Evening Star Newspaper, March 21, 1926, Page 78

District National Guard Capt. Godwin P. Dunn, recently promoted and assigned to the Head- quarters and Service Company of the 121st Regiment of Engineers, National Guard of the Dis- trict of Columbia, is making prepa- rations to take his organization to camp at Fort Humphreys with the largest con- tingent ever rep- resented. This organization has all the experts and specialists in the regiment and represents prac- tically every trade which can be used by the mili- tary engineers in the field It also includes the band, 2 which Lieut. Dunn had direct charge of while he was sec- ond in command of the outfit, and he promises that it will put on some fine concerts during the period of the en- campment, and he hopes to make it the means of attracting a large num- ber of visitors from Washington. OAPT. GODWIN P. DUNN. Annual inspections of the varlous tinits of the local guard were started ist week and will continue through the comin week, and Capt. Clay Anderson, U. S. Army Engineer ed to the local engineer ient as instructor, expressed him- elf as being much pleased with the ug made by the local eiti 1 Detachment. 121st En commanded by Maj. George Allen, sounded off the inspections with a 100 per cent attendance of its i officers and 18 enlisted men. The finspections this week begin today, starting at 11 o'clock this morn- fng with the inspection of the Head- auarters and Service Company of the 121st Engineers. The other organiza-, tions to be inspected, all at 8:30 at night, on the following dates, are: March 22, Company A, 372d Infantry vs, 24, Company D, Headquarters, 260th ; Batterv A, 260th Coast Artillery; March 25, Battery B, 260th Coast Artillery, and Company E, 121st and March 26, Company ingineers. The organizations, aside from the Medical Detachment, which have com- pleted thelr annual inspections are: iministrative Staff, Headquarters, Division: 29th Military Police ‘ompas Headquarters, 121st En- &ineers; Company A, Engineers, end Company B, 1 ngineers. Coast Artillel Special instructions have been Issued to the units enjoining them from holding more than 48 drills dur- ing the current drill vear, The in- structions received from the Militia Hureau of the War Department. say that no organization will be excused from holding 48 drills durlng the cal- endar year 1926 except for lack of funds or other good and sufficlent reason. A unit which has not been excused from holding 48 drills during the calendar year and has not held that number of drills will not be paid for the last quarter of the calendar year. Organizations that have held less than 24 drills during the first half of the fiscal year 1926 may, in. addition to the 12 drills authorized in the third quarter, hold such extra drills as will br the ‘total of drills held during the first three quarters to 36; and in Jike manner, organizations that will have held less than 36 drills during the first three quarters of the fiscal vear may, in addition to the 12 drills ithorized in the fourth quarter, hold such extra drills as will bring the total number of drills held during the current fiscal year to 48; provided, that in no event will any organization exceed 48 drills during the fiscal vear 26 or exceed the maximum of 8 drills per month authorized by law. Organizations that hold more than 12 drills in the third and fourth quar- ters should show on the pay rolls for these quarters the number of drills held in preceding quarters so that it determined whether or not imum number of 36 drills to the end of the third quarter and 48 drills to the end of the fourth quarter have been exceeded. Col. Lloyd M. Brett, adjutant gen- eral of the District of Columbia Mi- |litia, enjoins all unit commanders to see that all units hold 48 drills during the present calendar year and not ex- ceed the number of drills authorized for the fiscal year 1926. Four promotions from the ranks to commissions as second lieutenants of engineers were announced by head- quarters, as_follows: Staff Sergt. Thaddeus A. Riley, Company E; Corpl. Edward A. McMahon, Company B; Pvt. (first class) Homer B. Millard, Company E, and Pvt. Hugh Everett, Jjr., Company E, all of the Engineer Regiment The following men of Company F, 121st Engineers. have been ordered transferred to the National Guard Reserve and assigned to the same com- mand: Privates (first class), James E. Clements and Britt R. Pugh, and Pvt. Martin T. Storey. Pvj. Frank E. Wedderburn, jr., has been” promoted to corporal in Com- pany A, 121st Engineers, upon recom- mendation of Capt. Roy W. Keeses, who also recommended the reduction of Corpl. Walton E. Shipley to private, which also has been approved in orders issued by Capt. Charles H. Smithson, adjutant of the regiment. Pvt. George L. DeMott, Head- auarters and Service Company, 121st Engineers, has been ordered honor- ably discharged on account of removal from the District of Columbia. Second Lfeut. George F. Harbin, Company D, 121st Engineers, appeared before an examining board last Tues- day night for promotion, and passed. This was immediately followed by his transfer from the line company to the staff, and assigned as re ital plans and training officer, filling the vacancy made by the recent transter of Capt. E. H. Grove. In this new duty, First Lieut. Harbin will have charge of the plans for the regiment at its coming encampment and also supervising the training, one of the most important staff assignments in the engineer regiment. This assign- ment {s a tributo to the abllity of the officer, who held his second lisuten- ant’s commission