New-York tribune., 1902-08-13
RELIGION IN THE GUARD.

The latest product OF the East Side is a
Jewish regiment. According to the statement
made by one of the organizers OF this body,
there are already $50 names on the member
ship rolls and II is expected now the body
has been Incorporated. that recruiting will be
come active and the ranks soon be full.
Military organizations are usually productive
of much good. especially in places where the
ideas Of the people as to obedience respect for
superiors. punctuaity and order are undevel-
oped. This fact has made the military system
popular in the schools Boys who have the
benefit Of military training become manly
selfreliant and competent to give well as
10 execute an order. But the soldier be he a
cadet at school, guardsman a member Of
an Independent body, should never forget that
he bears arms in the name of law and order.
that his weapon is at the disposal of the legal
authorities. and that its use against fellow citi
zens except under orders, Is crime. The
men who are instrumental in the formation Of
the Jewish regiment seem TO have lost sight
of that fact, for they give as one reason for
their organization a desire to protect our
own people in case Of trouble"
What nonsense! Does the brave East Side
Mars think that If another riot took place like
the one Of few days ago and IL was believed
that the police failed to do its duty. be could
call out his regiment and settle matters? He
probably does because he says that the pro-
lection can be given when we get our rifles"
If he had the right to go to the rescue of his
people with his rife. why could not another
regiment, with headquarters next door, march
against the Jewish soldiers?
The young soldiers have been misinformed as
to their rights If the regiment is to be or
ganized in order to become a part of the Ma
oil
tablishment should be discouraged, not only
because the National Guard quota Is practically
full but because a regiment made up Of men
of one religious denomination should have no
place in the military establishment of the COM
monwealth. We have had French Irish Ger
man, Scotch and Swiss military organizations
in the NewYOrk militia. There was also one
exclusively American regiment. in which only
men born In the United States could become
members. These organizations. with one ex-
ception have been disbanded because If was
generally conceded that neither foreign nor
an exclusively American body had any place
in the citizen soldiery. American citizenship
together with the moral and physical requisites
should make man eligible to any military
body in the State organization. and this argu-
ment has often been advanced by people who
favor the disbandment of the only remaining
distinctive regiment in the State.
All that is true of the foreign" regiment is
doubly true as to religious distinction We have
no place in the National Guard for Jewish regi-
ments, Presbyterian brigades. Roman Catholic
batteries Methodist troops and if the or-
ganiZers of the Jewish regiment hope to be-
come officers of the National Guard while they
hold commissions In a Jewish regiment they
should be told at the outset that their hopes
will never be realized. Military drill in the
schools should be encouraged. There the boys
may be what they will; but when the toy rifle
of the religious school is exchanged for the
guardsman's weapon the man who bears it
should be an American soldier. no matter what
his religious creed may be