Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-31
Army Officers Have Plan in
Connection With Prepared
ness Program.
GEN. GORGAS ASKS SEVEN
SURGEONS TO 1000 MEN
Judge Advocate General Expresses
Belief in Legality of Compulsory
Military Service.

testimony today on needs for
military preparedness as seen by
officials of the War and Navy
Departments.
The part that the National
Guard must play in any scheme
of preparedness and the legisla-
tive action that must be taken to
give the federal government au-
thority over the state citizen SOL
diery was the principal theme of
the War Department experts.
Brig. Gen. E. H. Crowder. Judge adj
vocate general, and Surgeon General
Gorgas gave testimony before the mil
itary affairs committee of the Senate,
and Brig. Gen. Mills, chief of the di-
vision of military affairs of the War
Department, testified before the mill
tary affairs committee of the House.
Rear Admiral Taylor. chief of the bu-
reau of construction and repair, told
the House naval committee of battle
ship construction costs.
U. S. Control of Militia Vital.
The control of the state militia by
the national government is the most
vital part of any scheme for national
defense. Gen. L. H. Crowder. judge ad
vocate general of the army, told the
Senate military committee today All
schemes for federaliZing the National
Guard involve constitutional questions,
he said. which, bassd on various court
decisions, allow two constructions, one
giving Congress every power over the
state forces except to train them and
to appoint officers and one restricting
the powers of the government in
much greater degree.
Under the broader construction of
the Constitution, he said, the federal
government could authorize a lower
age limit, could create a recruiting
service. prescribe qualifications for Of
f1cers, prescribe the total and proper
tionate strength of the militia and de-
fine the exempt class.
Gen. Crowder declared the govern
ment had no coercive power to enforce
conditioning it's appropriations upon
the surrender by the states of their
constitutional rights.
Might Sustain Compulsory Service.
The constitutionality Of the draft,
however. he said. had been settled thor
oughly by many court decisions in
which under the clause giving the ma
tional government the power to raise
an army, he thought a system of uni
versal or compulsory training would be
sustained. The government, he said,
without power to utilize the machinery
of the state government, was author
lied to reach down into the state and
command the services of the individual
citizen.
Gen. Crowder said that in 1911, when
the War Department was concerned
over the situation in Mexico, his de-
partment had been asked If the Ma
tional Guard were available for an in
vasion of Mexico. and after an investi-
cation had been of the opinion that it
was not, as it could not enter Mexico
to execute any American law and the
act would not be in repel1ing an in
vasion. This opinion had been upheld
by the Attorney General, he said.
Speaks for Army Medical Corps.
Surgeon General Gorgas, chief of the
Medical Corps of the army, urged that
any army reorganization bill provide
that the minimum strength of the Medi-
cal Corps be seven officers for each
1, 900 men in the army.
He recommended some training plan
by which a thousand or more young
doctors. constituting part of the Medi-
cal Reserve Corps, could be sent to the
border for service during a couple of
months in the summer. Several letters
of objection were read to the commit
tee from members of the Medical Re
serve Corps protesting against pro-
vision of the continental army bill
which would abolish the corps.
Six Months Training Necessary.
1t would require at least six months
of intensive training to fit the organ
ICED militia or the proposed continental
army for service as first line troops,
in the opinion of Brig. Gen. Mills, chief
of the division of military affairs in
the War Department. Before the House
committee on military affairs Gen.
Mills today said he believed that after
national service at least that time
would be necessary to instill discipline
and give the additional training nee
essary for soldiers on the fighting
line.
Gen. Mills vigorously defended the
continental army plan, saying in reply
to a question that the War Department
had no antipathy to the organized mi
litia.
II know" he said, that the Secretary
of War has the kindest feeling toward
the National Guard. Objection to 1t a
federal force is based on the theory
that under the Constitution the militia
cannot be considered a dependable fed
eral force"
rh;1L~ Nov plan Eao.;h1a