Military reservation

“ The impracticability of that plan has been clearly shown by Representative James Hay, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, in a recent magazine article in which he says:
"Military authorities, backed by the opinions of many persons high in civil life, insist that we should be provided with an adequate reserve of men, so that we may in any time of trouble have men who will be prepared to enter the army fully trained for war. ”

“ Every young man of sound body, when he becomes of age, must serve two years in the army, eight years in the reserve, and ten years in the national militia, or second reserve. The active strength of the army in time of peace is 35,640 men, the first reserve 160,751, and the second reserve 126,110, making a total of 322,501 men capable of military service in time of war. ”

“ For while even one chief is friendly the treaty payments go on; the reservation is a refuge from avenging pursuit of robbers and murderers, and the pro tection of government troops is accorded so long as any portion of a tribe remains true to its obligations. ”

“ The handful of your Reserves — about one army corps — give us a very pacific view of your warlike threats. Surely you do not think that forty thousand of Reserves can terrify a military empire that counts its soldiers not by tens, hut by hundreds of thousands? ”

“ He proposed that, instead of the revival of the militia, a bill for which was before the house, a reserve force should be established by compelling all soldiers who left the service at the end of ten years, under the act of 1847, without re-engaging, to serve five years after discharge in a reserve, which was to undergo six days' local military training in each year. ”

“ The complete adoption of the plan advocated for the reclamation and settlement of these swamp and overflowed lands, and the establishment there of a perpetual reserve available for military service whenever needed of a million seasoned and hardened citizen soldiers, involves doing nothing that has not already been done by other nations of the world. ”

“ Such organized regulations as have been established in any of the conquered territories for the security of our conquest, for the preservation of order, for the protection of the rights of the inhabitants, and for depriving the enemy of the advantages of these territories while the military possession of them by the forces of the United States continues will be recognized and approved. ”

“ When it has gained territory in this fashion, it should subject the population of the conquered territory to the strictest laws of military service, and so supply itself with an instrument for new and bolder aggression. ”

“ The Royal Authorities shall provide for the subsistence and wants of the troops to the moment when they shall evacuate the French territory, the Allied Powers wishing as an act of friendship towards France, to discontinue the military requisitions, as soon as the restoration of the legitimate authority shall have been effected. ”

“ And yet this immense Homecroft Reserve, aggregating an army of five million [Pg 236] men in time of war, and ready at any time for instant service, would make the United States the most potentially powerful military nation in the world. ”

“ Thus, when the object of a given road, the clearing of a particular channel, or the construction of a particular harbor of refuge is manifestly required by the exigencies of the naval or military service of the country, then it seems to me undeniable that it may be constitutionally comprehended in the powers to declare war, to provide and maintain a navy, and to raise and support armies. ”

“ I am clearly of the opinion that this Reserve cannot be sustained without a strong military force, and that it would be much better to require those wild fellows either to settle on the Reserve or quit the country, at present they appear to make it a place of convenience, to rest, feed and recruit themselves, on their return from a stealing expedition, and to procure provisions and a suitable outfit, the better to enable them to prosecute their fiendish designs. ”

“ After giving this question of a reserve for the army the most careful thought, after having heard the opinion of many officers of our army,—and those too best qualified to give opinions on a matter of this sort,—I am convinced that, under our system of military enlistment, it is impracticable to [Pg 56] accumulate, with either a long-term or a short-term enlistment period, a dependable reserve force of fairly well trained men. To use our army as a training school would destroy the army as such, and fail utterly to create any reserve that could be depended upon as a large body of troops. ”

“ Those among them who before the war were habitually resident in territory occupied by the troops of the Allied and Associated Powers are likewise to be sent to their homes, subject to the consent and control of the military authorities of the Allied and Associated Armies of Occupation. ”

“ A colonel’s command, called an army, marches eight hundred miles beyond its base, its communications liable to be cut by the slightest effort of the enemy—mostly through a desert—the whole distance almost totally destitute of resources, to conquer a territory of two hundred and fifty thousand square miles, without a military chest; the people of this territory are declared citizens of the United States, [249] and the invaders are thus debarred the rights of war to seize needful supplies ”

“ That force may consist partly of regular troops, partly of mounted irregulars or militia, and it need not, in their hands, be large. The population is suited to military pursuits, and the half- breeds mounted would make an excellent irregular cavalry. And the next essential would be a convention and treaty with the United States, as to boundary and transit through the United States and Hudson's Bay territory respectively, for purposes of travel, and commerce, and of postage, and the telegraph. ”

“ All sutlers and retainers to the camp, and all persons whatsoever serving with the armies of the United States in the field, though not enlisted soldiers, are to be subject to orders, according to the rules and discipline of war. To decide exactly where the boundary-line runs between civil and military jurisdiction as to the civilians attached to an army is difficult ”

“ Those not chosen by lot to serve one year with the colors will pass directly into the first reserve. The second reserve will consist of men of from 30 to 45 years of age. Among those who will be exempt from compulsory military service are the members of the Government, members of Congress, State and municipal councillors, Judges, the clergy, including all those who wear the tonsure, or belong to any religious order, the directors and teachers of public schools and colleges, and the police. ”

