These, I say, were the two major points
of dispute. We had an 8 to 10 vote on both
points. When we then came to an adoption
of the whole package of Committee recom-
mendations that you now have before you
as GP-I, we voted and by a 12 to 4 vote
agreed to present the recommendations to
the floor with—and 1 emphasize this—the
reservation to each member of the Com-
mittee to either act in concert with the
Committee recommendations or to be re-
liever of any further loyalty to the recom-
mendations.
As you see, conceivably some members of
the minority may be opposed to the word
"shall". On the other hand, some may ap-
prove the word "may" but be opposed to
the insertion of the specific enumeration of
"Adjutant General". There is the possi-
bility of a duplication here with some who
may not be specifically opposed to one
point or another of the recommendations
by joining forces with others result in the
minority becoming the majority, if you un-
derstand what 1 mean.
So we brought out to the floor of this
Convention, General Provisions Recommen-
dation No. 1. There were discussions on
other points that I think might be helpful
to you by way of explanation. We agreed,
for instance, that the governor should have
the right to order the militia to active
duty upon certain conditions and contin-
gent implications. We inserted specifically
the word "order" because we were told by
our distinguished military witnesses that
"order" had a clearer military connotation
than the phrase "to call out the militia".
Invasions are not a probability but could
be a possibility, and the governor should
have the express authority to act in such
an event. Likewise a strong majority of
the Committee felt that the governor
should have the right to repel invasions if
they occurred.
It was unanimously agreed that he be
empowered to use the militia when neces-
sary to enforce the execution of the laws
of the State. It was further agreed that to
extend the proposal to contingencies such
as floods, hurricanes, forest fires, or other
large scale conflagrations, so that the gov-
ernor and the militia be enabled to act
where life or property might be imperiled
on a large scale.
It was felt that the military authority
created hereby should forever—and 1 em-
phasize this because it was a strong feel-
ing of the Committee—should forever re-
main under civil control so as to forestall
any possibility of the creation of an uncon- |
trollable military machine or force. The
language was added to provide this in the
person of the governor.
Discussion took place about the absence
or disability of the governor and the suc-
cession in the chain of command, but after
careful consideration it was determined by
your Committee not to include these prob-
lems here upon the condition that such lan-
guage would be covered in the Report of
the Executive Branch.
Lastly, your Committee wanted to insure
that only militia members when in actual
service would be subject to trial by mili-
tary court and so provided this in the rec-
ommendation. This protects a civilian from
a military trial and at the same time pro-
vides a guarantee that military authori-
ties can discipline their own personnel
should such occasions arise.
The Committee also wanted to make it
crystal clear that militia men be subject
to military force only while actually in ac-
tive service and so provided.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of
the Convention, your General Provisions
Committee is acutely aware of its responsi-
bility and is desirous of meeting these in
the presentation of this Report. May 1 pub-
licly congratulate and thank the members
of the General Provisions Committee for
the many hard hours of work put in on
this, and particularly the subcommittee
that handled this particular recommenda-
tion chaired by Delegate Edward Clarke
and composed of Delegates Vecera, Blair
and Ritter. Mr. President, that is the Com-
mittee supplementation of the General Pro-
visions Committee Report No. 1 on militia.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of Delegate Boyer for purposes of
clarification? Delegate Chabot?
DELEGATE CHABOT: I would like to
inquire of the Chairman of General Pro-
visions, whether in listing the purposes for
which the governor might order out the
militia the Committee determined to add
to the existing provisions of the Constitu-
tion by the language "and provide assist-
ance at such times" and so forth. I would
like to know whether the "at such times"
language is intended to modify only "pro-
vide assistance" or whether the "at such
time" language is intended to provide a
limitation on the other circumstances un-
der which the militia may be ordered out.
DELEGATE BOYER: We went into
great discussion about the wording on this,
Delegate Chabot. There was the suggestion |
