The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1921-07-14

control. the continental area Of the
United States shall be divided on a
basis of military population into
corps areas. Each corps area shall
contain at least one division Of the
National Guard or Organized Reser-
yes, and such other troops as the
President may direct. The President
is authorized to group any or all
corps areas into army areas or de-
partments.
Thus it will be seen that the Sec
ton recited above proceeds to lay
down the principle that all three
elements shall be regarded as one
army for the purpose Of preparing
for and waging war.
Now let us discuss for moment
the special missions and peculiar
status of each of the three elements
going to make up the Army.
The law provides that the enlisted
strength Of the Regular Army shall
not exceed 100000 men and author
ICES also maximum of 1875 COM
missioned officers. It is improbable
that the Congress will never in time
Of peace, the maintenance Of Reg
ular Army in excess of $4,000 en-
listed lnen. Indeed, as other elements
of the Army are organized and train
ed, the enlisted strength of the Reg
ular Army may be reduced to a some
what lower figure.
The Regular Army must garrison
our overseas possessions, the garri-
sons to be sufficiently strong to be
able to repel hostile raid in force
and, in the case Of Panama, the Ca
nal itself from sudden attack. The
and thus to protect the naval bases
Regulars must also provide the gar
risons for our seacoast defenses in
sufficient strength to operate those
defenses and train the Coast Artil-
lery units. In addition to the above
functions. they must provide suit
able mobile combat force sufficient
to meet minor emergencies whether
they arise within the United States
or in>neighboring countries.
These are the fixed charges of the
Regulars. 1t is contemplated that all
these missions shall be performed
by units of the Regular Army at
sufficient strength to take the field
effectively and to afford full OPP
portunity for the best training of
both officers and men.
It should be understood that Reg
'ular units, under policy laid down
are not expected to be highly skel-
etonized in time Of peace and thus
compelled to absorb large numbers
of recruits in time, of war. While it
is not necessary for the Regular
units to be maintained at full war
strength in time of peace, they
should be maintained at sufficient
strength to enable them to function
fectiveness without loss of time for
agaist an enemy with vigor and eff
further expenson.
The number of commissioned Of
ficers authorized for the Regular es-
tablishment is comparatively large
for the lessons of all our wars teach
us the absolute necessity for body
Of highly trained officers not only
to command the Army in time Of war
but to help in training the citizen
reserves in time of peace. Thus,
from the 1928 officers authorized
as many as 2,000-will be sent to
the R. o. T. C. units in our universe
for the Regulars, hundreds-perhaps
ties, colleges and schools and to the
National Guard as inspector-instruct-
ors. Many more will be attending the
service schools, the staff schools and
the General Staff College, keeping
abreast of the latest developments
in tactics and the higher command
and. returning to troops and COM,
ing in contact with the Guard and
the Organized Reserve, constantly
d;r-c,:''ns ting a knowledge of the art
of mod IN warfare. 1t should be
thoroughly understood that. in ac-
cordance with the spirit of the new
law, the Regular officers, in addi-
ion to their routine of military du-
ties, are expected to perform a most
important function-to serve as
teachers of the citizen soldiers
Prior to the Act of June a. 1920
the status and function of the Ma
tional Guard formerly called the
Organized Militia have been clouded
with confusion and uncertainty. In
some States the impression prevail
ed that the Guard was primarily a
local organization loosely connected
with tho Eadpral Government Tn