Norwich bulletin., 1919-02-04
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
Special to The BuIletin.)

turn to their former position? Gen. i Beavey, chief of the military bureau l ard a majority of congress take the i stand that the Liberalization of the 1 guard put it out of existence as d | state organization and that to con l tinue such a form of state military i protection new authority and rev or | ganization must be obtained from each l state. There are others who take the | opposite stand and declare that even though the guard was so skeletoniZed | by federal service that not a single 1 member remained on state soil the organization, as such continued to ex- ist and that all is needed now is the return or replacement of it's men and officers. In other words, that the na- tional guard, once organized, is a continuing body until the state abol- ishes it by legislation. Gen. Heavey does. not believe in the guard as a permanent organization but declares in favor of such extended military training for all of suitable age. that no guard would be needed. lie has urged, however proper financial aid for the guard until such other organ izatien is provided for, and this week the military committee of the house advised an appropriation of three mil lion dollars to equip and maintain tie
 national guard for the next fiscal year. Coupled closely with the question | of maintaining national guard comes ! that of universal military training. on | which there seems to be three dis tinct opinions among men of influence here. First: that there be no national guard, but compulsory universal mil itary training for all men Of military 1 age and physically fit; such training 1 to be intensive and occupy not more l than three months in 8 year. Second ! come the advocates of no military l training but a national guard for enc>! i state which will be trained and equip ped to meet emergencies. Those two ! nave 9 smaller following than the third which embraces both guard and
 military training. That theory seems to be ia the majority, although it's advocates realize that the future for eign policy of the United States may modify pr intensity their views. This third plan is maintainauce Of q small but efficient national guard ill each state, and also compulsory mili5ary training for every man Of military age who is physically it. The guard would thus protect state interests and
 bn ready for instant call fer emer- | reney work outside the state, while
 universal training would nut Q sufii- cinnt number of men n readiness to meet emergency needs with but a few
 weeks delay. The idea Of shCrt it1-
 tensive training for men aDVroNi- mltelv 19 years old seems to he the
 most generally accented plan in the : rough. Coupled with all three of these proposed systems is standing army. of from 2-0.Gt0 to a00.G0 men , The New England congressional del5- Gation is almost to Q man in favor of tEe latter plan. more or less noGifle
 or increased to meet the needs of af-
 ter the war conditions.
 Commenting on tho question of
 military trts.ning in time oG peace s Congrassran John .: Tilsen was e.n- f phatic in its favor. Col Tilson was
 lieutenant colonel If tke SeCGnd Con- roctiCut Infantry and saw active ser vice both iI the Spanish war and CT } the MeziCan border. He knows iron ? it rsonal experience pretty much wha 9 intensive training will do for boys wht must see active service. While Col
 Tilson is unstinted in his praise O
 the magnificent work done ny the na. tional guard in oversea service. as ex c empiif1ed by the 29th Division, he i y not a believer in the national guard n system, but is of the opinion that ; C general system Cf military training Q should take it's place. Until that cal
 be brought about, he believes the na
 l tlcnal guard should continue to exist . Tt is not fair to the mon of the guaTt 5 to thrust upon them all the rnilitar, < work of the country, except what i t performed by a small stapding arfny c said Col. Tilson today. 10 the Bulla = tin correspondent. T he.teve a'sTs
 t-n of universal military trainin . should he established as soon as pos ,'' aible. Of course until that Is don Il we must continue the national guard U A standing army of 300 900 is to t small unless supplemented by univer it sal military training afld too large i v a complete national guard system T chaintained. I think a smaller stand
 ing army and an adequate system ( ,f universal mil tary training for men ( ' military age and physically fit wcul u he the best system that could b g evolved. Of course until after tn le reace treaty is signed and our fore 2 IS nolicy established it is not poseihl n to go into details of what the systel ,- should be, but under any cireum = stances I believe it should embrac s universal military training"
 ,e The official statement of losses iu: !, given out by the war departme1 it shows the 18th division to have sui u fered heavily. Summarized it is 19{ y killed, eco died. A62 missing. 354 pris '- oners, making a total of 2SG4
 ~ The 18th division has been the sut ~ jcct under discussion in the house tf ie past week. and Gal1ivan of Mass at Chusetts, democrat, fired hot shot in
 the office of the general staff and cal ~ ed on democrats to support his asse
 tions that the soldier boys have bee
 cruelty treated and the men respons g. ble should be held to strict accoun is ability" He predicted that if u
 democrats tried to defend such actic 7e that party would lose at the ne, ~ election. Just wait till those bo, set home and you'll hear somethir
 drop" shouted ,Gallivan excitedly m he read extracts from letters in whit ey the boys made some pretty pla at statements.
 At hearing before the naval con or mittee a few days ago it was su re gested by Secretary Daniels that | a. proposed new interstate bridge b
 tween Maine and New Hampshire ;+ the construction of which the go o- crnment will probably take a part r,+ account of the Portsmouth Navy Va shall be made a memorial to { |" sailors, soldiers and marineS frc
 a those states who took part in the "; ot "No more fitting memorial can
 to planned by any state" said the seer oh tary of the navy. as he suggest
 arches and tablets to commemors
 the boys in the service.
 x- Senator and Mrs. Mel can this we ha entertained at luncheon in honor ,a the members Of the Connecticut de :" gation and their wives.
 he he OTHER VIEW POINTS