Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-12-12

mental units. instead Of being trans
ferred periodically back and forth
from the United States. will remain In
the islands. The officers and men
composing these units will, however,
servo regular tropical detail, rs usual.
thus involving no greater hardship
upon the personnel and greatly in.
creasing the effectiveness Of the garri.
son.
The Home Army.
simultaneously with the foregoing
steps the war department has been
proceeding with the reorganiza ton Of
the army ut home. The formerly dis.
associated units are being united into
n tactical organization Of three divi-
sions. each consisting of two or three
brigades Of infantry and. so far as
practicable. n proper proportion Of di.
visiOnal cavalry and artillery. OF
course the extent to which this reform
can be carried by the executive is
practically limited to a paper organiza-
ton. The scattered units can be
brought under proper organization,
but they will remain physically scat.
tered until congress supplies the nec-
essary funds for grouping them in
more concentrated posts.
Regular Army Reserve.
The new law provides that the SOL
dier. after serving four years with COL
ora, shall pass into a reserve for three
years. At his option he may 60 into
the reserve at the end Of three years,
remaining there for four years. While
in the reserve he can be called and
only in such case will receive a stated
amount OF pay for all Of the period
in which he has been member of the
reserve. The legislation is imperfect.
IN my opinion. in certain particulars.
but it is most important step in the
right direction. aud | earnestly hope
that II vii, be carefully studied and
perfected by congress
The National Guard.
Under existing law the national
guard constitutes. after the regular
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 effect
OF this training has very greatly In
creased. Onr citizen soldiers under
present conditions have reached a stage
of development beyond which they can
not reasonably he asked to go without
further direct assistance in the form
Of pay from the federal government
On the other hand, such pay from the
national treasury would not be justi-
fed unless it produced proper equiva.
lent in additional efficiency on the part
OF the national guard.
The organized militia today cannot
he ordered outside Of the limits Of the
United States and thus cannot lawful.
~ be used for general military pur-
poses. The officers and men are ambi.
tiOus and eager to make themselves
thus available and to become IN 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.
tons and offers proper return for the
pay which it is proposed to give TO the
national guard
l believe that its enactment into law
would be very long step toward pro.
viding this nation with a first line of
citizen sOldiery, upon which its main
reliance must depend III case OF any
national emergency. Plans for the or
canizatiOn of the national guard into
those adopted for the regular army are
being formulated by the war college
division Of the general staff.
Porto Rico.
Porto Rico continues TO show notable
progress. both commercially and III the
spread Of education Its external com.
MERGE has increased II per cent over
the preceding year. bringing the total
value up to $02.G3l. 1856. or more than
FIVE times the value Of the commerce
Of the island in 1901 During the year
lGO,G51 pupils were enrolled in the
public schools as against 145.525 for
the preceding year and as compared
with 28.OOO for the first year Of Ameri
can administration.
The failure thus far to grant Ameri.
cnn citizenship continues to be the only
ground OF dissa tisfaction. The bill
comforting such citizenship has passed
the house OF representatives and is
now awaiting the action OF the senate.
am heartily in favor OF the passage
Of this bill. believe that the demand
for citizenship IL just ana that II Is
amply earned by sustained loyalty ON
!he part Of the Inhabitants Of the Is.
land. But 1t should be remembered
that the demand must be. and in the
minds Of most Porto Ricans is. entire
ly d!sassociated from any thought Of
statehood.
The Philippines.
A bill is pending in congress which
revOlutionizes the carefully worked out
scheme Of government under which the
Philippine Islands are now governed
and which proposes to render them vir-
tually autonomous at once and absO-
lutely independent in eight years. Such
a proposal can only be founded on tho
assumption that we have now discharg.
ed our trusteeship to the Filipino PEG.
pie and our responsibility for them to
the world and that they are now pre-.