The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-10-19
AMERICAS ARMY
MUST Be MODERN
THAT is REASON WHY SOME
STATE REGIMENTS WILL
LOSE IDENTITY.
PROTESTS MUST BE IGNORED
Consolidation Is Necessary to Conform
to System of Our Ailies-Officers,
Unless Unfit, Will Not Be Reduced
In Rank.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.
Washington.-The secretary of war,
and with him the military officers of
his department, are DESTROYS that men,
bers Of National Guard organizations
should understand that 1t Is nothing
but the necessities of a military case
which have compelled the authorities
to order consolidation of some of the
state regiments which thereby neces-
sarily largely must lose their identity.
Telegrams and letters of protest
against the consolidation of different
state regiments into one still are pour
ing into the department, and the civil
ian officials and the army officers UNI
questionably are perturbed because Of
the attitude Of officers and men of
some Of the Guard organizations to-
ward consolidation.
1t appears that rather than to lose
Its identity rs the Fighting Fiftieth, or
the Keokuk Blues, or the Kalamazoo
Cracks, some of the Guard regiments
would prefer that military wisdom be
foregOne and that they be allowed TO
81 iiito tic uSHl uSulllSl TIE
In their old formations, which would
mean to enter the battle in a manner
not approved by students of modern
warfare.
l have been asked personally by one
of the highest military officials In the
United States to write an explanation
of why those consultations Of regi-
M nI nh 10,
that some officers temporarily at least.
must lose their positions of first com
mand.
Pershing Urged the Change.
1t was General Pershing who urged
on the American military authorities
the necessity of having the regimental
formations correspond to those of the
French and British now actually on the
fighting line. Three years of trench
work and such open field work as there
has been have proved that a complete
change In the reglmental formations
must be made. The war department,
wishing to do what 1t can to insure so
far as is possible quick victory, has no
alternative but to change the old or
ganization plan.
Under the new rule regiment must
contain about 5000 men. This makes
1T absolutely necessary that some
Guard regiments shall be combined to
make a new regiment. The whole sys-
TEN Of organization has undergone a
change. The necessity of machine gun
troops has made 1t imperative that
some regiments shall be split into
smaller units for "rattle fire. gun for
nations. The war department realizes
that In measure this splitting Of regi-
ments Is to the men like the breaking
up of home ties. but war Is on and the
war must be fought along modern lines
and therefore the changes absolutely
are necessary.
There Is one colonel to a regiment.
When two existing regiments are com
bined into one 1t means that the junior
colonel must be displaced from com
mand, or If It shall be deemed wise
from the military sense to put the jun
Tor in chief command, the senior feels
that he had been sighted.
No Officer to Lose His Rank.
1t can be said, however, that no col
onel, unless found unfit, will lose his
rank. He will be attached to regi-
ment ready to take command In case
the actual commander Is incapacitated
or transferred. In other words, the ad-
ditiOnal colonel will In q sense be q
lieutenant colonel, although keeping
the colonel's rank. The lieutenant col
onel Of an outfit always has been sort
of supernumerary.
Other officers than the colonies Will
be affected, but every man who Is fit
for the service will stay in 1t at the
rank which he holds. 1t will be no
news probably to most of the officers
Of the army, regulars or National
Guardsmen, that If they prove their
unfitness to command men In the pres
ent crisis-out they will go.
New Anesthetic Being Tested.
Washington officials, particularly
those of the medical department,
and presumably all persons who
have heard or read anything on
the subject, are interested in an arti-
Gle written by Edgar Ansel Mowrer
which appears In Golfers Weekly Of
September %. Il gives In detail as
founding accounts Of the pain-relieving
work which II is claimed an anesthetic
called nikalgin, the discovery of lay
man, Gordon Edwards, has accom-
plished in the war hospitals of Eng
land and France.
II this discovery will do what IL Is
claimed 1t will do, there is reason
enough for the interest in 1t which has
been aroused. 1t has been my attempt
to find out something about nikalgin
and its possible or probable use as a
local anesthetic by the medical depart
ment Of the United States government.