Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-08-31
TO CREATE VAST
ARMY OF RESERVE
Secy. Taft FormuIates a Plan
For Turning the National
Guard Into One.
PRIEST. ROOSEVELT FAVORS IT
Under Bill to Be introduced in Con-
sress IL is Estimated Country
VIII Have Half Million Men.

Lexington, Ky, Aug. 3l.-when Con-
gress meets again, bill will be in
troduced whose provisions have been
dictated by Secy, of War Taft, to con-
vert the national guard into vast
army of reserve.
While Secy. Taft was here he had a
long talk with Brig. Gen. Roger Will
Jams. of the Kentucky national guard,
and requested him to meet the Ken
lucky delegation in Congress and get
them in line for the bill.
Gen. Williams has secured the prom
Use of several of the Kentucky con-
gressmer to support the measure The
bill is favored by President Roosevelt
and is fathered by Secy. Taft. so that
little trouble Is anticipated in pushing
II through, and making it a law.
In the bill there will be one striking
provision, namely, TO place the new
national guard under the direct charge
of West Point graduates and army Of
ficers and keep them on half pay at
all times, except when on active duty.
Officers of the national guard, then the
national reserve, Will be appointed the
same as at present, by the governors
of states where the national guard OK
lists.
Secy. Taft has been forced TO adopt
this plan because of the inability of
the army to secure necessary recruits.
For the past year there are two men
to be discharged from service to one
who enters It. Wages paid soldiers in
the standing army are so small that II
Is impossible for recruiting officers to
get men to enlist.
The war department is alarmed at
~, ,tt ton md arf fnQ y
that the time is not far distant when
the standing army will dwindle to
nothing. Under the present organiZa-
ton of the national guard there are
but 100000 men who could be called
into the field, but after the Taft bill
has become law the national re-
serve Will be increased to 500 900, and
In case of war the United States could
call into the service as many as one
half million men, ready and equipped
for war.
Under these conditions. it would be
ready at any time to defend itself
against the attack of hostile nation,
which Secy. Taft realizes is not the
case now. One of the most important
missions of Secy. Taft on his trip to
the orient is to talk over this bill with
army officers now In active service.
The national reserve is not a novel
ty, for II has been maintained in Eng
land for years, and rules and regula-
tlons of the army under the new bill
will place the army of this country
and England on the same footing.
There viii be no compulsory clause In
the bill. and the men for the national
reserve win be enlisted as they are now
for the national guard. but provisions
for putting soldiers and officers on half
pay when not on. duty Will be inviting.
and secy. Taft thinks that there will
be no difficulty IN Increasing the ma
THE reason why this bill will be in
troduced at the next session OF Con-
gross IL because the Dick bill, which
created the national guard. expires
Jan. 1, 1908, and some provisions for
the national guard or national reserve
must be made.