The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-08
State Guards Exceed Old Ma
tiOnal Guards in Number.
Military Organization 10000
Strong Is Drilling.
NOT A DOLLAR FOR SUPPORT
Remarkable Growth Built Pure
Iy on Patriotism.
Every County in Grain Belt
Equipped With Troops.

A new army recently has spring up
IN Kansas AItho less than year old
II now is a military organization 10000
strong-and growing fast 1t consists
OF 200 home guard companies. its Off
eial title being the Kansas State
Guards. according to an announce
msnt from the office Of the adjutant
general of Kansas. When one stops to
consider that the home guards already
have a numerical strength Of nearly
seven times that Of the Kansas Ma
tional Guards before the war, an Idea
Is gained of the extent to which the
war spirit has invaded peace loving
Kansas But primarily it Is with
purpose that the state may enjoy q
state OF law and order that these COM
uantes have been formed The feder-
aIizfnE of she national guard lert the
state without armed protection rom
within. Necessity again was motner OF
invention. for IL was the urgent neeo
for protection of life and property at
kansas City. Kan, last August during
c4sorders there that the home guard
was born At that tfme-on August
Governor Capper issued an execu-
tive order for the organization or
home guard company
This furnished a cue for towns IN
the great grain belts of Kansas which
last summer experienced much an
noyance from alleged /. w. w. bands.
At times these assumed proportions
which threatened entire Kansas COM
munfties. The unpreparedness OF the
towns to cope with such menace be-
came alarmingIy manifest Hence the
home guard idea was seized eagerly.
Now there is not a county in the grain
belt across central Kansas that has not
81 49, IL
OF the los counties in the state there
are perhaps a dozen without a home
guard company. Wichita and Kansas
City Kan. have six companies each
Beloit, Mitchell county, one Of the first
to organize a home guard company
with its mayor as captain. now has
four companies and there are three
other companies in the same county
at different towns. y
Hold Down Reign OF Terror.
The I. W. W. trial now in progress
in Chicago has produced evidence
which confirms the fears of these
Kansas communities that their lack OF
defensive powers only invited disaster
The evidence was 20 the effect that
the I. w W. plotted a reign of ter
ror" in the Kansas wheat belt Should
such a situation arise this summer il
Will find Kansas towns capable of han
ding the same with a strong hand
The volume of these petitions for
commissions from Governor Capper.
sent in by those DESTROYS of organizing
home guard companies or who already
have formed companies, tentatively.
prior TO applying for commissions has
grown until last week it reached the
limit Of 500 applications in seven
days Some petitions bear the names
OF the men willing to join the COM
pany. The custom is for the company
to select its captain and first and
second lteutenants, these men later be-
Ing given commissions by the governor.
Not a Dollar in support
without a dollars support from the
state, the home guards have taken on
a remarkable growth" said a state
official who is overseeing the organic
ing. So rapid has been the develop
ment that the governor finds it neces-
sary to organize some means of hand
ling the volume of applicat ions for
commissions and other routine con-
nected with the new movement. u
tinately. it is planned to district the
state into b-igades and regiments
and make Kansas state guards a unit
in reality as we'll as in theory
Many of these companies are uni
formed and equipped thru funds
raised by their respective commune
ties by various entertainments The
principal benefit of these compa nies
is the moral effect. Not few of the
home guard companies have backed
up the Red Cross and liberty loan
campaigns in such an emphatic man
ner that not a few ANTS were IN
tremendously converted and dollar
slackers found it the best policy to
loosen their purse strings"
W. +. Thompson, a clerk in the ad-
tutant's office. is keeping a record of
the companies. He has a map of
Kansas on which he inserts large
headed tack in each town with a home
guard company. And he Is inserting
new tacks daily.
The Kansas state guards are an en-
tirely separate 0rganiza ton from the
national guards, and cannot be used
for military duty outside the state
The power to authorize orga MIA ton
of state guard companies is given the
governor by state statute. The war
department recently authorized the
organization of three regiments of
national guards in Kansas and ap-
pointed Col p. NJ. Hoisington of New
ton as organizer.