The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-09-12
The Vermont Militia.

ana men each, an independently COMPANY
of the same number of officers and men
and battery of light artillery consisting
of eighty officers and men constitute the
organized militia of this state. This
body is armed, drilled and disciplined as
the commander.in-chief directs. In each
year in the month of June each company
is required to devote one day to drill and
inspection, and annually between the first
day of August and the 18th day of Octo-
Der parade of the organized militia for
drill, discipline, inspection and review is
required at such times and places as the
commander-inchie designates. This pa
rade, it is provided, shall continue not
less than three days nor more than five
days, and the commander-in-chief may
order such additional parades by COM
pany, regiment or battery as he deems
desirable. The muster at st. Johnsbury
last week was the annual parade of the
organized military arm of the state.
Americans do not believe in standing
armies, nor do they believe that the
sword, or the moral influence of the
sword, can be entirely dispensed with in
the provisions for the maintenance of
government. The contingency of foreign
war or of invasion from our neighbors is
too remote of itself to afford the stimulus
for the organization and support of
military establishment in the states, and
happily the occasions are rare when in
civil cases an appeal to the military arm
is taken; yet when the soldier is needed
to assist in the execution of the laws and
the protection of life and property, as in
the case of the railway riots six years
ago, he is needed very much indeed
Practically the use of the militia in a
state like Vermont is reduced to cases in
which the civil law has been defed or
over-borne. These occasions are not fire.
quent and it is unquestionably true that
their frequency is diminished by the ex-
istence of an alert and efficient military
police The price of good order is the
existence and support of effective means
for preserving order. These considera-
tions induce the state to keep up small
military organization, ample for all ordi-
nary demands which are likely to be
made upon it and which will serve as the
nucleus for a larger and stronger force for
extraordinary emergencies. No patriotic
Vermonter would .begrudge sufficient
and reasonable outlay for the maintenance
of such force as mustered at st. Johns
bury last week and his disposition to vote
the means of supporting the organized
militia, on basis that should render it
respectable, would not be influenced by
any considerations growing out of the
infrequency of the demand for the actual
services of the soldiers. 1t was fine
body of men that encamped on the
meadow by the Passumpsic, sober, or
derby, handsomely equipped and we'll
disciplined. Many of the men and Off.
GERS were veterans of the war of the re-.
bellion and are familiar with real war as
well as its play-day aspect. The leaven
of men and officers of experience has in.
fused the whole mass and gives the militia
of the present day very different char
acter from the militia which assembled
on the muster-felds before the war.
From examinations of the report of the
state officers it appears that the expense
of sustaining the militia for the veal
ended July 81, 1881, was 81, 51S.74, ano
that $6,221.09 of this sum was for the ex
penses of the annual muster for 1880
For the year 1882 the expense was $l3,
1872, including a requisition of $4,000
for the annual muster. The annual sal
aries of the adjutant and inspector-gen
eral and the quartermaster-g arr
$3.50 and $3.50 respectively. The tota
expense to the state of supporting thu
militia it appears from these figures
is $27,095.46 for the two years ended
July 81, 1882. This sum is exclusiv,
of private expenses and of private sub
scriptions which amount in the ag
gregate to no inconsiderable sum. Fo
the support of the battery organized b,
him, Colonel Fuller has paid out severa
thousand dollars and, in maintaining il
: yearly spends large sum over and abov
the amount paid by the state. Fo
various articles of military use or fnery
J the citizens of the community in which
/ company has been organized have cor
, tributed money in larger or smaller sums
{ The aggregate expense paid by the stat
t alone seems large, and $4,000 for wha
. appears like an annual military picni
| must show a strong fruitage of useful re
Q suits to have the continued sanction G
9 the Vermont farmers. 1t is we'll enoug
: to look these things over occasionally
Q from practical AZ we'll as a sentiments
r or theoretical point of view, and to inquir
!, If show and expense are not outstrippin
y reason and utility. A iudicious regar
for the real need of militia to the Stat
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