only a short while. Other promotions in the regiment and the new assignments include Second Lieut. Charles B. Hamllton to first lieutenant and assigned to Com- pany D, 12Ist Engineers; Second Lieut. Edward A. McMahon to Com- pany A; Second Lieut. Homer B. Millard_to Company F, and Second Lieut. Hugh Everett to Company C. Company F, 121st Engineers, sound- ed off at the top of the list this week in attendance with a percentage of 69.70, while the 29th Military Police Company, which has stood high in the past, took a toboggan to the bot- tom with an attendance of but 40 per cent. Generally, the figures for all the units show a decided slump in attendance, when not even the highest company reached the 70 mark. The other organizations, in the relative order of standing, and their percentages, follow: Battery B, 260th Coast Artillery, 69.24; Band, 121st En- glneers, 68.58; Battery A, 260th Coast Artillery, 68.43; Company E, 121st En- glneers, 60.32; Company C, 121st En- gineers, 60.00; Comany B, 121st En- gineers, 59.68; Headquarters and Serv- ice Company, 121st Engineers, 57.9¢ Medical Detachment, 121st Engineers, 57.90; Company D, 121st 'Enginee: 56.26; Company A, 372d Infantry (col ored), 54.29, and Company A, 121st Engineers, 53.13. Consideration is being given by of- cfals of the local Guard to the proposi- tion of publishing a service paper de- voted exclusively to the activities of the Natfonal Guard of the District of Columbia. The matter has been under discussion in varlous quarters for some time, all practically agreeing on the desirability of having such a paper, but the matter has just come to a head with the directions issued by Maj. Gen. Anton Stephan, com- manding the outfit for the appoint- ment of a special board of officers to make an investigation into the matter. The board which consists of Col. John THE SUNDAY BTAR. W. Oehmann, commanding the 121st Regiment of Engineers; Maj. Walter W. Burns, commanding the 260th Coast Artlllery; Capt. Sidney Morgan, aide de camp to Maj. Gen. Stephan and publicity officer of the Guard, and Lieut. George W. Johns, Company ¥, 121st Engineers, and director of the 121st Engineers Press, is directed to consider and submit recommendations for the establishment of a publication for the Guard. The order urges all officers and en- listed men of the Guard to submit to Col. Oehmann, president of the board, any recommendations on the matter. The organization is well prepared to get such a publication, having now a well equipped print shop which has been doing much o? the printing and publishing of pamphlets and other Guard publications for some time. The principal questions to be considered, it was said, was the ways and means for getting out such a publication. The first orders indicating prepara- tlons for the coming Summer encamp- ments of the local Guard were issued this week. Company and detachment commanders have been directed to submit as soon as practicable requi- sitions for mess equipment and tabl ware which {s desired for use at these camps, and which is not regularly i8sued to troops in the fleld. Articles of this character not allowed by the ‘War Department may be purchased from District of Columbia funds, it ‘was pointed out. Apparent failure of officlals of the local Guard to have a concrete armory proposition to submit to the subcom- mittes on District of Columbia of the House appropriations committee pre- vented the Guard from obtaining an allowance which would permit it to make an agreement with local bullders to erect an armory suitable for it. This point was stressed by Repre- sentatives Funk and Simmons, who pointed out that the committee could not act on the appropriation for rental because the Guard officers had sub- mitted no testimony on which the com» mittee could base any action. In view of the turn of events before the House committes, it is understood that efforts are being made to get up a, bullding project proposition which can be submitted to the Senate cammittes when it holds hearings on the District appropriation bill, While it was pointed out to the House committee that the Guard of- floer had scoured the city in an effort to find a building, they had been un- able to find anything suitable. The fact that the Pension Office was being sought was pointed out, but Mr. Funk expressed doubt that the Guard would be able to get this in \iew of the great demand of the Federal Gov- ernment for office space for its daily activities. & “We have not a definite appropria- tion for armory purposes for next year,” explained Lieut. Col. Peyton G. Vevitt, adjutant of the 29th Division. “We are under lease until June 30, and we have not thus far been able to make any-definite agreement ‘with any one for taking over part of the Emory Building at this time or at any future time.- ¥nder date of November 28, 1925, the War Department advised us that we would have part of the Emory Bullding at a rental of $12,000. We went down and inspected it and found that with alteratians amount- ing to $30,000 the bullding could be made suitable for Guard use, “We submitted our estimate to the Commissioners and had it verified as to the estimate for alterations. Then, under date of February 10, 1926, the War Department advised us that since their November letter was writ- ten the situation with regard to the Emory Building had changed, and it LINCOLN 5-Passenger Close-Coupled Coupe Practically New Driven Only to N. Y. and Back Leaving Town Substantial Reductions No Dealers W. 