Evening star., 1924-08-03
NATIONAL DEFENSE DAY INVOLVES
ENTIRE POPULATION OF COUNTRY
Participation of Citizens Voluntary and Plan Con.
templates Centering of Thoughts of People on
What to Do in Emergency.

assistance Of the local defense test
| committee for the work preliminary
| to September IL. In many instances
| former service men are aiding the
on % september Il. The national
guardsmen also will be useful in es-
! tablishing contact with prospective
! recruits. There will be. as well. a
public appeal for volunteers. How
they will be labeled. since uniforms
will not be generally available, is
another detail for the local commit
tee and officers.
Reserve Citizens Part.
The reserve citizen soldiers will be-
come part of the United States Army
upon a declaration of war One OF
the chief advantages Of having these
citizen forces ready, Will be their
availability for local police duty in
war time. Upon entering the world
war in 1917, the United States was
crippled seriously IN its efforts to
give speedy combatant aid to the
so much Of the National Guard. and
even of the Regular Army, to guard
ing bridges, vital Industrial plants
/ and mastering the spy peril. The
such duties at once, freeing the Reg
ular Army and the National Guard for
immediate combatant service.
Great Importance is attached by
fense committees. These will be COM
prised Of men who know the vital
industries of their communities. Thus
they will be able to formulate a plan
of selection of men for the various
military services in a way that will
disturb industry the least. The draft
system in the world war, where men
were taken arbitrarily, 1t is hoped to
avoid in the future by the local COM
mittee's work.
The local committees and officers
will be expected to know which men
are best suited for infantry, artil-
lery, supply department, medical
corps, engineers, cavalry, motor
fare, military intelligence. etc Cen
Pershing stresses this unloading"
of detailed work upon those most in
timately concerned and most thor
oughly informed THE fundamen-
tai idea of our defensive plan is
founded on the principle Of local or
ganization," he says
Recruit Full Companies.
Commanders of companies among
reserve officers are instructed to work
out definite plans for recruiting on
September 12 to pick camp sites and
provide for assembly, shelter. equip
ment, hospitalization, medical exami-
nation, training and commissariat In
practical terms this means the local
committee ana OIDCerS must De pre-
pared to receive, clothe, feed, train.
and equip recruits, but the cost of
this in the event of actual mobili-
zation for war, would be upon the
Federal Government and, of course, on
September IL there will not be the
actual procedure OF feeding, clothing.
etc, the aim being an 'undress re-
hearsal' for an emergency.
The idea" continues Gen. Perish
ing, ''is to suggest to the officers their
respective duties, and undertake to
indicate just enough to enable them
to visualize the problem for them
selves To illustrate, take Capt
Smith, who is called out on Defense
day. We are going to tell him that
il is up to him to make a study of
the problem. He will probably con-
clude first that he should locate some
place for his headquarters. Then he
would plan for the enrolment of the
men from the community, decide
where they could be quartered, de-
termine on local arrangements for
feeding them, and select a suitable
drill ground. So when an emergency
really comes he will have thought it
all out. Without such preliminary
training. mobilization as contemplat-
ed under the law Of 1920 cannot be
a success"
The defense test, moreover, has it's