Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-04
THE NATIONAL GUARD
Officers at the Front Have Forfeited
Their Commissions.
OPINION OF JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL
The President Unlikely to Fill Their
! Places.
LIEUT.. COL. MAYS LETTER

An important question affecting the or
ganization of the National Guard of the
District of Columbia is under consideration
at the War Department. 1t Is, in brief
whether the officers holding commissions
in the guard who accepted commissions in
the volunteer army now operating against
the Spanish army did not thereby vacate
their National Guard commissions.
Some of the stay lat home members of the
guard argue this proposition in the af11rma-
tive and are endeavoring to impress upon
the President and the Secretary of War
the necessity and desra bility of filling the
Offices alleged to have been vacated in the
manner Indicated
The question was presented to the War
Department by Lieut. Col. May of the Dis
trict National Guard, who represented that
the interests of the organization were suf-
fering on account of existing conditions.
He did this several weeks ago. His letter,
in the usual routine of business, was re-
ferred to the judge advocate general of the
army for an opinion on the questions pre-
scented.
The report Of the judge advocate general,
which answers the question in. the affirma-
tive, is as follows
Under an act entitled IAN act to provide
for the organization of the militia of the
District of Columbia approved March l,
1889. providing that the active militia
shall be composed of volunteers, and shall
be designated the National Guard of the
District of Columbia two regiments and
one independent battery were organized
and We're being maintained with their run
complement of officers ard a sufficient NUM-
Der of men to meet the requirements of
the act mentioned when the present war
with Spain came on.
Since the passage of the act of April %.
1895 entitled AN act to provide for tenn
poraiy increasing the military establish
ment of the United States. and for other
purposes, number OF the enlSted men
who belonged to these militia organlza.
tons enlisted in the volunteer branch OF
the United States army, and forty-slX OF
the officers have been appointed as COM
missioned officers in that army; and they
have been sent to Cuba as part OF the
army of invasion. The term for which they
have entered the United States army to
serve in the war with Spain is two years
or during the war.
OF course. while serving in the United
States army they cannot perform their du-
ties as officers and men of the militia or
the District of Columbia. The evident in
tention of the militia act mentioned Is that
the organiza tiofIs shall be maintained per-
petually, andJith the District shall al
ways have aTf lactfve militia force at its
service, except when its active militia may
be called into ithe' service of the United
The case now before me arises on let
ter written tb~ the Secretary of War by
Henry May lieutenant colonel in the Dis
trict militia. He says the commanding
general of the District militia is one of its
officers who have accepted an office in the
army of the United States, and that he
gave indefinite leaSes of absence to all the
others who had accepted such commissions.
and then these two paragraphs follow in
his letter, viz:
% The resulG GofF'tils action is that the
whole National Guard is thoroughly disor-
ganiZed. There afe not enough officers to
keep the organization in existence
The LIST ana e1P 7regi fhents,= which should
CCnsist of three battalions each, now
under the command Of a major and cap
tain. respectively, The battery, which
should consist of not less than four and
not more than six guns, has only one COM
missioned officer, a, second lieutenant.
Now the question is whether orrnot the
National Guard commissions of those Off
GERS who have accepted commissions in the
volunteer army are vacated SO that their
successors may be appointed.
There is no authority of law for the
commanding general to give indefinite.
leaves of absence to officers, and the fact
that he and the other officers and men vol
unfairly entered the United States service
for two years, and thus put it out of their
power to serve in their capacities of militia.
men during that time in my opinion, con-
StituteS an abandonment of their offices
and places in the militia organizations.
The object OF the militia is the public
service and protection, &c. and when one
set of officers and men discontinue their
service in it their Places should be thrown
open tc be occupied by others
In my opinion the question asked should
be answered in the affirmative. At least
the fact that those particular men have
gone into the United States array should
tanning an effective militia organization.
(Signed) &c. NORMAN LIEBER,
Judge Advocate General"
This report has been before the Secretary
of War for sevlral days but has not yet
been acted upon. 1t is explained at the
department that the press of ether business
of more general Importance has prevented
the question receiving the consideration it
deserves but that it will be taken up and
acted upon at the first favorable oppor-
tunty.
The adoption of the opinion of the judge
advocate general would result in the vaca-
ton of the office of brigadier general of
the National Guard of the District, now
presumably held by Col. Harries, command
ing the LIST District of Columbia Volunteer
Infantry as we'll as the offices in the guard
the front with the volunteers from the Dis
trict.
In view of the sacrifices made by these
patriotic men for the benefit of their coun-
try it is hardly conceivable that the Presi-
dent will consent to their being superseded
in hte District National Guard by men who
have no special claims for such preferment.
is more likely that he will find it ex-
pedient to follow the course adopted in
most of the states of keeping the offices
open until the cessation of hostili,ies per-
mits the officers now in the field to return
home and resume their offices in the Ma
tional Guard organizations
Camp Alger.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
1 am surprised at the government max
ing so many changes with Camp AIger,