Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-05-19
In Defense of the National Guar,


In Defense Of the National Guard
or all the cruel injustces perpetrated in
~ the course of the campaign for adequate
preparedness-and 1t has abounded in such
injustices-the attack on the National Guard
is the cruelest and least deserved It's officers
have been called pork hunters and grafters.
its men idlers and slackers, its whole organi-
Zation has been described as overrun with in
efficiency and honeycombed with corruption
What are the facts? Well most Of us
know them Those Of us who have not been
in the guard ourselves have dozens OF friends
who have. We know with what devotion Of
fcers and men have given themselves. when
everybody else neglected il. to the cause of
national preparedness. We know what dis
couragements they have suffered and what
sacrifices they have made. If VIC have ever
drilled a company or packed a campaign kit
we know how much fun there is in it. We
know how difficult il has been to obtain en-
listments and just how much sympathy has
been shown by large employers. including
many of those most vocal nowadays in the
preparedness propaganda.
There is hardly an officer in the guard
whose fidelity to duty does not represent an
actual money loss He pays in cash and In
time he could devote to more financially
profitable uses for the privilege Of serving his
State and country. Call him CRATER?
Think Of the National Guard officers Of your
acquaintance and then say to how many Of
them this term can he applied with either
truth or safety.
They have wanted pay for their men be-
cause they have thought that by this device
more regular attendance on drills and better
attention to duty were to be obtained IL
they have favored pay for themselves It ia
no more than they deserve. Those who have
served without any compensation, buying
their uniforms and equipments and meeting
other expenses from their private purses, for
a decade or more. are not likely to be repaid
In moro than small part
OF course, the members Of the guard are
not finished soldiers. Not man of them
chershes that foolish idea. They know their
own deficiencies far better than do nine- enths
of their critics But they have existence and
potentiality-they capable OF being de-
veloped into strong second line Of defense.
AT the worst. they have done something when
the rest OF the people have done nothing and
to lose sight Of that circumstance IL base
and mean ingratitudc.
The Times Dispat ch has been yea lous in its
advocacy of every suggestion that showed
any possibility Of aiding preparedness. On
this ground and for this reason we have
urged trial OF the continental army and or
Its later substitute. the Federal volunteers
Fervent belief In this panacea. however is q
bird Of another hue. We have never had IT,
ASK any regular army officer who has had
about the Federal volunteers, and I'm nine
cases out of ten he will tell you he has little
or no faith in the plan. His strongest argu-
ment is that cit may work.
The real choice is not between the Ma
Honal Guard and the Federal volunteers but
between the National Guard and some form
OF universal service. Considering the AmerI-
can scale of payment and subsistence there
are limits TO the size Of the professional army
even this great nation afford TO hire TO
do its lighting for il. One has to be very
convinced optimst indeed. to believe there
are hundreds Of thousands Of young men in
this country. each Of them struggling to estab-
ilsh himself In trade. business or profession
willing and able to give two months of their
time each year to learning soldering The
recruiting officers, who have been fighting for
the last six weeks to get 20, 900 men for the
regular army. understand that this Is JUS, a
dream.
If we cannot develop the National Guard.
we must turn to compulsion or its equiva lent.
Why not devote ourselves to what we havco
The guard in itself may be an experiment but
compared to the continental army or the
Federal volunteers, ii is as the substance to
the shadow.