The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-11
Shots and Votes.

Corporation Counsel Syme has discovered an
old law enacted by Congress forty years ago
which compels every resident of the District of
Columbia between the ages of I8 and IS to be
enrolled in the militia or National Guard. That
is an interesting discovery at the present time
when Congress is considering legislation to in
crease the military forces of the United States,
and at the same time discussing the status of the
citizens of the District. In the olden days of the
republic when the militia was taken seriously and
Training Day was institution, or national fest-
val, there was a close association between citi-
zenship, suffrage and soldering. The boy who
was able to carry gun on Training Day was
considered strong enough to carry suffrage under
Ihis hat and few questions were asked on
Election Day as Training Day. The militia
men donned their uniforms four times a year
land were reviewed, and in the event the Presi-
dent needed an army they ready to drop
the traces, leave the plow and join the army.
Those the good old days in the eyes of some
and Training Day national holiday when it
was said: "You must take something. It's Train
ing Day. and that don't come only four times
year"
We have fallen away from the old virile GUS
toms of the time when the militia was a national
military force, and habits and customs of to-
day may be better but they leave the District
of Columbia in an anomalous position. The
States have their National Guards controlled and
Differed by the States, and the voters in the
States figure in the National Guard. But the Dis
trict of Columbia has neither voters nor Guard
controlled by the District. 1t is controlled by
Congress, and if all abe-bodied citizens of the
0;skr r. IIoI a.. IL l..
in defense of the whole nation, just like the reg
uar army.
In the civil war Congress provided that the
soldiers in the Union army should vote in the
field and their votes counted at home. The troops
from the District might be assigned to guard
the ballot boxes and keep the peace at the polls,
should we have another war. They couldn't vote
any than could the colored troops enlisted
in the Union army
Then should the country be invaded by a
foreign army, how would they distinguish the
District troops from those who are voters at
home in the field? The older Sultans of Turkey
had a bodyguard composed of Janzaries, who
were different from other men, but who had the
Reputation of being the most ferocious fighters
lin the Turkish army. In the war with Spain the
District troops gave good account of themselves
They good fighters but we should not like to
have Congress make Janizaries of them just be-
cause they are not allowed to vote
Under all the conditions now confronting the
country and Congress, there ought to be the same
status for the militamen in the District as those
in the States. If Congress retains the old law,
las it should, it ought to make provision that there
should be no discrimination between its fighters.
But we have some pacifsts in the District who
want neither soldiers suffrage in the National
Capital They only grow militant over the ques-
ton of home rule, and insist that Congress shall
never consult the wishes of the people in the Dis
Itrict about anything 1t may be that the exemp-
5tions in the old militia law discovered by the
Icorporation counsel has some influence on the
Judgment of the pacifsts. They are exempt from
service in the militia. But the best way to have
Ian efficient military force is to have it made up
of men who shoot they vote, even in the
District of Columbia