REPORT OF THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF MICHIGAN. STATE OF MICHIGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Hon. AARON T. BLISS, Governor of Michigan: Sir I have the honor to submit herewith the biennial report of the Adjutant General's Department showing the condition of the Michigan National Guard and the Michigan State Naval Brigade and giving a resume of the work of the Adjutant General's Department for the period beginning September 30, 1900 and ending September 30, 1902. Respectfully submitted, ORGANIZATION. GEO. H. BROWN, The organization of the Michigan National Guard remains the same as at the date of the last report of my predecessor, except that Company C of the First Infantry, located at Tecumseh, was disbanded June 21, 1902, on the report of the Inspector General that the Company had fallen below the proper standard of efficiency and Company C, First Infantry of Detroit was organized and mustered into the state service July 3, 1902 to fill vacancy. Strength of organization September 30, 1902. It is with pardonable pride that I report to your Excellency that I believe the Michigan National Guard has reached a higher degree of efficiency and is better organized and more effective than it has ever attained in any other period of its history. No small share of this improvement can be attributed to the military experience gained in the Spanish-American war by a large num 137229 4 ber of officers, non-commissioned officers and men who are now members of the Guard. It is a satisfaction to know that should the exigency of war arise the officers and men of our Michigan National Guard together with the cadets educated at Michigan military colleges would furnish a complement of competent officers sufficient to instruct, discipline and command an army of volunteers as large as Michigan would ever be called upon to organize. From the days of the founders of this republic to the present time there has been a national antipathy against a large standing army. The defense of the country has been left to the patriotism of the people and the main reliance in case of internal disturbance or dissension, or from invasion and disaster from abroad, is the volunteer. This is evident when the regular army of the United States.numbers less than 60,000 men and is restricted in time of peace to 100,000. The nucleus of the army in each state is its organized militia. Its members are citizen soldiers like the minute men of the Revolution, ever ready to defend their homes and the homes of their countrymen, preserve the peace, enforce the law and are really the conservative power that gives authority to the mandates of the civil courts. It is at all times subservient to civil authority and acts only when the civil process is defied and in response to requests from civil officials. In times of mob violence, tumult, disturbance of the peace, domestic violence and lawlessness, the militia is the strong arm evoked to protect life and property and compel obedience to the majesty of the law. President Roosevelt in a recent speech, referring to the services of the militia, said: “I think that our people have not always appreciated the debt they were under to the national guard. A man who goes into the national guard and does his duty fairly and squarely there, puts the whole country under obligation to him. Always in our history it has been the case, as it will be in the future, that, if war should arise, it is to be met mainly by the citizen soldiers-the volunteer soldier. We have in the regular army, officered as it is and filled with the type of enlisted men we had in it, an army, which I firmly believe, for its size, is unequaled in the civilized world. But that army is, and of necessity must be, so small that in the event of serious trouble in the future, the great bulk of our troops must come, as in the past they have come, from the ranks of the people themselves, and in forming those regiments the good done by the presence in them of the men who who have served faithfully in the national guard cannot be overestimated. Those men are ready. They know what is expected of them." Our forefathers recognized the necessity of a well organized body of militia in each state, for this clause occurs in President Washington's first message to congress: With the review of our army establishment is naturally connected that of the militia. It will merit inquiry, what imperfections in the existing plan further experience may have unfolded. The subject is of so much moment, in my estimation, as to excite a constant solicitude that the consideration of it may be renewed until the greatest attainable perfection shall be accomplished. Time is wearing away some of the advantages for forwarding the object, while none better deserves the persevering attention of the public councils. President Jefferson in his message to congress said: For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. It is therefore incumbent on us at every meeting to revise the condition of the militia, and to ask ourselves if it be prepared to repel a powerful enemy at every point of our territories exposed to invasion. Some of the states have paid a laudable attention to this subject; but every degree of neglect is to. be found among others. Congress alone has power to produce a uniform state of preparation in this great organ of defense; the interest which they so deeply feel in their own and their country's security will present this as among the most important objects of their deliberations. President Lincoln in 1861 said: "The recommendation of the Secretary (of War) for the organization of the militia on a uniform basis, is a subject of vital importance to the future safety of the country, and is commended to the serious attention of Congress. Even with the recommendations from nearly every president from Washington to Roosevelt for a revision of the militia laws by congress so there may "be uniformity in organization, arms discipline and equipment for the different states, the militia laws are practically the same as they were enacted more than a hundred years ago. As a sample of their crudity and their entire want of adaptation to present needs, the following clause still stands upon the federal statute. After reciting that compulsory enrollment and performance of military duty by any able bodied citizen between the ages of 18 and 45 years, it states: That each shall "be constantly provided with a good musket or firelock, of a bore sufficient for balls the 18th part of a pound, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than 24 cartridges," or a "good rifle, shot-pouch and powder-horn, 20 balls and a quarter pound of powder," and that "each officer shall be armed with a sword or hanger and a spontoon.' A Recognizing the incongruity of such law for the government of the militia, the officers of the National Guard of different states commenced a correspondence which culminated in the appointment of a commission to compile information and prepare a bill for the organization and government of the military forces of the United States to supersede the militia laws enacted in 1792. correspondence between the Adjutants General of different states resulted in an agreement to meet in Washington, D. C., January 20, 1902 for the purpose of consultation and framing a bill to be placed before congress that would be acceptable to the general government and the different states. This meeting was held under the name of the Inter-State National Guard Association and its deliberations and discussions were formulated into a bill known as the "Dick" bill to be laid before congress for enactment into law. The Michigan National Guard was represented at the meeting under the provisions of Special Order No. 5 Adjutant General's office, series 1902 as follows: MILITARY DEPARTMENT OF MICHIGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, LANSING, January 15, 1902. SPECIAL ORDERS No. 5. Brigadier General Geo. H. Brown, Adjutant General, and William T. McGurrin, Colonel Second Infantry M. N. G., are hereby ordered to proceed to Washington, D. C., as delegates to represent the Michigan National Guard at a meeting of the Inter-State National Guard Association for the purpose of consulting with the National Guard officers of other states in relation to national legislation in the interest of the National Guard of the several states, which meeting will occur January 20, 1902. The travel incident is necessary to the public service. GEO. H. BROWN, GEO. H. TURNER, Colonel and Assistant Adjutant General. When the Michigan delegates returned, the following report was made to the Commander-in-chief. MILITARY DEPARTMENT OF MICHIGAN. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, LANSING, February 21, 1902. HON. A. T. BLISS, Commander-in-Chief M. N. G., Lansing, Michigan: Sir-We have the honor to report that in compliance with special order No. 5, Adjutant General's office, 1902, we proceeded to Washington, D. C., and attended the meeting of the Inter-State National Guard Association. |