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So we are just where we were last October—look- ing for premises.” It was here that Mr. Funk made his observation on the failure of the Guard to submit a proposition, when he said: “I do not think it is efficient busine¥s management to propose that we ap- g!‘oprlfl(o $10,000 for a project We now nothing about, where no options have been secured, and I do not think it is a valid excuse to say you can not proceed until you get an appro- priation. It is our business to make the appropriation upon definite esti- mates, based upon options or some definite business proposition. It seems to me whoever has charge of this matter should be able to present to the committee a definite proposi- tlon. You should be able to say we have an option upon a certain loca- tion, and we can rent that space for a certain sum. It would simply be an endless circle to say we can not pro- ceed until we get an appropriation. We can not proceed with the making of an appropriation until we get defl- nite estimates. There is nothing be- fore this committee that would seem to justify the appropriation of that item of $6,000 for next year, and until something definite is proposed to the committee, I do not see how we can do anything to eliminate it WASHINGTON, - D. MARCH 21, Mr. Funk sought to have the Guard officials at the hearing to justify the expenditure of $49,850 for the main- tenance of the local citizen soldiers, when he esked Col. Nevitt: “What, in your judgment, is the service that the militia rerders to the tappayers of the District for the expenditure of this amount of money. What is the justi- fication for the militia at all?”” “In the first place,” replied Col. Nevitt, “the National Guard is that par of the national defense scheme designated as firct-line troops and for that reason only a small standing army is maintained. The Organized Militia of the District of Columbia 1s the District citizens’' contribution to the national defense. That is to say, the Federal Government saves the money that would be pald for main- tenance of a large standing army by the malintenanca of the National Guard. That s the Federal end of it. On the District end we are available for any District duty which may be required. For {nstance, when the Ku Klux Klan held its parade here, the members of our organization zed and maintained at the g the request of the Commi: sioner in charge of the Police Depa ment. That was merely done in c anything _ happened. ~ They were not needed; were dismissed, but they were available. Increased compensation of employes 1926—PART 3. of the local Guard carried the only increase in the estimates next year for the Guard as compared with this year. Otherwise the items are sub- stantlally the same. The wages item for 1926 was $16,675, while that for next year is $19,075. The other items are camps, $400; fuel, $1,800; light, $1,200; care and repair of armories, $1,000; telephone service, $5,251; street car fares, incidental expenses, $1,500; parad and_ athletic, gymnastlc, etc., equipment, $500, or a total this vear of $26,400 as compared with $24,000 last yea Money spent on the National Guard is money well spent, Representative Simmons of the committes comment- ed, and this was concurred. in by Representative Griffin. Mr. Simmons said that it was his observation during thé war that the men who came along in the draft, raw recruits or volun- teers, who had had National Guard training either as officers or enlisted men, were very valuable. They knew the fundamentai routine work and they made quite fine non-commis- sioned ofticers and very high-g temporary commissioned officers which point Gen. Stephan paid a high tribute to the District citizen soldiery in the war, in the following statement: “In the World War we sent out from here about 2,200 men, and of those 2,200 men over 700 came back with commissions. I think that is a very fine showing, and we have let- ters from the commanding general, Gen. Malone, and also from Gen. Alexander, who say these men were incorporated in organizations that were going over the top within 24 hours after they were received. If they had not had this preliminary training, they could not have done that.” ‘When questioned as to the number of Government employes who were mem- bers of the District Natlonal Guard, Col. Nevitt sald that from one-third to one-half of the outfit were Govern ment employes, but added: “There are some things that rather discourage men in the departments from joining. For example, we have a number of men in one company, or in two companies, who are empioyes of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Those men cannot go to camp at the same time. On one pretext or another, some | of these men will lose their positions before they are called to camp. Of course, that is mot because of thelr | membership In the National Guard, but because of some neglect of duty, | Of course, | according to the allegation. we cannot do anything to disprov that. If a clerk or chief clerk ea that some man under him is ineffl- cient, and that he does not want him in the service, we cannot say that it is a prejudice against the Natlonal Guard; but we see that every year sbout encampment time in many of the departments. The local Guard, c the hearings, spends $2.500 i v its efforts to develop rifle shot District of Columbia. Of this $1,500 is spent for wages at th rifle range, $600 for target practic and matches and $400 for supplies - o 3 Harvest time in Austr: has jus passed, and more than 3 tons o+ son’s wheat crop have re hipp ntly been BATTERIES Sales Service AUTO ELECTRICIANS Julius H. 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