The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-05-16
"A Good Start


weeks Of give and take in the military com1
mittee conference and which will doubtless be ae-
cepted by both. the senate and house when report
cd to these bodies today, while by long odds the
most important military legislation enacted since
the Civil War falls don sideraby short If giving
the country the number Of trained men the mill
harry experts say will be required to defend our
selves against a frst-class Power. 1t will be dis
astrous If we permit ourselves to be lued into any
false sense Of national security or to believe that
the bill does more than lay the foundation OF ma
tionar defense: "'"@ "a "''~" '"
1t is matter of sincere congratulation however
that the regular army provisions of the bill are
adequate and founded, in most respects, upon the
Recommendations of the general staff of the Army.
For the first time since the problem became ma
tionaly important, adequate defense is provided
for Hawaii Panama and the Philippines. In add-
ton to the proper quota of regular coast defense
troops, each of these outposts of the nation will
have full division of mobile army troops in its
garrison. The authorized increase in the several
arms will soon provide a divisional organization
Ior the Oahu garrison consisting OF three brgades
Of infantry OF three regiments each, brigade OF
field artillery of two or three regiments, regi-
ment OF cavalry, regiment of engineers, bat
talon of signal troops and the proper quota of
field hospitals and sanitary troops. Dependent
somewhat on the course of events on the border,
the increase in the local garrison may be expected
to be speedily arranged and the necessary arrange
ments for the housing of the troops provided
The bill provides for the mainland force Of
first line mobile army troops, consisting of four
complete infantry and two cavalry divisions. These
organizations under the bill will not be kept at
war strength in peace times as will the division
here but, with the reserve provisions of the law
IN operation, this change from peace to war
strength can be speedily made The enlistment
period as finally agreed upon will 1--WE each soldier
three years with the colors and four with the re-
serve with the important proviso that enlisted men
of organizations in the continental United States
may be furloughed to the reserve after one years
service upon the certificate of his immediate com,
mander that he has received sufficient training to
make him desirable reservist. ~, D.,
The reduction in the number of officers of the
general staff corps from the ninety-two recon-
mended in the senate bill to the hftytwo accepted
by the conferees gives this important corps in
crease over its present totally inadequate persor
mel of but fourteen officers. In view of the in
creasing importance Of the duties of the general
staff in relation to the present development ofthe
science of war and its application to our military
problems. the failure to i've the general staff the
more substantial increase is serious defect in
the bill.
The conferees have given ample recognition OF
the military value Of the militia. In fact the
weight Of expert opinion from the War College
report to the unanimous views of several ex-secrc
taries of war; the constitutional limitations OF
the militia factor in national defense, may
have made true prophesy that congress is prOvd-
ing maintenance for force which cannot be ma
tionalized.
1t is regrettabe that the volunteer army recon-
mendations OF the general staff contained in the
senate BILL had to be sacrificed to break the confer
ence deadlock. The Advertiser has always be
lieved that until such time as the country will
accept universal military training, we should pro-
vide opportunity for every man in the country to
receive military training on his own terms. There
are thousands of youths in the country who either
cannot or do not to join the militia and the
volunteer army proposed to reach just this
class.