Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-02-12
Bill Is Soon to Be introduced
for Abolition of Organization
as Entirely Useless Expense
to State,
PRlVATES BELIEVED TO
FAVOR PROPOSITION
Adjutant Generals Request for
, Appropriation of S33,27O
for Coming Year Staft'es
Lawmakers.
(By X. L. ID. McAllister, Staff Core
spOndent.)

spOndent)
Santa Fe, Feb. Ills the national
guard of New Mexico an effective
weapon of defense to protect the state
against invasion from abroad ana
lawlessness at home, or is it an incu-
bus and a burden on the taxpayers
wholly out of proportion to the bene
fit derived from it?
Ask any of the we'll paid officers
who are now on duty at Columbus and
he will tell you that the guard is an
absolute necessity to prevent the state
from blowing up and scattering into
small pieces. Ask some of the men
who are serving under them and some
who are in no way connected with the
military service but have made close
study of its workings, and you will
receive an opinion to the effect that
the national guard Is sort Of verml-
form appendix of the state organiZa-
ton, serving no useful purpose that Isl
visible to the naked eye and causing
all sorts Of expense and trouble. These
latter declare that the state is in need
of an operation to remove its appen-
dix, and that the sooner the operation
is performed the better the patient
will fare.
To Introduce Bill.
II will. jar some of the well paid
officers who are drawing salaries both
at home and at the front to learn that
impious hands are to be laid on the
national guard-that bill is now In
preparation providing for its COM
plete abolition and determination as a
part of the military force of the state.
In all probability this bill will be in
troduced within the next few days.
and it will have vigorous support both
in and out of the legislature,
OF course no bill that may be pass
ed now can affect the present status
of the guard as a part of the fighting
forces of Uncle Sam. The effect of
the legislation, if it is enacted will be
that after the present enlistment
terms of the men now in the service
have expired they will return to their
homes free from any obligation to-
the state and that henceforth and
forever there will be no New Mexico
national guard.
Move i'm Other States.
The move to abolish the guard is
not local to New Mexico. Other states,
among them some of the most pro-
gressive states in the east. have al
ready begun an agitation along the
same lines. Those who have watched
the movement closely declare that in
n few years the national guard, here
and elsewhere, will be as extinct as
the dodo.
They say that the one great lesson
of the recent trouble in Mexico has
been to demonstrate the absolute USE
lessness OF the national guard-to
manifest beyond question that it is
founded upon an erroneous military
theory and that it can never serve
any purpose except to be used as a
constabulary for strike-breaking pur-
poses or. to play tin soldier on dress
parade. For neither purpose, declare
the friends of the bill that is to be In
troduced, is it needed in New Mexico.
An Expensive Luxury.
The adjutant general has asked for
an appropriation of s33,270 for the
expense of the state militia during the
coming year. Advocates of economy
in the state government are rising ur
in meeting to ask why. In view OF the
demonstrated failure Of the guard and
the fact that army officers of the
highest rank have given their opinion
h1 n
failure. the watchdogs of the treasury
demand to know what Is the use o,
throwing good money after bad.
Under the national defense act OF
June 8, 1916, in order for the New
Mexico national guard to qualify ana
receive federal appropriation it will
be necessary that it be recruited up
to a regiment with minimum
strength Of 1,346 men. How impos-
sble a task this is is shown by the
fact that on May 8, 1916, the date
when the guard was called out the
New Mexico regiment consisted of 5s6
men and that in spite of the expendi
ture of something like s2,500 for re-
cruiting, on February /, 1917, it's
numbers had increased only to 665.
Some Inside Facts.
In this connection number OF IN
side facts have been brought out that
have not heretofore been published
and that national guard officers have
taken every means possible to keep
from being published.
For example, it is known that a
large number of non-residents are be-
ing carried on the national guard roll
Continued On Page Iwo.I