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Show SAYS ENLISTED MEN 5110 BEST OUNCE Those V aiting to Get in Reserve Corps Likely to Miss Commissions. MILITIA FEDERALIZED Guard Is Now Under Absolute Abso-lute Control of National Government. While it is It'H i i-Of 1 by the federal government gov-ernment to have enrolled as many men )ih is possible in the. ollicurs' reserve ror.-t, it is pointed out i hat tlio opportunity op-portunity for recusation and commission commis-sion uili bo greater ami more rapid in the national yuanl organizations than by waiting f'or the creation of military units outside the regularly established guard. An unofficial although authentic state-men state-men by military authorities makes it plain that, the man -who is able to pass t he examination lor second lieutenant will stand a far better chance of getting that commission by enlisting in tlio national na-tional guard than those who decline to serve in the ranks and who are willing to serve only in the event they are commissioned. com-missioned. Hnder the provisions of the national defense ac t , which is the 1 a w for the administration of the national guard, officers of-ficers can only bo appointed from the membership of the national guard. Application of Law. The application of this provision is contained in section III, which, says: When congress shall havo authorized au-thorized the use of the armed land forces of the United States, for any purpose requiring the use of troops in excess of those of tho regular army, the president may, under such regulations, including such physical physi-cal examination as he may prescribe, pre-scribe, draft into tho military service ser-vice of the United States, to serve therein for the period of the war unless sooner discharged, any or fill members of the national guard and of the national guard reserve. re-serve. All persons so drafted shall from date of their draft stand discharged dis-charged from the militia, and shall from such date be subject to the laws and regulations for tho government gov-ernment of the armies of the United States, and shall be embodied em-bodied in organizations corresponding correspond-ing so far as is practicable to those of tho regular army or shall be otherwise assigned as the president may direct. New Units Loom. The commissioned officers of said organizations shall be appointed from among the members thereof, officers with the rank not above that of colonel to be appointed by the president alone, and all other officers to be appointed by the president pres-ident by and with the advice and consent of the senate. Tho present strength of the national guard of the several states is approximately approxi-mately 12o,i'00. Its authorised strength in time of war is 4"0.0i0, and of this number Utah will be called upon to furnish fur-nish between 4OH0 a ml 5000. U can be readily seen that tho expansion authorised author-ised will mean the organization rtf many new units, and under the provisions of the national defense act the officers for these new units can only come from the membership of the national guard. It will require several hundred men to fill the new offices and these offices will and must be rilled before there can be organized any force other than the na- ; tional ffiiard. Under these conditions it is plain to i see that the several score of Salt Lake ! youths who are striving hard to land a 1 place in the officers reserve corps will I in all probability- he left "out in the cold" and tiie preference iveu to those men r.lio have shown their lovallv and willingness to nerve by enlisting in the national guard. Oilier tliii.gs being equal, two men equ;Ulv ellii-ient in the military, one a member of the national guard, the other not, the enlisted man of tlm guard will rei-eive the commission over the man who has not. served. In order to till the guard to the required re-quired strength it may be necessary to draft, although it is hoped that this'will not have to be resorted to. It is possible pos-sible that in case of a draft many of those young men who have evaded enlisting with the hope, of going in us commissioned officers will be taken in and they will after all he forced to serve as enlisted men. It is hardly likely like-ly that men thus tukorTinto the service will be shown any preference when it comes to the selection of officers. Guard Federalized. There also exists today an entirely wrong impression among the larger part of the citizens as to the exact status of the national guard in relation to federal fed-eral government. The opinon prevails that tho national guard of today is practically prac-tically on the same status as" was the national guard of twenty-years ago. Such, however, is not tho case. Tho national guard through the enactment en-actment of the national defense act of Hill) has been federalized and placed under the absolute control of the national na-tional government. The federal government, govern-ment, in lSiiH hud no control whatever oyer the national guard and of necessity neces-sity had to resort to the call for volunteer volun-teer forces. Many national guard regiments regi-ments volunteered as units aud as such were accepted for service. The volunteer force today is the national na-tional guard. It is however, a permanent perma-nent volunteer force, already organized and in a much more lit condition for service even at this time than were the. volunteer forces raised for the Spanish-American Spanish-American war after months of training. Call Already Exists. It is possible that there may be a call for volunteers, but unlikelv at this time. It is more likely that whatever new units mav bo organized will be under the existing machinery of the national guard. The only difference in the status of the national guard of todav and the volunteers of ISOS is in the name and the existing organization of the volunteer volun-teer establishment. Those men who decline at this time to enlist on the plea that they will wait for a call for volunteers are laboring under un-der misapprehension and are not heeding heed-ing the call for volunteers which already has been made. |