New-York tribune., 1916-07-13
The Hay Mobilization.

OF the militia nlODlllZdIlOIl. IL 10 nHPoi Vo'S
that the country should know with what
celerity and completeness the Guards OF
the various states were mustered into SER
vice, equipped and transported to the Mex
lean border.
A majority in the House, led by Mr..
Hay, disregarded the lessons of history
and the advice of practically all military
students and experts by constituting the
forty-eight little armies of the forty-eigh.
states an integral part Of our first line of
national defence. The Guard organiza-
tions actively sought that preferment; l.
they had not sought it so actively, bring
ing political pressure to bear on Repre-
sentatives andS Senators, Congress could
not well have avoided creating far more
adequate regular army and supplement-
ing it with a volunteer force exclusively
under Federal control.
Conditions on the Mexican border have
now put the Hay experiment to prac-
teal test. A call for the National Guard
organizations Of Texas. New Mexico and
Arizona was issued in May. A call for the
organizations in the other forty-five states
was issued on June Is. The entire Guard
ought to have been on the border before
this. The public knows that only part
of it is there. 1t does not know just how
many of the organizations called out are
now available for actual service, or to
what extent those in the field and those
still at home were found prepared for the
emergency.
How many were properly trained and
equipped for transfer to the Federal ser
vice? What losses occurred in officers and
men when state standards of eligibility
and state obligations were exchanged
for Federal standards and Federal obliga-
tions? Did the Federal staff bureaus fur
nish equipment as rapidly as it should
have been furnished? Was the transpor-
tation problem satisfactorily worked out?
These and other questions cannot be
fully answered until the information which
the House of Representatives has asked for
is compiled by the War Department. Yet
the fact that the House, the particular
champion of the system now on trial, has
been compelled to take notice of the many
complaints pouring in upon its members
by ordering an investigation proves that
it has anything but implicit confidence in
the success of Mr.. Hays experiment.
The Mexican emergency did not arise
overnight. The necessity of mobiliza-
ton of the National Guard was fore
shadowed months ago, when it became ap-
parent that our mobile regular forces were
insufficient to guard the border. The
militia organizations were forewarnef.
The staff departments of the regular army
could not help seeing what was coming
The partial mobilization in Texas, New
Mexico and Arizona was ample notice to
everybody.
Yet, with weeks-even months-to get
ready-the fact stands out that the mobil-
ization was far too slow and awkward. If
any real military peril had had TO be met
in Mexico, the National Guard organiza-
tions, supposed TO constitute an essential
part of our first fighting line, would have
reached General Funston many days too
General Taylor on the Rio Grande in 1S46
long after he had been obliged to fight for
life against far superior Mexican forces
at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.
New York's National Guard was rated
first in efficiency among all the state or
, ganizatons. Yet we know that after the
call most of our regiments were found to
be undermined and had to be hastily re-
cruited to something approaching the
proper strength. There were vexatious
delays in obtaining full equipment and in
eliminating the unwilling and the ineligi-
bic. The gallant seth Regiment started
for the front on July II, after getting no
tice at the last minute that its colonel and
lieutenant colonel were physically disquali-
fed. And now President Wilson is being en-
treated TO intervene and restore these two
officers for reasons not of military char
acter, but of great potency in the field Of
politics.
The calling out of the militia as first
line soldiers has also raised the very en-
barrassing question of pay for them and
support for their dependents. Many pa
triotic employers are generously contin-
uing the salaries Of employees sent TO the
front. The House Of Representatives has
voted to pay as much as $50 month to
the dependents of miitiamen drafted into
the Federal service.
But if militiamen are really part OF
the first line-and permanent part of
it-they should obviously share the fort
unes and get the compensation Of the first
line regulars. 1t would be subversion Of
Al sound military policy to discriminate So