Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
District National Guard

The National Guard of the District
Of Columbia has found itself so
cramped for space in it's present build
ing at North Capitol and ID streets,
| one. of the government hotels. that
! it has applied for and received part
Of another building. Arrangements
| have been made to give 1t a part of
| the TIL building on ID street. and
adjoining its present quarters. 1t will
have one-half of the building. while
the other half is used by the United
States Marine Corps Mail Guard. on
duty in this city
In this building efforts will be
| made TO provide company quarters by
removing old partitions between the
small rooms and making number
of large rooms which the various
units may use for classrooms
certain portion of the building will
be given over to the storage Of
equipment.
The imperative need OF provision
being made by Congress at this SEES
sion for an aGmory for the Guard if
it is to maintain it's efficiency in the
national defense scheme was pre-
| scented to the public buildings and
grounds committee of the House of
Representatives last week by Mai
| Gen. Anton Stephan. commanding the
| local Guard, and Col Lloyd NJ. Brett
adjutant general. The committee
granted 1t a hearing on the pending
bill authorizing an appropriation of
100000 for the erection of "A suit
able armory here, and at its conclu-
! sion ii was announced that the bill
would be discussed by the committee
at its meeting Wednesday.
The organization is slated for ex-
ell h4tf no i,.,,1
| it to organize any new units until
| some provision can be made for them
in an armory. 1t was pointed out
that the local Guard is allotted 46
company or similar units, with
| a total peace strength of 1923 officers
and 2.602 enlisted men and total
! var strength of 40 officers and ,062
| enlisted men. There are organized
at the present time IS com.
pany or similar units with a total
strength Of 65 officers and 7S4 en-
| listed men.
Gen. Stephan pointed out that the
lack of armory facilities was the di-
rect reason for not organizing any
| units at this time. Artillery troops
heretofore allotted to the District of
Columbia. he said, and organized in
accordance with law were denied Fed
eral recognition by the War Depart
ment because suitable armory facili
| ties were not available. Thus, he
| added. the District Of Columbia has
| not been permitted to contribute it's
| proportionate share to the national de-
| Tense, while al the same time the
| Federal Government has encouraged
| the individual States to organize Ma
| tional Guard and maintain 1t at n
| high state of efficiency.
Since its organization, 3S years ago,
| it was said, the local Guard has oc-
| cupied rented quarters, and though
moved from building to building
| from time to time, none has
proved adequate to the needs of mill
| tary units. The present building is
| the worst it has ever occupied from
a military training point OF view, hav-
| ing no drill space, assembly hall or
| instruction rooms.
That serious situation Is con-
! fronting the organization at this time
was strongly impressed. The dormi-
| tories are to be torn down, ana the
one Government-owned armory on the
| water front, which now houses the
260th Coast Artillery Battalion, is to
| be torn down in connection with the
| Improvement of the water front under
plans of the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission. Attention
also was called to the fact that the
Guard has been informed that the
| Pension Office Building, which it was
seeking, will not be available, II at
! all. for the next 10 years.
Congress has decided that the
| Regular Army shall be small in time
of peace. and that the main reliance
in time of emergency shall be on the
National Guard and the Reserves:
that the National Guard in time OF
peace shall be prepared to take It's
place on the firing line with the first
| line troops. This, he said. Is a
serious task to prepare for. and Con-
gress, the source of all authority for
| the preparedness of the National
| Guard of the District of Columbia,
should give this armory question
serious consideration at this time.