bill is seven years, three years in active service and four years in the reserve, but an important change has been made in that any enlisted man within the continental limits of the United States may be discharged at the end of one year's service if he has become proficient in that time. Enlisted men while in the reserve are to be paid $24 a year. Postmasters may be utilized to obtain recruits for the army.

A new and important provision is for the establishment of an officers' reserve corps, which authorizes the commissioning of civilians up to and including the grade of major in the various branches of the army. These officers trained in time of peace will be immediately available in time of necessity at the outbreak of war.

A reserve officers' training corps is authorized to be established at schools and colleges where an officer of the army is detailed for the purpose of giving military instruction and training. The Secretary of War is to prescribe the courses of military training at such schools and colleges.

All expenses of those who attend the training camps established by the War Department, such as the Plattsburg camp, will in the future be paid by the United States. Heretofore individuals attending such camps were compelled to pay their own transportation, purchase a uniform, and pay for food, clothing, etc., which averaged for each member about $65.

To encourage target practice, the Secretary of War is authorized to establish ranges and to supply rifles, ammunition and instructors for rifle clubs in various parts of the country.

The President in time of war is authorized to compel manufacturing plants to give right of way for government orders for ammunition, arms, and other munitions of war. A board of mobilization of industries essential for military preparedness is authorized to investigate all privately owned plants in the country suitable for the manufacture of munitions of war, and the preparation of special tools necessary in the manufacture of munitions of war is also authorized.

A plant for the production of nitrates for the use of the government is authorized and an appropriation of $20,000,000 is made.

A further provision prohibits the wearing of the uniform of the army, navy, or marine corps by unauthorized persons.

The age for enlistment in the regular army has been reduced to 18 years, and provision is made for an opportunity to be given to soldiers to receive instruction upon educational lines of such character as to increase their military efficiency and enable them to return to civil life better equipped for industrial, commercial, and general business occupations. Civilian teachers are authorized to be employed to assist the army officers, and part of the instruction may consist of vocational education either in agriculture or the mechanic arts.

For the first time in our history, Congress has placed upon the statute books a complete and comprehensive measure for the reorganization of the army. It goes without saying that it does not suit those who insist upon a large standing army, nor is it satisfactory to those who believe that we ought not to maintain any army, but it meets the demands of the present and forms a basis for a larger army when occasion requires.

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INADEQUACY OF THE HAY-CHAMBERLAIN BILL AS A FORWARD STEP IN ORGANIZING THE NATION FOR MILITARY SERVICE

T

J. P. MILLER, JR.

Staff of National Security League

HE Act of Congress providing for the reorganization of the army which, by the signature of the President on June 2nd, has become a law, is inadequate in its provisions for national defense, and in it may be found the possibility of a sinister purpose to force upon the country certain views with reference to restriction of the defensive power of the federal government.

All military authorities agree that a foreign power invading this country could, unless we had a navy powerful enough to absolutely check it on the high seas, land 500,000 on our coast within thirty days.

To meet this condition the General Staff of the United States Army declares that we need for a first line of land defense, a regular army of 500,000, and a National Guard of 300,000.

What the new law provides is a regular army (in five years) of about 178,000 and a National Guard which may be increased, in this period to 450,000.

By presenting the National Guard in the light of being an element of the regular army, the pretense is made of supplying the deficiency of the regular force. But if this can lawfully be done it eliminates the National Guard entirely as the state arm of national defense, leaving a void and weakening the national defense to that extent. The bill provides that on call of the President, the National Guard shall enlist in the federal service and shall, for the duration of such service, cease to be the National Guard. It also provides that states shall have no other military organization than the National Guard, except that they may have a police or constabulary force.

Instead of having two strong arms of national defense as

recommended by the General Staff, we are given one, of uncertain effectiveness on account of the doubtful character of its amalgamation.

The Judge Advocate General, in response to a resolution of the Senate, rendered an opinion holding that the provision attempting to "federalize" the National Guard is unconstitutional. If this view of the act should be sustained by the courts, the government would be deprived of that organization as an adjunct to the regular service, and at the same time would be deprived by the law as it stands, of any other source from which the regular army might be augmented beyond the war strength of 206,000.

The new law makes it the duty of the President and Secretary of War to arm, equip and support the National Guard and to provide regulations for their organization and training; and the efficiency of the organizations is to be determined by periodical federal inspection.

But no authority is vested in the federal government to maintain the several units of the Guard in any state or to enforce upon any state the observance of its obligation under this law to maintain any National Guard organization. It is doubtful whether a law could be enacted by Congress giving such authority, that would not violate the constitution.

The only penalty upon a state for not complying with the provisions of this law is that, for non-compliance, it shall be deprived of participation in the enjoyment of the moneys appropriated for the purpose of carrying out its provisions. The penalty for not maintaining the units of the National Guard of a state at the proper standard is that the reports of Federal inspections

shall serve as a basis for deciding as to the issue to and the retention by the National Guard of the military property provided for by this act, and to determine what organizations and individuals shall be considered as constituting parts of the National Guard within the meaning of this act.

The penalty in time of peace for not performing the obligations of service is merely that they shall be deprived of the right

to give the service which they have already refused to give, and shall not receive pay for service not performed. The entire National Guard of the state, with little loss except of self-respect, could, after having enjoyed the privileges and emoluments provided in this law, disqualify itself for federal service on the approach of a call to arms for national defense. It is conceivable that international conditions might arise under which political and racial considerations might lead to the employment of this recourse as a means of restraining the Executive of the Nation in the enforcement of demands upon a foreign power.

The formal oath prescribed by the Act is one of obedience to "orders of the President of the United States and of the Governor of the State."

Little doubt can be entertained that had such a military system been in vogue in 1861, it would have resulted in the disruption of the Union.

The difference between this provision of the new law and the Senate volunteer reserve provision which was stricken out in conference is that the Senate provided for a volunteer force which should be wholly under federal authority and could be controlled and maintained in time of peace so as to be prepared for service in time of war.

The law as it stands does not guarantee that the militia force trained and supported by the federal government in time of peace, may be depended upon for service to its full capacity in time of war.

By the enumeration of the National Guard as the force upon which the President may call for national defense, the unorganized militia, which at this time numbers about 20,000,000 men subject to military service, as against 130,000 in the National Guard, are relieved from liability of service except as they may in time of war be drafted to the limited number necessary to to fill the ranks of the National Guard, the utmost limit of which would be 450,000 men.

The limit of federal authority over a volunteer force which it can control in time of peace to prepare for war, is found in the provision for a volunteer officer reserve and an enlisted