Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-02-18


Elsewhere in this issue of the Reg
lister appears a statement from a mem
Der of the National Guard of the State,
containing figures going to show that
a membership I'm the State militia costs
the individual a good deal more than
it comes to. That these figures
are correct we win not presume to
doubt. and that the State should have
a modest military establishment and
set aside a reasonable amount of money
for the same. is a proposition which
few good citizens viii combat But it
does appear that the gentlemen in
authority i'm the National Guard are
attempting a trife TOO much i'm the bill,
which has been before the present ses-
sion of the legislature. For instance,
to- return to the letter published else
where. stress is laid upon tine cost OF
enlistment in the service to the indi-
viduaI soldier. What soldier it may
be asked i'm reply. ever found service in
uniform paying investment, unless
ne happened to- be q commissioned Off
Ger of pretty high rank? Men do not
enlist MS soldiers from financial con-
siderations. but from motives of pa
uiotsm. Service in the National Guard
of a State partakes of this nature. as
well as service under the government
i'm time of war. To serve as a soldier,
whether in the National Guard Of the
States. oriu the regular army, is to dis
charge one of the high duties Of citi-
zersbip. and is not TO be regarded from
a financial standpoint, any more than
Jury duty or any other public service OF
like character. That the State should
make q reasonable provision for the
Guard we viii concede, but it must not
be expected to- set up a military es-
Enlistment modelled upon the ideas in
erec. I'm New York or Pennsylvania.
The state is now doing five times as
much for the military as it did in the
interval from 1873 to 1882, and We have
fewer men i'm the Guard. In the inter
val mentioned. and years prior and af-
ter both officers and men were COM
PEELED to buy their uniforms out of
their own pockets. and such things as
blankets. overcoats. knapsacks, can
teens. haversacks. etc. We're wholly UNI
known to- the rank and file. yet at that
time there was a battalion Of three COM
nsnies i'm the city of Wheeling, one
other company i'm Ohio county, outside
of Wheeling one or two companies in
Brooke one i'm Hancock, two in Mar
shall. and So on. These men served
three full years. rented their own ar
mories. purchased their own uniforms,
gave the state good service. and got not
one cent i'm return. Yet they were good
soldiers and i'm time of need would have
given % good account of themselves.
Let the Legislature do what is fair and
right by the National Guard, and let
the officers of the Guard talk less about
resfgniug and more about filing up the
ranks and manifest generally that sol
dierN spirit which takes things as they
come and makes the best of the situa-
ton.
What the State might, with proprie-
ty. do. would De to procure at least one
battery of modern breech-loading guns
and about two thousand small calibre
repeating rifles. Our Gatlings are Of
the first model. and there isn't cam
non in the State that is dangerous at
three hundred yards. Given modern
equipments and provision for an an
uual eucampment and the National
Guard of the State Will always be able
to make q respectable showing and will
meet any demands which may be made
upon f.. Patriotism is not yet dead in
the Mountain State