From The Indianapolis News, Monday, December 20, 1915: The low ebb of the militia spirit and absenteeism are the cardinal defects with the Indiana militia according to the inspection report issued by the chief of the militia division of the War Department which gave the Indiana National Guard poor ratings. Absenteeism has gone a long way toward breaking down the Indiana National Guard. Of the 2,677 enlisted men in the Guard, 769 were absent when the inspection was held. The state ranks 45 among the 48 states and the District of Columbia in the percentage of men of militia age doing service in the National Guard. Indiana is the only northern state where the militia spirit is at as low an ebb. Nineteen of the thirty-four rated infantry companies and the medical department were rated “poor.”