Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-02-28
Madison, Feb. 20

AIdNLSOU, 60. 70
Wisconsin now has, in process of
development, something i'm the mill
tary line that no other state in the
union possesses. 1t is, or rather is to
be, acomplete system through which
The adjutant general may know at a
moments notice, where troops are
stationed, their strength, equipment
and the time required in getting them
from the places where they are sta
toned to the spot whereon they are
required for service. The work of
getting up the system was inaugurated
by Lieutenant w. l.. Buck, U. S. A,
inspector of uhe national guard of Wis
consin, during the time that Otto H.
Falk, of Milwaukee, was adjutant n
eral, and when Captain King succeed
ed him the latter at once requested
that the work be finished, and Lieut..
Buck was given headquarters in the
adjutant generals department at the
capitol. The work was originally
started by Lieut.. Buck for the use of
the federal government, and the state
is profiting by a duplicate of the sys-
tenn. The plan is an original one with
Lieut.. Buck, and mo- OTHER state of the
union has such information filed ait the
federal capitol nor has the adjutant
general of amy state such information
at his disposal.
The Consolidated Military Informa-
ton Bureau of the Wisconsin National
Guard is the name that lis applied to
this scheme, and it is to be, when
completed, the most simple complicat-
ed affair that was ever devised. Amy
one cam understand it, for a reporter
gained a fairly intellibible idea of it
Monday afternoon under the direction
of Lieut.. Buck. In the first place it
gives a list of all the battalions in the
state and the name of the commander
of each. Then there is a list of the
stations of all companies. And n of
the most important of all the features
of the plan is one arranged in the
form of a table showing the time nee
essary, after the receipt of NOTICE, for
each and every railroad to have a spe-
cial train at a stated City for carrying
troops. In this way it is possible for
the adjutant general to know what
railroads are available in the concen-
tration of troops. For instance, a spe-
cial train ON the Illinois Central can be
gotten to Madison in ONE hour at might
or in four hours i'm the day time; on
the Chicago & Northwestern a special
train can be gotten to Madison i'm two
hours, n in the same time on the
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul. This
bureau also tells how many seats there
are in the average passenger coach of
each road so that the adjutant general
cam order enough cars and no more for
the transportation of troops, and thus
save The state amy unnecessary ex-
pense in paying for more cars than are
actually needed. In addition to this
Lieut.. Buck has sent out a circular to
every town in the state of more than
1000 inhabitants asking for q map of
the town, SO THAT if the troops are even
CALLED o. a map of the town ito which
they are called may be placed in the
hands of the commanding officer. and
thus save amy annoyance of being
misdirected by strikers, as was dome at
Chicago last summer. Each railroad
in the state has been requested to fur
MS the department with a copy of
each new time table ais 0 as one is
issued, so THAT the adjutant generals |
office may know as much as possible
about the general running of trains
throughout the state. These time
tables are filed in the Office of the ad-
Jutant general in a convenient place
for ready reference. Then in the vault
adjoining the office there are filed
copies of the letters received from the
railroads, giving such additional in
formation as may be needed from
time to time as regards the capa-
bilities of the roads in handling troops. |
etc.
But the prettiest part of the bureau
is that which relates directly to the
troops themselves. On a small and
most simple chart the following in
formation may be gained at a glance
concerning each and every company
in the Wisconsin national guard: Its
station; name of the company; the
regiment to which it belongs; its total
strength; the number of markslnen,
cooks, Sfgnalmen with flag Or torch,
telegraph operators, carpenters or
bride builders, civil engineers, rail
road men and conductors, engineers
and ~brakemen, b~lacksmiths, machin-
lists, horse or mule drivers; the number
of ~packsaddles ready for use in the
company; the number of the arms
used; their character and condition; the
number of the equipments; their char
acter and condition; the number of
uniforms; their character and coldi-
ton; the amount and character of am
munition o. hand; the number of fan
mel shirts and blankets, in the COM
pany; the character, number and con-
dition Of field mess outfits; the char.
acter, number and condition of camp
ovens or cook stoves or of field heat
ing stoves for tents; the number, char
acter and condition of tents, flies and
pins; wagon transportation; its