New-York tribune., 1916-07-28
The "Federalized" Guard Muddle.


he might have been in his letter to Mrs.
Henry Smith, of Winamac, Ind. Mrs.
Smith. who has a son in the Indiana Guard,
wanted to know why the state troops were
being kept on the Mexican border when
there was nothing else for them to do
there but engage in drill and other camp
exercises.
The President told her that the Guard
was at the border mot for the purpose Of
drill, but for the purpose of protecting the
country" That is a good enough answer
as far as it goes But it will not satisfy
the thousands and thousands of Mrs.
Smiths all over the country. They cannot
see why state troops, composed largely Of
men who never expected TO do anything
but home guard service, who have families
dependent upon them, who are beyond the
age at which year or two Of army life
involves no serious interruption of profess
sional or business activities, should be
down in Texas, when the country is not at
war and is not seriously threatened with
war. doing the routine work of a standing
army.
Mr.. Wilson's letter does not resolve such
doubts, in spite of its gracious assurance
to the Coubters that "the service the men
are performing is an honor to them and
a necessity to the United States" Their
service may be honorable and even neces-
sary. But why are they, essentially home
guards, not regular soldiers, being required
to perform it?
The President would have been much
more candid if he had said that the Ma
tional Guardsmen are at the border doing
routine regular army duty because Of
an egregious blunder in military policy
committed in the Hay army reorganlza-
ton law. Flying in the face of all expert
ence and of all expert advice, Mr.. Hay
attempted to amalgamate our under
trained state militia with our understood
mobile regular army, in order TO consti
tute military first line. The experiment
was a fantastic one. Mr.. Hay was for 1t
because he was bitterly opposed to any
thing that would tend TO create real and
tional Guard officers was for it because 1t
put them on the governments payroll and
gave them a much more conspicuous mill
tary status. Mr.. Wilson was for it be-
cause he was afraid to stand out against
the National Guard lobbyists or to risk
break with Mr. Hay.
So the Hay monstrosity was saddled on
the country. The state militia organiza-
tions were incorporated into the first fight
ing line, although wholly unprepared to
discharge their functions as part of such
a line. The trainers and supporters of
the HAY law gambled on the chance that
no emergency would arise requiring the
Decentralization" of the Guards and their
actual use in combination with the regular
army. But such an emergency came all
tsn quickly, and the country is now wit
Messing the utter breakdown of Mr.. Hays
makeshift system.
The Guardsmen are reluctant to stay
on the border doing the ordinary week-in,
week-out duty of a standing force. They
have dependents clamoring for their re-
turn; they see their business status i'm
perilled; they are fearful that they will
be deprived of their right to vote. Ap-
plications for discharge are pouring in,
and Congress is evidently going to make
the conditions on which discharge may be
claimed even more liberal than they now
are.
The Administration is naturally endeav-
oring to conceal the failure of the Ma
tional Guard mobilization. According to
figures collected by Representative Gard
ner only twenty-five states out of the
forty-fve whose Guards were called out on
June Is had been able up 10 July Is to
five states furnished $4,000 men, although
the war strength of the organizations
u which they modified was 161,9 ,913.
u II is said that many state organizations
are still short of their minimum peace
strength. Even If the militia stays on the
border until October next, there is little
prospect of the mobilization ordered on
June Is ever being completed in work
manlike fashion We shall not have, even
by that time, an organized, first line, mo-
bile army, assembled for the protection Of
the Mexican boundary states. We shall
still have two forces, unamalgamated
and uncoordinated-one of regulars, a real
first line, and the other of 'federalized"
Guardsmen, still a collection of second and
third line troops.
How much simpler, cheaper and more
rational it would have been for Congress
TO create at once an adequate mobile army,
capable of guarding all our frontiers, enrer-
gency or no emergency But Mr.. Hay and
Mr.. Wilson would not have it so. They
prevented a proper enlargement Of our