The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-02-02
RODERIck ., MArHEsON. EDITOR
Authority Without a
Balance

II INJECTING regular army methods into the
national guard IS, without question, what is
necessary Is transform the militia from untraued
but willing men into trained soldiers but there
IS limit TO this forced growth and the limit APP
pears to have been reached in sentencing to jail
guardsrfah who proves negligent in the matter of
drill That the law just6es the trial and convict
ION OF sucha man at court martial and permits
the guard authorities to commit the convicted man
to jail is undsputed-but is it commonsense to
carry the thing to this length
A great part OF the blame for the condition that
Is fast developing in the guard of this Territory
rests squareB upon the regular army as it is rep
resented II, the war department The men of Ha-
waii answered with enthusiasm to the call to en-
list they served patiently through the months
waiting for equipment which was promised and
which has not yet all arrived. They drilled uri-
der adverse conditions. They accepted, in prac-
tically every case the new requirements of the
federal oath and have so far got nothing in re-
turn but promises and excuses Are they now to
be blamed for Stacking a bit their own ac-
count? &"
The equipment for the engineers company has
only just arrived and the company has been form
ed for more than year; the machine gun company
has only Just received its machine guns, and that
company has been drilling away for many months !;
there are many companies without uniforms and
other companies without guns, Up until week
ago the officials of the guard did not even know
whether all the promises Of pay for the men were
going to be kept or whether some swivel-chair au-
tocrat would discover a microscopic flaw or some
twisted red tape and rule otherwise -t.4
II the guard had been treated fairly; if the last
effort had been made to bring the men out to
drill, then the services Of martinez might have
been called for. But the have not been treat
ed fairly and if some of them resent it they have
Justification. h~@Gu n
The slush about life, liberty and the rest of il.
suggested by an apoogist, might apply to the duty
the guardsnen owe their country if the same did
not apply TO everyone else. The guardsnan is not
expected to pay the price for the life, liberty and
the pursuit Of happiness Of the community 1t is |
the duty unquestionably of the guardsmen to at
tend his drills, and, at the same time, it is the
duty Of every eligible citizen to join the guard
and secure some military training. If the former
fails in his duty he goes to jail; if the latter fails
nothing happens and it is this very difference
which makes the failing OF guardsman some
thing to be regretted. Certainly it will not en-
courage enlistment it is almost certain to kill re-
enlistment, and it appears to be only a lazy way
out for the regular army officer at the head OF the
local regiment and for the regular army imtators
under him. ~ - ".s3'. ..5.l#, ~ So.
II must be remembered that the militiamen are
resident citizens here to live; the regular army
officers detailed to the guard are transients having
no particular personal interest either in Hawaii or
in the National Guard of Hawaii beyond the extra
territorial pay that goes with the detail tits very
well for such an officer toplay the high and mighty
in the sending of guardsmen to jail, but we who
have to be here after he has gone are more in
terested in preserving the national guard in
stitution than in having it driven up into the col
lar for year or so to make record for any one /,
man or any set of men.