Book Reviews : The Combined Food Board: A Study in Wartime International Planning. By ERIC ROLL. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 1956. Pp. xiii, 385. $7.50.)

• Author: W. Richard Bigger
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100339
• Date: 01 September 1958
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Subject Matter: Articles

738
The dissatisfaction of the Army and the War Department with the
militia is as old as the Republic and as new as Charley Wilson’s reference
to the National Guard as a haven for draft dodgers. In spite of this long-
standing and formidable opposition, the Guard has survived and indeed
&dquo;assured itself a permanent and unequivocal role in the defense system.&dquo;
The reason is that &dquo;the Guard has had a remarkably effective labby ... one
that, though seldom mentioned in the journalistic or scholarly discussions
of pressure groups in the United States, deserves recognition as one of the
most effective of the breed.&dquo; The National Guard Association &dquo;was formed
in order to lobby for an increase in the grant-in-aid of 1808.&dquo; The associa-
tion obtained $200,000 from the Tenth Congress for the support of the
militia and $435,000,000 from the Eighty-third. Lobbying may produce
large expenditures but not efficiency, for the Army still regards the Guard
as 56.5 per cent efficient as compared with 84 per cent for &dquo;comparable
Army units.&dquo;
This is not a military history of the militia but a study in federalism. The
method is largely historical, however, tracing the shifts in policy that have
occurred, and concluding with some interesting generalizations. &dquo;The con-
ventional interpretation of American federalism,&dquo; wrote Professor Riker,
is &dquo;that there has been a progressive centralization from 1787 onward....&dquo;
But this centralization has not taken place with the militia; instead, con-
centration of authority has had its ebbs and its flows, and the attempts of
the Army to abolish the National Guard have failed. Another interesting
and plausible hypothesis on American federalism is tentatively offered by
the author: &dquo;the states do not need to share any particular function with
the nation in order to preserve themselves.&dquo;
This is both a scholarly and an interesting book, a useful addition to
our scarce studies in...