The Nome daily nugget., 1914-03-11

the dances, but they did not care for
 tho police work 0f a camp ar the
 n:rchipe over dusty roads under !
 hot July sun In half wnrnout shoes s.iih a hurd- hearted regular army
 lli..cr in command wiio was more
 Interested in the proper system of out
 pests and tiankers than he was In
 whether Minnie would l'c out |" camp
 ,, sunday with a basket full of fried L,n and jelly cake.
 Right there was where the slr'
 l,nched the militia. It was the disci-
 l.iin- and the tremendously hard "nd
 St riuus work of being n soldier.
 And so the national guard. ar the
 state militia. have decided that the law
 which makes them real soldiers for Il few days each year is not for their lest interests and they want 1t re.
 pealsd.
 All of that may not be at all inter- esting to the average American who Is engaged in the daily grind of mak- Ing both ends meet. But 1t is In real 'ty a matter to which far too few Am
 orleans give any attention.
 Letting the militia drift back into
 nEmilitary state 1t was In before It
 began to run itself on the regular army plan puts that many men who
 VI count upon for national defense
 just that much farther away from the standard necessary to make them of any value in the field when they are needed.
 There are roughly few more than enc hundred thousand men In these IT. ilitiu organizations and other mili
 tary organizations who could be called
 upon in time of actual war; and f 1! ey were maintained at the standard which modern military Judgment says Is necessary for a soldier, or if they |! pproximatrd as near to that stand ard us possible. they might be of some alue in an emergency.
 Letting the militia drift back to tn. d. ys of the gold-iaced red. white and pink coats of dress parade means just that many less men partially prepared for war. It puts the whole | ihing up to the regular army in other words when hostilities first break out. for pink coated and pink tea sol
 ci-rs will be of no value when it comes to a modern fight.
 The militia objects to the regular
 army discipline and 1t is just tha:
 same discipline that will keep them 1 <; eady under Ire when the men who rye 1t not are on the run for the
 ."oods They complain of the hard and disagreeable work of the combined l.,anuevres when it is this doing things lake the regulars do them that will hold the volunteer army in place wien the actual test of efficiency cun,es.
 1 This desire on the part of the mill" i tia organizations to get back to the | status in which they were hefOre tn. 1 assage of the Dick Till proves just one thing and aSnin we quote In .tn
 ..' ,orial the words of George Wash ins n-"Reguiar 'ro ops alone arr" equal to the .ex'Gencies of modern w1i :are'
 If there is any hesitation on tn" ,rrt of any member of congress in supporting the requested and very necessary increase in the regular arm" ca the United States he should first take Il glance over the foreign rela- tn ms of the country, then get the iden out of his head that a rife and T uniform will make soldier. and then
 look into the reasons why the na- tional guard does not like the Dick III. which turned them from dress | parade soldiers into something ap- ! 1 rox imately the real thing. When 1t comes to national defence tEere is not any use foolinE ourselves with the idea that avery American | Ic u soldier. We will have to depcnl
 um the regulars absolutely during inc fist months of the war and we mig;it |. well have enough of them to mako that dependence worth while, IL appears to he generally cOncedc row among informed people that con | r,,. ttnC thn nraaf lakes system of