Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1913-08-01

y
United States, and over eighteen
years of age, and under forty-five
you are a member of the militia.
Unles you are one of the small min
ority who have uniform and place
in a regular company, and assemble
in the armory upon stated occasions
you probably are inclined. to doubt
the accuracy of the statement. While
almost all of the adult men in this
country are members of the militia
under the law, few of them know it.
The status of the male citizen as
members of the militia is fixed by
Act of Congress of 1903, amended in
1908 and 1910. Under it all able
bodied male citizens between the
ages of eighteen and forty-five, with
certain limited exceptions, comprise
the militia. Those who are enrolled g,
uniformed and equipped by the
states comprise what is known as
the Organized Militia. The remain
der, which includes the majority of
us, are known in the War Depart
ment and stand before the law as
members of the Reserve Militia.
No active duties are imposed upon
this vast unorganized body of Re-
serve Militia. They are simply a
body that may be forced to become
members of an organized military
fol ce. AS the draft during the civil
war was brought home the liability
of citizens to serve the country un-
der arms, whether they desire to OF
not, this does not impress us as novel
Under the law which was passeC
in 1892, and which was in force TO ;
over a hundred years, every able
bodied citizen of suitable age was
not only a member of the militia, but
presumed to be Ssa member of the
active militia, and the theory under
which the founders of the Republi {
enacted the law was that every such
person should and would be enrolled
as an active militia man prepared for
instant, active service by equipment
and training. Under this law, which
was in force until comparatively re-
Gently, every man was presumed tC
be minute man." Of course, uni
versal service, while thd law of the
land, remained but a theory and was
never enforced. This law was a
dead letter.
The Constitution of the United
Stotes provides that Congress shall
have the power to provide for call
ing forth the militia to execute the
laws of'the Union; suppress insur-
rection, and repel invasion; to pro.
vide for organizing and disciplinine
the militia, and for governing such
part of them as may be. employed in
the service of the United States, re.
serving to the states respectively the
appointment of the officers and the
authority of training the militia &C.
cordihg to the discipline prescribed
by Congress.
: Under the present law it is the or
ganized militia that is organized anc
disciplined and to whom we look tt
support our scant regular army ir
the event. Until peace is a reality
instead Of hope and a dream we
must recognize war as possibility
The development of the science anC
the equipment of war renders an un
trained soldier, whatever his natura
bravery and capacity, of compare
lively little value, and this is especi
ally true since the development Of
I our civilization leaves fewer and
fewer citszens who are in any way
| familiar with the use of firearms. Sc
it is that the matter of our either
soidiery is one that is of the greatest
import, and the laws which regulate
the militia should be of immediate
concern , every citizen.
Primarily the organized militia il
a body of state troops. In forty
three of the states the militia il
known as the National Guard. Ii
Arkansas and Kentucky it is know
as State Guards, in Florida as Stat,
Troops. in Massachusetts as Volun
: teer Militia, in Rhode Island as Mill
tia and in Kentucky as Volunteers
These bodies of citizen soldiery are
organized under state law and unde
the state falls most of the expens
t for the support of its troops. TIL