course entailed. The fact that many individuals desired to be released on account of the losses of position and pecuniary sacrifices which their military service imposed upon them is less a criticism of the individual than it is of the voluntary plan of military service. While faithful service by the National Guard has been the rule, there is much evidence to show that the duty on the border was considered irksome, and that many believed that they had not been fairly treated. The outspoken ones have assumed to judge and to declare that the emergency requiring their presence on the border was past and that it was an injustice to retain them longer in service, forgetting that the duty of a soldier is to perform the task that is set before him, whatever it may be, and that military ends are frequently attained more by the demonstration than by the actual exercise of military force. W. A. MANN, Brigadier General, General Staff, Chief, Militia Bureau. Recruiting for the National Guard; before and after mobilization.. Mobilizations points; changes in mobilization points after the President's call, Shipment of reserve supplies to mobilization points. The effect on the personnel of oath required by new defense act; legal effect of Effect of mobilization on inspectors of small-arms practice, Organized Militia.. Discharges from service after mobilization by governors or State officials, and failures to respond to call.... Discharge from service after mobilization on account of dependent relatives.... Release from service of students of educational institutions.. Discharge from service of Government employees and employees of firms engaged in fabrication or supply of munitions.. Discharge from Federal service effects a complete separation from the National Status and disposition of National Guard reservists created by national defense Advantages of divisional organization...... Traveling facilities supplied troops en route to border; reply to complaints. Appointment of officers and noncommissioned officers of the Regular Army to commissions in the National Guard.. Report of inspection by the assistant chief of staff. Animals and means of transportation for the National Guard. Smallpox vaccination and typhoid prophylaxis. Reports of inspectors general.... MOBILIZATION OF THE ORGANIZED MILITIA AND NATIONAL GUARD IN 1916. The average reader will perhaps better understand this subject if divested of some of its legal and technical terms, and if we go back and refer briefly to the constitutional authority and to certain of the laws relating to this subject. The principal constitutional provisions are as follows: A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Art. II, amendments.) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress. (Art. I, sec. 8.) The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States. (Art. II, sec. 2.) Pursuant to this constitutional authority, Congress in 1792 enacted the first militia law, which was until 1903 the only law relating to the militia. It was to all intents and purposes, however, in many of its provisions a dead letter. In 1903 an act was passed by Congress "to promote the efficiency of the militia, and for other purposes," popularly known as the Dick bill. This, while falling short of being an ideal law on this subject, was a long and very decided step toward placing this important factor of our national defense on a proper footing. By this act the militia was divided into two classes: The Organized Militia to be known as the National Guard of the State, Territory, or District of Columbia, or by such other designations as may be given them by the laws of the respective States or Territories; the remainder to be known as the Reserve Militia. The subject of national defense and "preparedness" having in 1915 and 1916 become the main issue of the day, Congress by act approved June 3, 1916, provided, in what is known as the national defense act, for a complete reorganization not only of the Regular Army but of the Organized Militia as well. By the terms of this act the militia consists of all able-bodied male citizens of the United States and all other able-bodied males who have or shall have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, who shall be more than 18 years of age and, except as provided in the act, not more than 45 years of age, this militia being divided into three classes the National Guard, the Naval Militia, and the Unorganized Militia. 9 The National Guard by the terms of this act consists of the regularly enlisted militia between the ages of 18 and 45 years, organized, armed, and equipped as provided in the act, and of commissioned officers between the ages of 21 and 64 years. No officer or enlisted man of the National Guard of the several States can, however, be recognized as a member of the National Guard until he shall have taken the Federal oath provided in the national defense act. Until this Federal oath was taken these State forces were known as the Organized Militia. The national defense act is referred to so frequently in the following pages of this report, and its exact wording is at times so necessary to a correct understanding of the subject under discussion, that so much of this law as refers to the militia will be found appended to this report. There were two calls issued for this mobilization, viz. first, that known as the first call and contained in telegram sent to the governors of the States of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico May 9, 1916, as follows: Having in view the possibility of further aggression upon the territory of the United States from Mexico and the necessity for the proper protection of that frontier, the President has thought proper to exercise the authority vested in him by the Constitution and laws and call out the Organized Militia necessary for that purpose. I am, in consequence, instructed by the President to call into the service of the United States, through you the Organized Militia of the State of [State designated], which the President directs shall be concentrated at the places designated by the commanding general, southern department, now at El Paso, Tex., and which he has been directed to communicate to you. Upon arrival of the Organized Militia at the designated places of rendezvous they will be mustered into the service of the United States by officers of the Regular Army designated for that purpose. Acknowledge. NEWTON D. BAKER, Second, that known as the second call, and contained in telegram of June 18, addressed to the governors of all States except Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, and in form as follows: Having in view the possibility of further aggression upon the territory of the United States from Mexico and the necessity for the proper protection of that frontier, the President has thought proper to exercise the authority vested in him by the Constitution and laws and call out the Organized Militia and National Guard necessary for that purpose. I am, in consequence, instructed by the President to call into the service of the United States forthwith, through you, the folowing units of the Organized Militia and National Guard of the State of [State designated], which the President directs shall be assembled at the State mobilization point [location named] for muster into the service of the United States [units designated]. Organizations to be accepted into Federal service should have the minimum peace strength now prescribed for Organized Militia, the maximum strength at which organizations will be accepted and to which they should be raised as soon as possible is prescribed in section 2, Tables of Organization, United States Army. In case any regiment, battalion, or squadron now recognized as such contains an insufficient number of organizations to enable it to conform at muster to Regular Army Organization Tables the organizations necessary to complete such units may be moved to mobilization camp and there inspected under orders of the department commander to determine fitness for recognition as Organized Militia by the War Department. Circular 19, Division of Militia Affairs, 1914, prescribes the organizations desired from each State as part of the local tactical division, and only these organizations will be accepted into service. It is requested that all officers of the Adjutant General's Department, Quartermaster Corps, and Medical Corps, duly recognized as pertaining to State headquarters under table 1, Tables of Organization, Organized |