Arizona republican., 1916-12-22
The National Guard

Tn tbe preparedn debate now in progress some of the senators stick the national guard aS "e b.,tben does to a fetich We have clash ot ci'iah and poltical opinion with expert military opihio"' The advocates of the national guard disiike tue " track and persist in going ahead though the Journey may end in an impossible morass. They argue tha' , iodoouacv of the national guard has not been proved It is true that the national guard has not hon tried in actual war actual fighting but It mas been tried under conditions with the result mus summarized by the Saturday Evening Post:
 Exnerence at the Mexican border shows pialny ,ourb that the national guard is very ill suited 10 regular army work A hundred thousand young ciVli- tans mainly dependent for livelihood anu lhe suppot Inf their families upon modest salaries or wages were abruptv taken from their customary paths ana sent upon strenuous public business, for which, on the whole thev were not well trained well equipped
 It is a lasting disgrace to the nation that the suardsmen had scarcely answered the presldehts summons before agencies in various cities were pass ing the for pennies to save thelr families rom want Many employers promised to keep the guards mems places open for them and to continue their pay We know of by means plutocratic concern that was put to charge of several hundred dollars month in paving salaries and wages of absent guardsmen
 Why should this comparatively small business bear that grossly dsproportonate for national de- fense? Reports show that as regiments returned rom the border many guardsmen found themselves out of jobs and with empty pockets.
 Why should these patriotic guardsmen bear that grossly disproportionate burden?
 The national guard is consttutonally ill suited to regular army work. That part of the new army bill which pretcnds to adapt it to such work, by making it extensively subject to Federal control and contributing fifty million dollars year. more, of money support is only transparent and pork barely sham It ought to be repealed.
 The trouble with the national guard has not been with it's personnel; partly with it's training and mostly with system It has been made clear that we cannot have a military establishment half civilian and half warlike trained and half trained
 We must get away from the notion that tonal patriotism and innate courage sufficient protection That well enough to talk about the Fourth of July and the occasion of meetings of patriotic societies. It is beautiful picture with which may delight ourselves in time of peace but
 picture is of little in the serner situations of life. and especially, in
 It has never happened in the annals of war that an untrained man vas the equal of trained man. Even among the cave-men he who the most skill ful in use of the hatchet the club the winner. As the of war developed the necessity for training became urgent. Not only the individuals to highly trained but sanzaton becomes essential military Ganzaton lacks something that lacks coordination and is of the lack of that that the opponents of the rational guard part of the permanent military establishment complain.
 Universal military training is gaining headway in the popular mind but the advocates of conscription find themselves against stone wall. Only will bring the people to that and must be desperate one But with universal service if con- scrption should become necessary it could easily be enforced in emergency. It should be regarded as an emergency measure and not part of national military policy.