The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-09-13
"DEFENSE DAY" TEST IN BISMARCK BRINGS
OUT HUNDREDS OF CITIZENS FOR PAR
Report Will Go To Command.
ing Officer of Seventh
Corps Area That Bismarck
Citizens Showed Loyalty to
Flag and Readiness to Meet
an Emergency Call For De-
fense in the Nati0n-"De-
fense Day" Is Explained at
Meeting in the City Audi
tOrium

"Defense Day" was success in
Bismarck.
This is the report which Col. E. P.
Quain, chairman of the Reserve Of
ficers Association of the state, will
make to the commanding officer of
the Seventh Corps Area, at Omaha,
Nebraska.
Six hundred citizens marched in
the parade which started at Broad
way and Washington and passed
through downtown streets last night,
with hundreds of citizens lining the
streets as it passed. The quota
which would be required for Bis
marck in the event the city was call
ed upon to furnish men for the de-
tense of the nation was filled.
The defense test" originated by
General Pershing and others, was
designed in conformity with the Ma
tional Defense Act, under which a
small standing army was provided
but a reserve corps also provided so
that units could be filled up quickly
with citizen volunteers in the event
the nation was called upon to defend
itself.
Draft Board There
The draft board which served in
the World War, composed of j. p.
French, chairman, Justice l.. f. Bird
zell and r. D. Hoskins, was at Wash
ington and Broadway, to assign citi-
zens reporting to the various units
commanded by reserve officers. The
Elks, Juvenile and St. Mary's bands
were in the line of march, together
with Company "a" with Capt. H. A.
Brocopp in command of the parade,
reserve officers, nurses, disabled We
terans, Civil War Veterans, Daugh-
ters of American revolution, Wo-
mans Relief Corps, American War
Mothers and American Legion Auxi-
liary members.
"The demonstration was great
success" said Col. Quain today. ut
ought not to be forgotten that this
whole movement was at no cost to
the taxpayer, outside of letter
from the commanding officer to the
reserve officers. 1t was a volunteer
movement entirely. 1t also ought to
be remembered that the system is
for defense only, and for no other
purpose than defense"
The reserve officers, through the
association, expressed appreciation
of the manner in which the citizens
generally volunteered for the demon
stration and emphasized the loyalty
of the community. They were espec-
tally pleased to see in the parade
men from several towns outside of
Bismarck in Burleigh county.
Following the parade an hours
program was held at the Auditorium,
with Capt. E. ]. Taylor presiding.
The program included invocation by
Rev. Ryerson, benediction by Father
Stag, community singing and ad-
dresses by c. L. Young and George F.
Shafer.
Must Be Ready
Mr.. Young. in speaking to the
large audience in the Auditorium,
painted two word pictures for his
auditors. First, he said, there is the
ideal of peace, Of world brotherhood,
of no more war, justice and equity
everywhere. Opposed to this, he
said, is the opinion of large num-
Der of men in the world that war is
a biological necessity-that it is ne
cessary to weed out the weak, that
periodical wars make nations strong,
that without wars greed and avarice
and the less moral, weaker nations
would conquer. As long as these
two ideals prevails, he said, as long
as peace and justice is opposed by a
war lust and nations subscribe to
the feeling, it is necessary for free
people to defend its rights.
It has been shown, he said, that a
liberty loving nation must face the
danger Of war, and it is the greatest
danger. The United States, he said,
is opposed to war of aggrandize-
ment; her people are peace loving,
liberty loving, but must be ready
to defend themselves in the event
war threatens the nation. This, he
said, was the idea of Defense Day"
that the citizens would be ready to
rise to defense, and the loss of lives,
millions of dollars and loss of op-
portunity to strike hard, which was
felt at the opening of the World War
CONTINUED on page 81