The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-01-03
REGULAR ARMY MORE
OF A FAILURE THAN
NATIONAL MILITIA
Gen. Moore Says Many Of the Army
\ Companies Have ~ Low a.
Forty Men. &C..

Gen. Moore Says Many of the Army
Companies Have ~ Low a.
Forty Mon. ...-
Columbia, Dec. 23.-Adjt. Gen.
W. W. Moore feels that the state
ment of Major Generals Leonard
Wood, commanding the Department
of the East and of Hugh L. Scott,
chief of staff of the United States
army, that the National Guard is q
failure only presents one side Of the
picture and measuring the regular
army by the same yeard stick the
South Carolina Adjutant General
thinks that it is much more Of fail
ure than the National Guard, and he
does not agree that the guard is by
any means failure. He thinks that
Generals Wood and Scott and other
regular army officers took the stand
in the beginning that the National
Guard would prove a failure, and
they are refusing to change their po-
sition because Of their prejudice
against the guard, and thus are JUS
tifying their own predictions.
The National Guard regiments
were nearer the quota Of enlisted
men than the regular regiments, said
the Adjutant General, and still the
regular army officers are always talk
ing about the quota Of men in the
guard regiments. He says that fig-
ures will show that there are many
companies in the regular army with
as low as forty men, some even small
ler, but General Wood and Scott
never said anything about them. He
pointed out, that the new defense
act had just gone into effect and that
the National Guard had not had
time to be tried out before the call
came for them from the President.
Also, he said, when the call came the
citizens began enrolling promptly
but it was soon apparent that they
would not be needed for war but on
ly for patrol duty on the boredr and
many men did not feel that the oc-
casion called for the sacrifice which
they would willingly have made if
war had been imminent and therefore
the enlistments dwindled. He also
mentioned that the regular army Of
ficers took the recruiting out Of the
hands Of the local companies and put
it in the hands of people who were
not in sympathy with the guard and
cared nothing about it.
The Adjutant General pointed to
the fine record which the National
Guard had made on the border from
the reports of the regular army men
and many of them are not in SYM
pathy with the guard and are secret
ly if not openly hostile to its contin-
uation. This record, in the face OF
the unsympathetic attitude Of the
regular army, thinks the Adjutant
General proof enough of the eficien-
cy of the Guard. :.
If universal military training is
necessary for the National Guard
then what is the matter with the
regular army, he asks The regular
army can't get the recruits sufficient
to bring them up to the required
strength and their companies on the
average are way lower in enlistment
than the National Guard companies
he stated. .,s. .5.'S .
Another matter which he mention
ed was that the regular army is for
professional soldiers and those who
90 into the National Guard do SO
from patriotic motives and are not
attracted by any desire to make 9
living as is the regular army life and
crowd.
General Moore and many Of the
National Guard feel that the regular
army authorities, or many Of them,
at least, started out to make the Ma
tional Guard failure because they
were opposed to it from the first and
that they have refused to give it JUS
tice. They have on every occasion
rushed into print with condemnation
Of the guard and charging it with
lack of efficiency and yet the Gener,,
al believes that man for man and
considering the situation as between
the professional soldier and the cit
izen soldiery the guard:is more eff
cient than the regular = army. In
palmer words he and many others
feel that the regular army needs
more attention right now than the
guardsmen.
General Moore does not believe
there is any danger of abandonment
of the National Guard, even though
the high army officers are fighting it
He thinks Secretary Baker will see
that it is given a square deal and q
fair chance.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.