Yellowstone monitor. [volume] (Glendive, Mont.) 1905-1928, 1912-12-12
The National Guard.


army, the first line of national defense
Its organization, discipline. training
and equipment under recent Legislation
have been assimilated. as far as posi-
BILE. to those Of the regular army, and
its practical efficiency under the effec'
OF this training has very greatly In
creased. Our citizen soldiers undeI
present conditions have reached stage
of development beyond which they can
not reasonably be asked to go without
OF pay from the federal government
On the other hand. such pay from the
national treasury would not be justi
fed unless 1t produced proper equiva
lent In additional efficiency on the part
of the national guard. -
The organized militia today cannoi
be ordered outside of the limits OF the
United States and thus cannot lawful
ly be used for general military pur-
poses, The officers and men are ambi
tons and eager to make themselves
thus available and to become an eff
cient national reserve of citizen sol
diery They are the only force OF
trained men other than the regular
army upon which we can rely. The
so called militia pay bill IN the form
agreed on between the authorities Of
the war department and the represent
atives of The national guard. In my
opinion. adequately meets these condi-
tions aud offers proper return for the
pay which ii Is proposed to give to the
national guard.
believe that its enactment into law
would be very long step toward pro-
viding this nation with first line OF
citizen soldiery. upon which Its main
reliance must depend In case Of any
national emergency Plans for the or
ganization of the, national guard into
tactical divisions on the same lines as
those adopted for the regular army are
being formulated by the war college
division OF the general staff.
Porto Rice.
Porto Rico continues TO show notable
progress, both commercially and ln the
spread of educatiOn. It's external com
merce has increased II per cent over
the preceding year bringing the total
value up to $92.631 1886. or more than
Ave times the value Of the commerce
OF the Island in 1901. During the year
160,657 pupils were enrolled In the
public schools as against 145.625 for
the preceding year and as compared
with 2B.OOO for the first year OF Ameri-
can adminiStra ton.
The fnilure thus far to grant Ameri-
can citizenship continues TO be the only
ground OF dissa tislaetion , The bill
such citizenship has passed
the house of representatives and liz
now awaiting the actiOn Of the senate
| am heartily i'll favor of the passage
of this bin. | believe that the demand
for citizenship in just and that 1t IL
amply earned by sustained loyalty on
the part of the inhabitants of the Is
land But it should be remembered
that the demand must be, and in the
minds of most Porto Ricans Is. entire
" disassociated from any thought OF
statehood
The Philippines.
4 bill is pending in congress which
revolutionizes the carefully worked cut
scheme Of government under which the
Philippine Islands are now governed
and which proposes 10 render them vir-
tuany autonomous zat~once and abso-.
utely independent In eight years. Such
D proposal can only be founded on the
that we have now discharg-
ed our trusteeship to the Filipino peo-
pie and our responsibility for them to
the world and that they are now pre-
pared for self government as we'll as
national sovereignty. A thorough and
knowledge Of the facts clear
il shows that these assumptions are
absolutely without Justification
As to this | believe that there is no
substantial difference OF opinion among
my of those who have had the respon-
sibiIity of facing Philippine problems
In the administration Of the islands.
aud believe that no one to whom the
fAture of this people IL q responsible
concern can countenance policy
fraughf with the direst consequences
10 those OH whose behalf 1t Is osten-
sibly urged.
Our duty TO the Fllipinos is far from
Over half million Fiji
udno students are now In the Philip
pine schools helping to mold the men
of the future into q homogeneous peo-
Tde. but there still remain more than
a million Filipino children OF school
age yet TO be reached. Freed from
American control the integrating forces
OF q common education and common
language will cease and the education
al system now we'll started VIII slip
back Into inefficiency and disorder.
AN enormous increase IN the com
ulercial development OF the islands has
been made since they were virtually
granted fs1ll' access to our markets
three years ago. with every prospect
Continued on page B