Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-10-11
TROUBLE BETWEEN STATE MILL.
TIAMEN AND WAR DEPART.
MENr GROWING.
GOVERNMENT INSISTS ON
sIx-YEAR ENLIsTMENrs
National Guard Association 70 Which
Iowa Belongs HaIks and Insists
Three Years 10 Sufficient for voIun-
tary ssrviee-Propossd Nationalist.
ton Deemed imperial
Special to Times Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines. Oct 11.-Guard officers
and the war department ar. deadlocked
over the special terms Of the next
move toward correlating the regulars
and the militia. If the secretary of
war and administra ton move along the
line they have indicated and force the
guard organizations, as preliminary
to securing drill pay ana recognition,
to accept terms that are irksome and
expensive, there Is going to be the
biggest kind of row in every state
over the matter.
The convention Of the national guard
association at Chicago this week was
by far the biggest and best they have
ever had. according to Adjutant Cen
eral Logan. who was elected secretary.
There were about 300 present and
every state represented except two.
The guardsmen are no amateurs, for
many of them have had long expert
ence, some having served twenty five
and thirty years and a number being
West Pointers.
other States Protest.
Altho Iowa was not directly con-
cerned, the convention protested
against the effort Of the war DEPART
ment to force all guard organizations
to regular army basis at this time.
The requirement to that effect has al
ready forced the disarmament of the
guard in Arkansas, and it will also III
other states. But more important is
it that in Illinois. for instance, 1t will,
if enforced, compel complete reor-
ganization Of their guard system. they
will lose a major general and his staff
and their plan of instruction will be
broken up. Similar condition exists In
Pennsylvaia. When trouble is caused
in such important states. where they
have hundred or more guard COM
panies. it is important.
But the deadlock is not ever circular
No. 8, with which the guard men are
uncomfortably Familiarity: but it is
over the guard pay bill which has been
prepared and urged upon congress.
The Sticking Point.
Guardsmen OLDEST seriously to a six
year enlistment as a national reserve
for the regular army as a requirement
of every one entering the guard serv-
ice. The reserve force plan Is the
sticking point.
No naturalization of the guard has
ever been suggested quite so imperial
lstic as that evolved by the powers that
be at Washington. When Mr.. Garrison
became secretary Of war he spoke
freely. Of the necessity for giving to
guardsmen pay for drill work at home.
They now get pay from the federal
treasury for camp work. He was for
compensation for home work, rea-
sonable features.
But when the executive committee
Of the guard association presented to
him their bill for the guard pay, Sec
rotary Garrison wrote into it several
paragraphs which later the committee
took out and printed separately with
the explanation to congress that they
We're prepared by the secretary Of war
but that the guard committee could
not fully endorse them. The head Of
the committee was called on the carpet
and roundly denounced by the head OF
the war department, and virtually told
that unless all the bill was accepted
they would get nothing. Then the Sec
rotary OF war forbade his officers from
attending the convention in Chicago.
And the guard committee is going right
ahead to get the legislation desired and
the drill pay for the guardsmen wheth-
er anybody else likes 1t or not.
BaIk at Six-Year Enlistment.
There are number Of features in
the amendments proposed by the sec
rotary of war, but the one which
caused all the trouble was paragraph
which would require that each and
every guardsmen entitled to drill pay
should be enlisted not for three years
as now but for six years, three years
under the colors and three as a reserve.
that the guard department in each
state should keep tab on these men
after they have quit the guard service
and keep them rounded up as reserve
force subject to call into the regular
army, have them examined by medi-
cal officer every SO often. have them
report regularly, and if they move to
other states have that fact reported to
the war department. In short, for three
years, the time each man is in the re-
serve. he is to be treated much like a
paroled parson. Then it would also be
required that similar watch should be
kept over all regulars residing in the
state after their terms have ended, so
they could be pulled back into the
service. Another feature is that the
cadets at all schools where regular Of
ficers are detailed should be enlisted
and tab be kept on such as are fit for
commissions, that they may be OBJ
tanned quickly.
All Of this would entail vast
amount Of trouble and expense; but
more important. it would make 1t al
most impossible to secure men enough
to keep up the militia companies, as
they would hesitate about going in on
a six-year enlistment. The regular
army is having whole lot Of trouble
with its seven-year terms.
The matter IL of importance not
alone for the members Of the guards,
but for all others, as it involves the
first steps toward national reserve
force and the complete subsection Of