I want them to know something of
what the orders mean that they will be under when they enlist under arms
for the Government of the United States. I want them to be men who can
comprehend and easily and intelligently step into the duty of national
defense. That is the reason that I am urging upon the Congress of the
United States at any rate the beginnings of a system by which we may
give a very considerable body of our fellow-citizens the necessary
training.

I have not forgotten the great National Guard of this country, but in
this country of 100,000,000 people there are only 129,000 men in the
National Guard; and the National Guard, fine as it is, is not subject to
the orders of the President of the United States. It is subject to the
orders of the Governors of the several States, and the Constitution
itself says that the President has no right to withdraw them from their
States even, except in the case of actual invasion of the soil of the
United States. I want the Congress of the United States to do a great
deal for the National Guard, but I do not see how the Congress of the
United States can put the National Guard at the disposal of the national
authorities. Therefore it seems to me absolutely necessary that in
addition to the National Guard there should be a considerable body of
men with some training in the military art who will have pledged
themselves to come at the call of the Nation.

I have been told by those who have a greater knack at guessing
statistics than I have that there are probably several million men in
the United States who, either in this country or in other countries from
which they have come to the United States, have received training in
arms. It may be; I do not know, and I suspect that they do not either,
but even if it be true, these men are not subject to the call of the
Federal Government. They would have to be found; they would have to be
induced to enlist; they would have to be organized; their numbers are
indefinite; and they would have to be equipped. Such are not the
materials which we need. We want to know who these men are and where
they are and to have everything ready for them if they should come to
our assistance. For we have now got down, not to the sentiment of
national defense, but to the business of national defense. It is a
business proposition and it must be treated as such. And there are
abundant precedents for the proposals which have been made to the
Congress. Even