Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-09-26
DISRUPTION OF MILITIA PRE-.
DIcTED AS SOON As TROOPS
ARE MUSTERED OUT.
TO QUIT BY THOUSANDS
WHEN THEY GET HOME
Man Who Spent Three Months With
Iowa Troops Tells Of Sentiments OF
Members-Have Enough Of Military
Life Without Real Aetvity-uni-
versaI Training Boosted.

Des Moines, Sept. eS.-The National
Guard of the United States will have
to be completely reorganized on its re-
turn from the border if the country
persists in maintaining il as the sec
ondary line Of national defense.
Men are going to desert its ranks
by the thousands when Uncle sam
frees them from the oath they took
last June and July. They have hao
their fill of being militiamen. TINS
three months siege of the Rio Grande
has been sufficient TO remove all the
elories OF war. The guard will be but
a skeleton OF its former self soon after
President Wilson or President Hughes
signs what guardsmen now look upon
as the emancipation proclamation
This IS the belief of Carl A, Dixon,
who has Just returned from the Dor
der where he spent three months with
the Iowa troops at Brownsville and the
miliriamen OF other states at FL Paso.
Aids Universal Training.
THE fur-bristling trip of the ma
tional guard TO the border will do more
for the cause Of universal training than
all the preparedness paTaGes and de-
tense demonstrations that have &C.
Cured since the United States was
aroused from slumber by the European
war, declared .nT. Dixon
Recruiting signs will be hung out
IN practically every city that boosted
a national guard company when the
call came-for unless an ALL Wise
Providence steps in, there will not
be enough men left to muster the re-
Quired peace strength organization.
Men are going to leave the guard by
the thousands. They have had their
fill OF being militiamen. Three mon
otonous months on the border, with the
routine Of daily and weekly drill and
camp life broken only by new rumors
of going home that come with each
mornings sun. have dispelled all gold
braid and glistening bayonet ideas Of
the service. They are cured.
Would Welcome Action.
mot that they would not fight. Not
that they didn't want to fight when
they went 70 the border, And If or
ders TO. actual warfare against the
organized mohs Of Mexico were to come
today the cheer from the border could
SaluloSL 10 uSdIo uSSCs ~ llc OI 2
of the government to provide fighting
or permit them to labor under the inn
preston that there will be fighting
within short time that took the pep
out Of the guardsmen.
The only two things the governm ent
has provided have been a monotony Of
training that even the soldiers Of the
regular army are not required to fol-
low and q silence as to the future that
has chafed officers and men alike be-
cause they find It en- absolute tmpos-
sibility to plan for their return to their
business. their homes, their civilian
life.
When the Call Came.
"a big percentage of the members
Of the national guard were wearing the
olive drah when the call to the border
came because they liked to be SOL
diers on Decoration day and Fourth of
July.
Others went to the border becau se
they liked the military game. They
were In the guard because they liked
to salute and be saiuted, to order and
be ordered, to wear the uniform and
carry the gun. The military life has
an attraction that is not destroyed by
three months of it in a tropical land.
There Is third class-the men who
Joined as recruits when the call came.
They are adventures. They wanted
excitement. They wanted action. They
did not care how scientific fighters
they were just so long as they were
given the opportunity to fight.
Tt will be the men of the first and
third classes who will leave the guard
when mustered out Of the federal SER
vice and returned to their home towns
as militiamen.
Tired Of inactivity.
Everywhere on the border you will
hear suardamen say they have had
enough Of the militia and will get out
as soon as they get home, and find II
convenient. They will tell you they did
not come down TO the border to sit
still.
Many officers will leave the guard
There are many Iowa officers with
whom l talked who plan to give up
their commissions when the troops get
home. They have found that they can
not afford to leave their business and
professions for such service as they
are now rendering on the border.
otil nave tHe Experiences.
Thus much Of the great good tina,
has been accomplished in the name
of preparedness will be lost when the
troops are returned. The training the
men have received and the officers
have received will not be lost by the
departure Of the men from the guards
ranks. But the fighting units will be
broken. The regimental organization
will be broken. The trained officers and
men who step out will be succeeded
by unframed officers and green men
The efficiency attained by the Ma
tional Guard as fighting organiza-
ton on this border trip will be dam
aged. The one pleasant thought is that
all the men who do leave will still be
trained men, who can be put into the
service if the call should come
But the results Of this border ser
vice can not compensate for the money
expended. Much Of it will have beer
wasted with no possibility of redemp-
tion-all because, the organization thai
% many millions were spent to pre-
pare stands to be disrupted when Il
returns.
Then will the universal training ad
vocates come forward They will poin
4 out tine impracticaiity or Inc SatioHa
Guard system. They will point GU
universal military training as neces-
sary to assure the country's defense
And they will convince thousands. nov
unconvinced, that they are right"
News Of New Sharon.
MT n. !.