Evening star., 1925-03-26
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
: BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

What Is the present defense policy
of the United States? Is II economy,
as declared to be the keynote of the
administration, or is it prepare dn ess
from a military standpoint? In his
inaugural address, President Coolidge
said:
Our country represents nothing
but peaceful Intentions toward all the
earth, but il ought not to fail to
| maintain such military force as COM
ports with the dignity and security
of great people"
| Some time prior to the World War
a pacifist statesman took the posi-
tion that a trained army was quite
needless, since American patriotism
would impel million men to fly to
arms overnight The war taught
| more than one statesman that a mil
national peril, lest guns might shoot
when least expected, for the greater
the force of the unframed the greater
the mob-target for the enemy. Few
today repeat the folly of underesti-
mating the necessity of army or
ganiZation, equipment and training,
yet suddenly there comes an order
from President Coolidge which stops
the weekly drilling and the increase
throughout the country. Dismay in
every National Guard armory is the
result of the statement that in spite
of the fact that Congress appropri-
! ated s1,320,000 to support the train
ing throughout the rest of the fiscal
year, the Commander-in-C Chief of the
Army and Navy orders that it shall
not be expended--tfat the drilling
and other activities ordered by Con-
gress and signed by the President
shall now be suspended.
Xxx X =
Within War Department circles no
protest is expressed against that up
setting of policies fixed by Congress,
| for discipline of the Army is mex
orable. The protests from the States,
however, voiced by the Association
of State Adjutants General, are more
vociferous, and since the States reach
| the constituents of the, members of
Congress. their protests are not with
out influence. The interest in the
| main tanning of training of the Ma
tional Guard is not political. 1t SIM
ply follows along the line of the gem
eral policy adopted with congress
sional and executive sanction soon
after the World War. Until the war
| came there was no Federal policy of
support or encouragement of the
| State militia. The result was that
State troops constituted an unbal-
anced adjunct of the Federal Army,
| for they consisted almost exclusively
of infantry, with hardly any equip
| ment of either artillery or cavalry,
| and practically no commissary nor
medical equipment, machine guns,
| known and absolutely unprovided for.
| X - X
| Just before the war Congress, in
| it's national defense act, provided for
Federal cooperation with the States
| in building up a National Guard, stip-
ulating that If the guard drilled not
| less than 48 times a year and not less
than an hour and a half per drill the
members should receive from the Fed
| eral Government Regular Army pay
| on the basis of one day per week.
| Nothing was done under that act dur
| ing the war, because the draft super
| seded its practicability, but after the
| war 1t was authorized by Congress
| that there should be d maximum Of
| 100000 In the National Gaurd and
| 100000 in the Regular Army.
| As 1t would be impossible to or
| ganize so large National Guard the
| first year, funds were appropriated
only sufficient to cover the cost Of
| such force as likely to be formed.
So the work developed satisfactorily
| up to June 80, 1924, with a National
Guard of about 10000. Then, be-
| ginning last July, the force grew
| until by September 1t amounted to
| 10000. 1t was then discovered that
the appropriation-mad to cover the
cost OF 170, ,000--was inadequate to
support the fdrills OF 10000 up to the
close Of the fiscal year, June 80, 1925.
The total Federal cost of the National