Evening star., 1932-01-17

The Militia Bureau of the War De-
partment has issued the following ex-
PLANTATION Of the allotment of National
Guard strength:
Immediately after the World War
the plan for organizing the national
defense provided that the number of
enlisted men of the National Guard to
be organized in each State should be
In proportion to not less than 800 men
per Senator and Representative in
Congress, and number to be deter
mined by the President for each Terri
tory and the District of Columbia.
This gave an aggregate strength Of
435,Ooo, which was allotted to the
District of Columbia.
"It became apparent in 1922, due
to the urgent necessity for reduction
of expenditures, both State and Fed
eral, that this plan was entirely too
comprehensive and the strength called
for was in excess of the peace-time
needs of the National Guard Accord
ingly, modified program of National
Guard development was decided upon.
This comprised a strength of 250,e00
and provided for the organization Of
18 Infantry divisions, 4 Cavalry d.
visions and certain corps, Army. gen.
eral headquarters Reserve, coast de-
fense and special allotment troops.
This strength has been further reduced
and now stands at 10000.
TT Is obvious that the plan for Or
ganizing the National Guard had to
be materially curtailed with these re-
ductions. Such forces as were or
ganized should be complete in all es-
sential elements and ready to function
in an emergency. States we're accord
ingly assigned specific units to or
ganize within their authorized strength
These units have been grouped into
larger tactical organizations and rep
resent 1S Infantry divisions approx
mately "a per cent complete 4 Cav
cent complete, and some corps, Army,
coast defense and special allotment
troops.
In accomplishing this organization
the present strength of the National
Guard, as authorized by Congress, has
been fully utilized. Due to the finan-
citl condition of the country, 1t Is not
considered advisable to attempt a fur
ther expansion of the National Guard
at this time"
While figures compiled by the Militia
Bureau indicate that the cost of main
tenance of the National Guard is large,
1t Is pointed out that when placed on
a per capita basis 1t amounts to au-
proximately the cost OF one movie ticket
to each OF the 100000 people of the
United States.
The figures for 1881 are given as fol-
lows: Original appropriation, $32, 1885,
755. IA; deficiency appropriations, field
training camps, s483,000; armory drill
pay, s505,000; emergency relief con-
struction, expended from 81 900 900
fund before June 80, 1881, 1881 ,9l498;
funds made available from 1882 ap-
preparations: Camp construction, Sl8,-
40825; purchase of airplanes, S884,1s5;
collections on lost property, $685., ,s3384.
This brought the total Federal cost to
S35, ,640, ,097.21. To this was added State
appropriations of S16,391 1855. The
rental of armories and funds derived
from other sources were estimated at
S2,000000 which brought the grand to-
tai to 54,031, 1885.
The recent convention of the Ma
tional Guard Association of the United
States passed a resolution urging the
Militia Bureau to take steps to have all
1918, caliber 80, ammunition with
drawn from use in rifle and automatic
rifles and other ammunition substitutes.
The resolution also urged, II the
Militia Bureau would not take steps to
have its use eliminated, that the Execu-
tive Council bring the matter directly
TO the attention of Congress