Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-30

,.u of tho
''oops
President. IN sio''ia' mo-
nor te the troops now in the regular
. :; e., ,,,a. of Adit Cen Harry
N'' - ' Nox;co
r. herring OF the STATE vi
Gen. Herring makes his plea ior t"e
NATURALIZATION Of the guard in answer
,,.,, .. of Secretary
I" Pupi's"eo
Garrison and Maj Gen. Leohar" "oo"'
in which they are alleged to oppose fed
er., nav for tho National Guard
re-. ~, >,;on,,
Gen Herring ASKS that ,'e
Guard he made subject to federal resu-
Iations. and the government. he says.
-, .. NC for tho time
'"o"" vs.
which Is necessary Tor us 10 prepare
ourselves under such federal reGula-
tions for efficient service
e.. a.. M.
tional Guard as it exists under the
nresent system I am in hearty accord
80, - -. ,.,.;,, ,a Cow
VII" oo'" See'e'ar! N'"' 'soi' CIV"
Wood. because ! believe that the pres,
eut system is absolutely wrong. ana
Very much fear that the appropriation
made by the federal government for
the maintenance of the National Guard
in the several states is money which
might be better expended along other
lines. However. ! desire to emphasize
the fact that this is condition which
is no fault of the National Guard. ana
which every soldier in the National
Guard regrets exceedingly, and would
change if il were in his power so to do.
The members of the National Guard
who have the best interests of the
guard and the best interests of the
country at heart are in favor of gov
ernmental control of the guard, and l
will venture to say that If one should
canvass the situation we would md that
most members of the National Guard
believed up to a few months ago that
they were obligated to serve the United
States upon call by the President.
whether service was inside their own
state or outside the United States.
II was present and participated at
the National Guard convention III san
Francisco last November. and the pol
icy which was outlined by the National
Guard Association at that time l think
clearly states the view as held by a
least so per cent of the members of the
National Guard. At this time a canvass
was made among the representatives
in this convention. who represented
more than so per cent of the National
Guard. and as far as l know not one
representative present was of the opin-
ion that any material number of Ma
tional Guardsmen in his state would
voluntarily subscribe to the CONT
mental army plan as outlined TO the
convention by the representative of
Il have personally asked number
of regular army officers their opinion III
regard to this plan and have not been
able to find one single man who be-
lieved that the plan was feasible. l
will go further and state that in my
opinion neither Mr.. Garrison nor Gen.
Wood believe that such plan Will ul-
timately work out. but ii is my opin-
ion that these gentlemen believe that
the best interests of the country de-
Inand that the people at large be shown
that no system of voluntary enlist
ments for military service is feasible,
and that the best method for demon
strsting this is to have the plan as
outlined by the Secretary of War APP
proved by Congress and then have such
a plan fail to work, and. consequently,
Congress will be compelled TO pass
some form of compulsory military
service Personally / agree with the
gentlemen that a compulsory military
law would eventually work to the best
interests of the United States. but
cannot agree that the method of fore
ing the people to accept this law by
demonstrating that the continental
means of arriving AT such desired re-
suit.
Il believe that the advocates of the
continental army plan will agree with
me- that the National Guard organiza-
tion. which is an organization, more or
less efficiNnt, is composed Ola number
of men who are patriots and who de-
sire TO give to their country the benefit
of their knowledge and training which
they have received in the last fifteen
or sixteen years work in the National
Guard and if such is the case | ask
that these advocates of the continental
army plan consider well the recon-
Tnendations made BY the National
Guard Association last November ard
see for themselves that in this recon-
,nendation we members of the National
Guard EXPRESSED our desires to be taken
over as an organization under govern
rnert control and we further suggest
ed through our executive committee TO
Congress a means whereby such "A re-
sult could h. obtained We do not AJAX
MAJ for The SationaI Guard under the
present system and il is a fact 7 he
1ieye conceded nv all that rho heads NJ
tba S.tional c,.rd or,.ni,ations ~ ~ q
several statas &c in hetter nositinr IN
Lrov. the copdi,jons exist;nr, in ,heir
seyer,I states srd 70 10 ~ hS,,ar 30;
tjo, 70 indas tba racnira~an, r.
r,at;, sGoian, oHa,;.a,inr -,
eral states than any one else"
Cficers and men OF the National
Guard OF the District OF Columbia are
putting IN fnuch time ana eHort In be-
tween their reg ular drills to make
preparations Tor the Dig military tour
nament TO be held here next month.
squads OF men are at the armory every
nlEht durlngSfhe week gong through
the various tasks assigned them. The
great wall erected for wall-poling drill