Evening star., 1938-01-02

the hundreds of thousands Of dollars
worth of field equipment Of the Army
which has been loaned to the Cuart
for training purposes The heads o.
the National Guard Bureau for a Ions
time have called attention to the neec
in their annual reports.
Leaders Seek Aid.
The National Guard Association o.
the United States has given its officia
support to the efforts to obtain ade.
quate housing facilities and has namec
its Legislative Committee to foster
the project. In view of this supper,
and In the event that the Budget Blu.
reau does not give favorable consid-
Grafton to the building estimates, it i.
highly probable the local officials will
call upon the Guard leaders of the
country to rally here and get be.
hind their Congressman to take ur
the armory matter. Many Guard units
OF the States have been able to in
crease their armory facilities by the
construction Of new buildings through
funds provided by the Public Works
Administration, and although the Dis
trict officials made many efforts to
get some of these funds they met with
failure because no part of them could
be used for the purchase of site. In
the States the sites were provided
for the buildings by the State gov-
ernments, but here again the guards
men have to look directly to Congress
for the appropriation of funds for
such purposes
There is bare possibility that the
armory matter may get before Con-
gress through the special committee
named by the President to map out
another public building program for
the District of Columbia. Several
months ago the President named Sec
retary Ickes chairman of COM
mittee to formulate such a program,
and on this committee also are Senator
Elmer Thomas, chairman of the Senate
subcommittee on D. c. appropriate tons: !:
Representative Ross A. Collins, chair
man of House subcommittee for the
same purpose, Frederick A. Delano.
chairman of the National Capital
Park and Planning Commission, and
Rear Admiral Christian j. Peoples,
director of procurement This COM
mlttee was to map out program for
buildings for the District only, as dis
tinguished from Federal building
program Mr.. Ickes called on Col.
Oehmann for a report on present
buildings occupied by the militia and
data relative to any specific program
which had been formulated. This in
formation has been supplied to the
committee, and the local militia Off
cialS hope that it will receive favor
able attention in any report which
the committee makes to the President
OF course. in the committee conSidera-
tion of the matter the Senate and
House members will get direct informa-
ton on the needs of the local Guard
as an armory.
In the matter of a commanding
general for the militia. it was pointed
out that the District forces have been
increased to such an extent that a
general officer is needed to coordinate
the affairs of the various arms, as
well as to handle the various prob
lens affecting the Guard as a whole
1t was said the Guard now has 26
units Of various arms of the service
organized, with present strength Of
SO officers and 1900 enlisted men,
with an authorized strength of SO
officers and 1,7l6 enlisted men. This,
it was added, shows that there are
sufficient troops here to form a pro-
visional brigade, calling for the ap-
pointment of commanding general,
which Office is authorized under the
act under which the local Guard
affairs are conducted The problem
OF directing the training of each of
the large units here is a most i'm
portant one. it is held, and there
should be another officer OF high rank
to direct the affairs of the Guard as
a whole, one who is relieved from the
details of actual training of the troops.