups of officers saw their independence disappearing, and in some cases, they were accomplished only after disputes that have left factional scars not talked about publicly in Army circle. Mr. Davis learned a lot about these inside frictions when he was Assistant Secretary, however--much more than ever would come directly to the knowledge of the Secretary--particularly with respect to the supply branches, as he was charged by law with responsibility for supply and industrial preparedness plans.
It is now said, that as Secretary, he is showing a disposition to use his inside information as a basis for settling internal rows that come before him.

Army officers who have been unable to read the handwriting on the Mitchell court-martial wall may soon have a chance to go to Secretary Davis' night school.