Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-16

IT on the continental army pro-
posed by President Wilson in his
recent message to Congress will be
read with deep interest by everybody
who las given thought. to the matter
of national defense. The Governors
keenly analytical mind picks out the
one big flaw in the administrations
plan-which is the utter failure of
those who framed it to take into con-
sideration the National Guards of the
various States and what will happen
TO these well-organized forces in case
the contemplated continental army is
created. Unless there is some dis
position of these organizations in the
thought of those who are urging the
continental army upon the country not
yet made public, the Governor is right in
his conclusion that to adopt the VIII
ron- Garrison recommendations would
be to throw the Guard into the discard
in favor of an untried experiment.
Pennsylvania has developed a Ma
country and built along regular army
lines to such extent that it could step
out of it's armories into the service of
the United States almost without no
tice and with little or no change.
There are hundreds of men within its
ranks trained and qualified for duty as
officers in an army of defense should
the occasion arise. Without thought
of pay and prompted by purely patri-
otic motives the thousands of men who
so TO make up the National Guard
sacrifice their time and their money to
attend drills and perfect themselves to
step into the trenches at the word of
command should the need arise for
national defense. The folly and injus-
tice of discouraging and disorganizing
such an efficient and devoted fighting
force needs no demonstration.
Nor can it be said that the Guard
has not developed military men of
ability. Citizens of Harrisburg well
recall our own Captain Thomas f.
Maloney. whose City Grays were the
pride of the whole State and whose
manual of arms was for many years a
standard military work. General Frank
Magee, General Thomas J. Jordan,
General Alexander Russell, to mention
only very few of the figures well
known to Harrisburg people who made
regulations for themselves and the
Guard in the States service, are types
of the soldierly qualities developed by
the National Guard of Pennsylvania.
Among the living there is Adjutant
General Thomas j. Stewart as a strik-
ing example of the caliber of men who
have for years been giving of their
brain and Drawn to the forging of the
State militia into the efficient second
line of defense it is to-day To dis
courage them, as the Governor says,
would be grave mistake.
There is food for thought in the
suggestion that the proper way in
which to develop the armed force of
citizen soldiery that the country ad-
mittedly needs is to enlarge and de-
Velop the Guard. Advance worthy men
in the States service to ofIicerships
and increase the number of regiments
and various branches of the service,
pay them for their time and give them
something to work for. Along this
line it might be well to give each regi-
ment some insignia by which it would
be known everywhere. The famous
Black Watch, for instance, is an ex-
ample of what name and a tradition
will do for military body.
But that aside, the thing to do, as
Governor Brumbaugh says, is to see to
it that we do not sacrifice that which
we know to be good for very doubt
full experiment.