Arizona republican., 1913-12-12
CASE
 IF ARIZONA
Adjutant General Harris, in Communication to Service Periodical, Tells Arizona $ Side of Controversy With War Department
Special to The Republican,

ZOna National Guard, on the question i of the controversy going on between 1 the division of militia affairs of the 1 general staff of the army and the Ari- zona chief of star. will appear in
 the Army and Navy Register here in it's edition for this week. which comes 1 from the press today. Colonel Harris 1 states he appreciates the necessity | for remedying defects in the present | militia organization in the United 1 States, but he insists that such i changes must be made by congress, i which alone has the constitutional right to prescribe discipline for the 1 militia, and not by d departmental | bureau. It would be foolish" he | says, for congress to provide for l arming the militia without providing money for that arming, and il is 1 equally so to provide for disciriinin& l the body of the National Guard with | out providing funds to that end. l since the recent decision of the i comptroller of the treasury. which so ! Vitally concerns the militia, has been made on a case from this state. l am asking that I be allowed 10 present our
 side of this case before it is commented 1 on by those who are not familiar with | this particular case and who might be. inclined to point to it as one showing the waste of funds by the militia. or the use that is made by the militia of funds for junketing purposes.
 The camp in question was held at the Wilmont Range and as stated in the orders from this office was "A camp for instruction in rifle practice" It was similar camp inthe work taken Ho struction' and those for officers and
 commissioned officers. authorized
 in the past by the division of militia
 affairs, except that the work at this
 camp was for rifle practice instead of
 the field service work and work along
 the line of military drill and instrUC-
 tion. l had found that many of the
 companies were deficient in not hay
 ing officers or nOn-commis stoned of
 ficers who could properly instruct the
 members of their companies in field
 work and range work and in addition
 to the ordinary course prescribed, some
 experimental work was tried. The new
 target course had just been prescribed
 and the men and officers were able to
 familiarize themselves with this work.
 The order for this camp prescribed
 that not more than one officer and five
 men from each company should attend
 on pay, but additional officers from the
 companies were allowed to and did at
 tend on their own time. The staff of
 ficers made the additional number of officers that attended on pay with the i exception of the disbursing officer. who | received no pay. This camp consisted | of details similar to those at the School ! of Musketry of the Army. ct probably |
 F,sa1 s-,, than many of the department and other ! matches of the army. If the company i officers of the militia do not thorough { ly understand rifle practice, they can | not make good shots of their men and [ in the militia most of this work falls | on the commissioned officers. as we | have not the number of experienced | shots among the non commissioned of | ficers and enlisted men that is found in the army.
 While a larger proportion of the ! funds for the promotion of rifle prac- tice may have been spent in this state i on officers than has been spent on en- listed men, it has been done because it has been physically impossible to get results from any ot=er method. How ever, it has probably not been called to the attention of the comptroller that the D. NJ. A. has decided that funds for the promotion of rifle practice" can be spent for ranges. rifle galleries. pay ment of certain civilians, and ammuni- tion' and that troops participating in rifle practice can not be paid from the fund for that purpose. Because of the large area of the state and the high ! cost of assembling the troops for rifle practice, we have not enough funds to I ;ac 4l,< ment for rifle practice. The only other method is to assemble as many men i and officers as possible that they may instruct their companies on their home ranges. And as results may be some indication as to advisable expenditures ] l believe that I will be pardoned for calling attention to the fact that Ari- zona, under a process of elimination that is harder on the small states maintains a rifle team that shoots in | "A" class, and was beaten this year by 1 only five states, and these men and officers are all bona -fide members of 1 the regiment. Also that in proportion to our population we have more N R. ! A. clubs than any two and possibly three states in the United States The membership of these clubs is largely 
 It Is the intention or the state au- thOrities in the coming spring to order a camp of instruction for officers and non n-cOmmissioned officers, the last three days of this camp to be given to rifle practice. Had the orders of the division of militia affairs been sus- tained, payment might have been made for the first part of the camp under their regulations but could not be made for the last part of the camn for tho | identical men and for instruction that is most essential.
 T wish to quote the comptroller in the following:
 Companies A and B, for illustration LAnt.n c.rE