“ Each side shall provide logistical support for the prisoners of war in the area under its military control, delivering required support to the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission at an agreed delivery point in the vicinity of each prisoner of war installation. ”

“ The reservation system allows this issue to be fought out between our troops and the more daring of the savages, without involving in the contest tribes with which our army in its present numbers is wholly inadequate to cope. ”

“ Our military forces, hence, are smaller than they would otherwise have been, and our means of mobilization less rapid than those which exist on the Continent, because our reserve men, living where and as they like, are not localized and controlled in the manner which obtains among the Powers of Europe. ”

“ In other words, the profit to the government from establishing a Military Reserve which would be at the same time a great Educational Institution for training Citizens as well as Soldiers, and a Peace Establishment for Food Production, would be large enough to cover the entire cost of the nation's regular Military and Naval Establishments. ”

“ The only constant element in the Reserve units were the men, who, owing to age or health or other conditions, would never be fit for Imperial Service. Divisional and other military organization was the same in both Lines, but the 1st was composed of Officers and other Ranks ready for service abroad, the 2nd was composed partly of surplus Imperial Service personnel, partly of troops prepared, so far, only up to Home Service, which still formed the statutory function of the Territorial Force. ”

“ The United States demand an acknowledgment of their right to establish military posts and roads within the limits of the said country guaranteed by the third article of this agreement and capitulation, for the protection of the frontier inhabitants. ”

“ The reserves of an army are of two kinds,—those on the battle-field, and those which are intended to recruit and support the army: the latter, while organizing, may occupy important points of the theater of war, and serve even as strategic reserves; their positions will depend not only on their magnitude, but also on the nature of the frontiers and the distance from the base to the front of operations. ”

“ The said Powers, acting in concert, shall have the right to maintain in the said territories and islands such military and air forces as they may consider necessary to prevent any action being taken or prepared which might directly or indirectly prejudice the freedom of the Straits. ”

“ This principle is that of keeping a small number of troops under arms in peace-time, with a large reserve of [Pg 2] trained men ready to be called out in case of war. In our case, the small number under arms in peace-time is represented by the Active Army, both British, Indian, and Colonial, [2] and the large reserve by the 1st and 2nd Class Army Reserves, the Militia, the Militia Reserve, the Yeomanry, and the Volunteers. ”

“ Moreover, the reserve drew much of its manpower from the pool of soldiers separating from active duty with a reserve obligation still to fulfill, and within some limits the Defense Department could assign such men to units in a manner that could influence the reserve's racial composition. ”

“ If such a Reserve were made subject to the control of the War Department, it would be impossible to ever enlist as a Reserve a construction force composed of men who believe in the dignity of labor and refuse to recognize the superiority of any caste in American life or citizenship. ”

“ Those who have had military service and who have not reached the age of fifty are considered reserves. Officers remain in the reserve until the age of sixty. Various factors—primarily occupational situations, physical condition, and lack of reserve training—operate to erode this force, and those considered useful, or trained, reserves constitute one-half or less of the group. Most of the some 250,000 men released in the latest five-year period, however, are available, physically fit, and familiar with the weapons and equipment in use by the armed forces. ”

“ Our far-flung foreign military establishments are a new phenomenon in our national life, and I think it would be unfortunate were we unnecessarily to foreclose, as my four brothers would do, our future consideration of the broad questions involved in maintaining the effectiveness of these national outposts, in the light of continuing experience with these problems. ”

“ And, impressed with the conviction that an army of reserve ought, until the war shall end, to be constantly kept on foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for emergencies, we respectfully ask the President to call for such a force of volunteers for one year’s service, of not less than one hundred thousand in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall have filled its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers and militia. ”

“ Why is it, sir, that we, the United States, a people of yesterday compared with the older nations of the world, should be waging war for territory—for "room?" Look at your country, extending from the Alleghany Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, capable itself of sustaining in comfort a larger population than will be in the whole Union for one hundred years to come. Over this vast expanse of territory your population is now so sparse that I believe we provided, at the last session, a regiment of mounted men to guard the mail from the frontier of Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia ”

“ No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United States, in Congress assembled, for the defense of such State or its trade, nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only as, in the judgment of the United States, in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such State ”

“ No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships-of-war, in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. ”

“ The second problem-national in scope-essentially a social-economic problem, was primarily for solution by the War Relocation Authority, an agency expressly created for that purpose.' Final Report, supra, note 2, p. 246.↑ And see the delegation of authority contained in the Secretary of War's Proclamation WDI of August 13, 1942, supra, note 3, respecting Relocation Centers outside the Western Defense Command.↑ The Commanding General retained exclusive jurisdiction over the release of evacuees for the purpose of employment, resettlement, or residence within Military Area No. ”

“ Whether the United States shall actually acquire territorial possessions, shall set up captain generalships and garrisons, whether they shall adopt the middle ground of protecting sovereignties nominally independent, or whether they shall content themselves with naval stations and diplomatic representations as the basis for asserting their rights to the free commerce of the East, is a matter of detail. ”