The morning call., 1895-01-25
There Should Be a Reorganization
Along the Entire Line.
LIEUTENANT,COLONEL WHITTONS IDEA.
Six BrigadeS in the State That Are Top
Heavy Could Easily Be Consolidated
Into Two or Three.

campaign I shall resign my position IN the
National Guard" said Northumberland
A. K. Wilton of the Fifth Infantry this
evening in an interview with a representa-
tive of the CALL.
'sFor that reason, f" continued the speaker,
my earnest advocacy of some reforms
that should be made in the organization in
California may be regarded as entirely dis
interested. have now no interest in the
guard either in the way of securing prefer
ment or retaining my present position, my
only motive being to do anything can to
add to its efficiency in the interest of the
organization and of the State generally.
at is indisputable that the National
Guard of California, as at present constr
tuted, is a cumbersome, unwieldy body.
This is not due so much to the inefficiency
of the rank and file as to the fact that there
are too many commissioned and non-com-
missioned officers. The organization is
top-heavy. This fact was brought out
forcibly by the recent strike campaign in
Sacramento There the presence of so
many generals and staff officers led to great
confusion, if not to the actual clash of
authority. There were on the ground Adj
jutant- General Allen, Major General w.
H. Dimond, Brigadier-GeneralT T. w. Shee-
han and Brigadier-Gen J. II. Dickin-
son and their numerous stats. General
Allen was in command, and the other three
officers were practically of equal rank.
"As at present constituted the National
Guard of this State is composed of six
brigades, each under general, and there
are thirteen officers upon each brigade
staff The existence of these numerous
divisions and staff officers adds greatly to
the expense to the State for large salaries
in time of service, besides the fact that they
iniure the efficiency of the organization.
The Sixth Brigade, under command of
Brigadier-General Brown, consists of only
two companies. One of these companies is
stationed at Eureka and the other at Ar
cata. The two companies contain 121
privates, not all of whom are active MEM
bers. To command this body of men there
are on General Browns staff thirteen Off
GERS; the major in command has eight
officers on his staff. Besides these, the two
companies have six commissioned officers
and thirteen non-commissioned officers,
sergeants and corporals. In all there are
forty officers to command the 121 men in
that brigade, or one officer for every three
men.
''There are three brigades in the State
that have six companies each, and each of
them has forty commissioned and seventy
eight non-commissioned officers, or a total
of lis officers for 2S2 men. There can be
no doubt that it would add to the eff
cheney of the guard to cut off large pro-
portion of these wearers of gilt lace. The
system is not only cumbersome in time of
service but also at times when there is no
activity as far as active movements are
concerned. Atpresent all correspondence,
of whatever nature, has to first go through
the Office of the regiment commander,
then to Brigadier-General Dickinson, then
to Maior-General Dimond, and finally to
Acknowledgement Allen. There are in the
guard total of 4153 privates, to command
which there are 40 commissioned and 920
non-commissioned officers, or a total of
1920 officers, or nearly one officer is re-
quired for every three men. As matter
of fact the proportion is even larger than
that, for all the officers are actively in the
service, while many of the privates are
merely nominally members of the guard.
"To remedy the serious defects that I
have pointed out it has been proposed to
reorganize the National Guard of California
so as to have it comprised of four or three
instead of six brigades, but in my opinion
the best plan is to have all the companies
in the State in one brigade. The general
in command could then have staff of
thirteen officers, instead of there being six
brigade commanders with seventy-eight
staff officers as at present. This would
save an unwieldy organization, the colonies
being ample for subordinate officers. The
general in command Of the brigade in the
State could then receive the present salaryof
the Acknowledgement, $4,000 per annum. This
would be one important saving of expense,
for the present brigade commanders and
general commanders receive $500 annu-
ally.
Gan active agitation has already been
begun in the direction of the reorganiza-
ton that have suggested, and the matter
will soon be urged before the Legislature.
Other States have experienced the same
difficulty, and they have from time to time
simplifed their organizations. This has
been the case in Massachusetts,, New
York, Pennsylvania, and in fact almost
all the Eastern States. The trouble here,
as well as elsewhere, has been that prefer
ments were made for political reasons
rather than for efficiency, and unnecessary
places have been created for the same
motive. The service should be entirely
divorced from politics, and this would, III
a great measure, be brought about by
having one brigade and one commander
in charge in this State. The organization
would then be like the regular troops in
California that are all under Brigadier-
General Forsythe. 1t would be imprac-
teal to secure efficiency in any other way,
and, for the same reason, there should be
a reorganization that would put the
National Guard upon the same footing Of
efficiency.
"This matter is very important one to
the people of California" said Colonel
Whitton, In conclusion. ANNUALLY the
Legislature appropriates S1o7. 900 to main
tain the National Guard, and of course it
should be the desire of every public-spirited
citizen, whether he ever had any direct
connection with the organization or not, to
see to it that this money shall be expended
wisely and in such a manner as best to pro-
mote the efficiency of the service. As l