The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-14
THEY ARE ALL SOLDIERS.
.cADETS WHO MADE 100 PER CENT.
IN ATTENDANCE FOR '95.

The Annual Meeting of the Savannah
Cadets and the Excellent Showing
Made by the COmPany-EleVen
Members Who Were Perfect in At
tendance-Maj. A. r. Lawton, Jr.,
Presented the Gold Medals.
The Savannah Cadets held their annual
meeting last night at the regimental
armorv. Almost every member of the
J company was in attendance. That is the
Cadets usual record, however. as will be
seen from the resume of the work for the
year which has just closed.
The company's anniversary takes place
in May, and this is what is called the
| yearly meeting. The principal report
was that of First Sergt. J. T. West, which
gave an account of the company's work
for 1895.
The Cadets had sixty-four assemblages
during the year The company consists
| of three officers and sixty-six enlisted
] men, a total active enrolment of sixty
nine The average attendance during the
year was fifty-five at each assemblage,
or about so per cent.
| There were eleven members of the COM
pany who made the remarkable average
| of 100 per cent. in attendance for the en-
tire year. They were Lieut.. r. p. Lowell
! Sergt. ]. c. Tyson, Corporals r. E. Banks
and W. f. Coney, Privates H. P. Adams,
J. r. Cowan, ]. NJ. tombstone. Jr., ]. S.
Manner, Z. n. Manner. Gratz c. Myers and
| A. ]. Thorpe. Two other pIivates, s. w. b.
| Purse and John J. Harte, made an aver
| age of 100 per cent. in attendance, but
| they did not join the company until Feb
| ruary, and so were not eligible for badges.
| There were twenty other members of the
company who made an average of 80 per.
cent. or over.
The Cadets put premium on perfect
attendance, in the shape of a gold medal,
which is given TO each member making 100
/ per cent. The medal has engraved upon
! it: Savannah Cadets-100 Per Cent. At
! tendance" If the holder makes the same
| average the year following a gold bar,
| upon which is engraved the year, is at
| tached to the medal Corporal COney has
| five of these gold bars, representing an
| average of 100 per cent. for five consecu-
! tive years. Privates Cowan and Banks
| have made 100 per cent. for three consecu-
tive years, and Private A. J. Thorpe has
| three bars also but they are not consecu-
| tive. Private Gratz c. Myers has two
consecutive bars. This is a very large in
| crease in the average of the attendance,
| as last year there were only five who made
the top average, while the year before
The medals, as a reward of merit for
good attendance, were presented by Maj
A. r. Lawton, Jr., to whose battalion the
Cadets are attached. Maj. LaWton took
| occasion to compliment the company very
highly on its work. but no word said in Its
praise was undeserved.
| 1t gives me pleasure, he said not to
| know for the first time, but to be re-
| minded of the fact that it is not only the
military duty Which the officers and men
| of this company perform, but that every
| thing connected with the organization is
| kept right up to date and in good condi-
ton. 1t is that that makes the city of
| Savannah so proud OF you; II is that winch
| makes any man feel honored to be con-
| Lected with you. Its strength consists
| in that all of the duties of a soldier and all
| of the duties of a company are performed
| by the individual man and by the aggre-
| cation of officers and men in this COM
| pany. Medals are symbolic ii seems to
me- of the first duty of a soldier. i am
| sure that no man, however good
his attendance would get such medal
| unless he had been faithful to duties after
| he came here. Some men are prevented
by no fault of their own-sickness or nee
essary absence-from securing such med
| ais, and l know of no command in the
| world which has the same rigid rule on
the subject of attendance. The magnifi-
cent average of attendance of the Seventh
| regiment of New York are possible, be-
| cause men who have 100 per cent records
there running back fifteen and eighteen
years. and in fact all of its members have
| nothing counted against them for sick
ness or absence from their city.
Every man who gets one of these med
ais for one year. should be proud of it,
and l know you are. The man who gets
as one of you does here, for two years
should be prouder still. three years but
adds more honor, and confess that when
it comes to Corpl Coney, with his five
years, 1 don't know what to say. (Ap-
plause.) l think he ought to be prouder
of that medal than he is of the non-com-
missioned office he holds, and when
[ say that say great deal. The only
advice which i have to give Corpl. Coney
is that if this record of his is going to
Inn u NNTi1l hny TO coll -,
order to have room to wear his medals.
| Uaughter) know the company Is proud
of him. | am sure that l am proud of
him, and think he ought to be very proud
of it himself, in spite of his well known
Men / have really no advice to give you:
you need none; you have already come
up to the full realization of what your
duties are and you are making an earnest
and an honest effort to perform them.
That spirit imbues the whole company.
Il can only ask you to go on in the way
in which you have been going Exert your
selves; call the attention of citizens here
in Savannah to the good that they can do
by assisting to maintain this company
and if you will pardon personal a1uson
the only reason which l had for becoming
pay member of this company several years
ago, when l was actively connected with
| another military organization in the city
being then in the cavalry was that felt
every citizen of Savannah was but doing
his duty when he undertook to contribute
to the support of a company like this.
There are plenty of other men in the CITY
who would think the same thing if their
attention was called to it. and all of you
in this company should undertake to get
in members, men who, though they may
not contribute with their time and their
energies. can and will with their purses,
contribute to the maintenance of this or
ganization."
Maj Lawton's remarks were much en-
joyed by the members of the company, and
/ the members who received their medals
were warmly congratulated. One hundred
per cent in attendance means that the
| member was present at every assemblage
of the company, being detained neither by
sickness absence from the city or any
other cause.