The spectator., 1919-10-14
REBUILDING THE
 NATIONAL GUARD
GOOD PROGRESS REPORTED IN NEARLY EVERY STATE BY THE
 MILITARY DIVISION.
LOCAL UNITS ARE PRESERVED
Reorganization Is on the Regular Army Basis, and Trained and Expert enced Instructors Will Be Supplied by War Department.
By JAMES p. HORNADAY.

by War Department.
 By JAMES p. HORNADAY.
 Washington.-Good progress Is be- Ing made with the work of rebuild Ing the National Guard of the coun- try. Every state lost It's entire Ma tional Guard during the war. A good many military men predicted that n National Guard organization would never again be formed, but events of the last two or three months show that those predictions were wild of the mark. Congress showed its friend ship for the National Guard idea by making adequate financial provision for the reorganization of the guard.
 Practically every state governor has also taken an interest in restoring the organization. and as result the mill ftary division of the war department Is now able to report that the work of forming guard units is making good progress in every state. By the end of this fiscal year. it is. predicted. the organization will be back practi- cally where it was when the United States entered the war.
 The federal government. under the new system expects to retain firm hold on the National Guard. but at the same time the fullest cooperation Of the states is sought. In working 1 out the plan. the division of militia af- | fairs says. it was recognized that the l preservation of the local units must l be conserved and that the breaking up of local organizations, as they were broken up in 1917, would probably never be tolerated again. For this req son the bureau determined that the tactical division should be the basis of the organization.
 Regular Army Plan Followed.
 Under this plan the composition of l the units that go to make up the Ma tional Guard organization must be the same as that prescribed for the regu- lar army, subject to such general ex- captions as may he authorized hy the secretary of war The strength of the regular company. in time of peace is loo men. and that is the minimum strength the bureau has fixed for the National Guard There has been some objection to this from sparsely set fled sections of the country. the oh- | iectors saying the minimum strength should be fixed at 65 men. To meet this objection the bureau has Sug- gested that In places where the 100 strong company cannot he raised two platoonS of 90 men each he organized in nearby sections. the two forming single company.
 But this suggestion has not been fa- vorably received and the prospect seems to be that the secretary of war will not change the ruling that every company shall have at least 100 mem berS.
 With view to aiding the guard Tn its reconstruction the militia division has taken pains to select high grade officers to act as nspector-instruct0rs These instructors are now starting out on their rounds of duty. They are without exception men who saw Serv- lee in France and the new National Guard will get from them the last word in military training. The fed eral government expects to be able to furnish instructors for every Ma tional Guard company in the country: and in addition to these instructors there will. of course be Il representa- tive of the war department associated with the adiutant generals staff in each state.
 So there is to he close union between the federal government and the states In building up the new state organlza- tion. The war department has also selected a thousand sergeantS from the regular army who are to bc under instructions for three months at the infantry school of arms at Camp Ben nlnSs, Georgia These men. at the end of the training course. are to cn out aS sergeant Instructors for guard units
 Rumored Changes in Supreme Court.
 Ihe rcconvenins of the Supreme court of the Unitcd States always re wives talk about possible changes in ths tribunal. The fall meeting of the court this year has not proved an ex- Ce9tion to this rule. Chief Justice Ed ward Douglass White and three of the associate justices, Joseph McKennu. Oliver Wendell Holmes and William k. Day, are of retirement age. The chief justice will be seventy-four in Novem- her, Justice Mckenna was seventy-six in August. Justice Holmes was sev- enty-eight last March and Justice Day was seventy last April. Each one. however is vigorous, both mentally and physically, and not one of them as far as known has expressed any thought of quitting work.
 If the four members of the court who are in the seventy-year class. or any one of them. had keen desire to retire now would be an opportune | time. for the court at this fall session