The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-12-13
National Guard designations

1T must be more than coinci-
dence that four captains in the Yer
mont National Guard have resigned
within two weeks. Captain Water
man of the Brattleboro company, Cap
tain Moseley of Mortified, Captain
Parker of Burlington and Captain
Cushing of st. Adams four of the
leading militiamen of the state, are
the ones who have handed their com
missions to Adjt Gen. w. H. Gilmore.
Governor Prouty could do a fine thing
by having an investigation made Of
the conditions in the Vermont Nat
ional guard which cause these four
men to lay down their commissions
at this time. II the conditions are
not such as to encourage good men to
remain in the leadership of compan-
les, they ought to be remedied: at
least the public ought to know wheth-
ar the fault is purely local or whether
1t lies higher up in the management
of the military arm Of the state. Four
designations within so short time
cannot be overlooked. Barre Times
One of these designations al leasC,
was occasione1 by the removal Of the
NiiiTNi iARth ttAt AtNA III NiilAn liio
command resided But, with all that
there has been an unmistaka"e IN
crease in the burden of duties aud re-
sponsibilities imposed upon the off
GERS of the National Guard since the
War with Spain and the tendency is
to add more and more duty 20 the
militia men and EXPECT more and
niCre of them.
All this IS occasioned, generally
speaking, by the latter day =. Icy that
makes the state militia 20 all intents
and purposes a volunteer corps in the
REGULAR army Uncle Sam says and
properly enough. If h. is to take an
the support Of the various state mill.
tary organizations. he has tn natur-
al right of overseeing the expenditure
Of bis money and Of demanding a Ger
tain standard of equipment and 1T
ness in the troops he rhus maintains.
That means that the state r:ld "a un-
der the inspection of United States
army officers, is being GRO lshf stead
liz up to the rigid requirements of the
regular service. greater demands VI.
on officers and men are Imposed in
eGCl succeeding year and the propos-
it.on is fast approaching The roint
wh,re the average young rian is lut
to very serious thought in the deter
mination whether ha IAN actually af-
ford to give up the tiI.e and energy
tina, are thus required Of the citizen
soldier dur ng the per'o1 IF his enlist
meDt or service under a commission.
Now the idea OF the National Guard
as the nucleus of great volunteer
army in time of war has always ap-
Tealed to the Mess enger as a wise
one and probably the only way in
which the nation viii ever he able to
avoid CONSUMPTION and still at least
partially approximate that preparat-
ion for war at any time which we are
told is the surest way Of preserving
the peace. 1t is good policy 10 sup
port the National Guard as 4 nation
al guard and not as a mere Lockwood
state militia. Any thoughtful person
that saw the effects of the old indie
pendent state militia system upon the
varieties of volunteer regiments that
were turned over to the government
by the states in the War with Spain
will not have to be persuaded over
much that there is only one way TO
have a well equipped. well discipln
ed force OF this kind and that is to
put it under the supervision of the
national government But the ques-
ton is fast growing in these days,
with the increasing demands upon
the citizen soldier made by the gen
eral government in order to bring the
militia up to a uniformity under a
high national standardl, as TO how
much more the government can eX-
pect of men who are employed daily
in other occupations, have their own
private lives to live, their own person
al ambitions to serve, and who only
go into the militia for a few years in
their early life from a mixed desire
to seek congenial change and recrea.
tion and to do their share of a citi-
zen's duty by his country The ques-
tion is how much more the United
States government can demand of
men who only make the militia a side
line and still continue to enlist the
kind of young men it wants. and keep
them in the service until they are
trained for the volunteer army
against the emergency of war in la
ter years.-St Adams Messenger.