The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-10
HE IS THE OFFICIAL WHO STOPPED
INDOOR BASE BALL IN
ARMORIEs,
AND TELLS WHY HE DID 1T.
MADE CERTAIN BEFORE DOING so
THAT HE HAD THE AU-
THORITY.
DONE FOR GOOD OF THE SERVICE.
Trouble Came From Places Where
More Than One Company Occu-
pies the Same ArmOry.

Gen. Bend, brigade commander of
the Minnesota national guard, promul-
gated the order forbidding the use Of
armories occupied by more than one
company, for the playing Of indoor
base ball or other sports-and he gives
his reasons why. The general re-
turned yesterday from a trip to st.
Louis, and he was unaware Of the lit
tie stir in national guard circles Gre
ated by his order, and Of the eager eff
forts of others to deny the authorship
of it, but when waited on at his home
last evening by a reporter for the
G l o b e, he said unhesitatingly:
81 made the order myself and did it
for what I consider the good Of the
service and before I made it I made
certain that 1 had the authority to do
so. The whole trouble came from
places where they have more than one
company of militia occupying the same
armory. In ST. Paul there are four
companies Of infantry and one battery
housed in the same armory; of these
only one company cares to play base
ball-Company c.. In Minneapolis
there are also four companies and
battery in the same armory, and there
two companies wish to play the game;
the others don't. In Duluth two Of the
three companies wish to play, but the
other does not; that is Company G, Of
the Third regiment, which stood third
highest in the state at the last inspec-
ton and is one of the hardest working
companies in the guard. There each
company has two nights a week for
drill, one for company drill and the
other for squad drill In order to
enable the other companies to play
base ball, the drill night was changed
to Saturday evening, a night which, as
everyone in the guard knows, is impos-
sible to get the men out on. 1t was
small wonder that the members of that
company became dissatisfied with that
arrangement and trouble arose, result
ing in several designations, and finally
the company wrote to me, asking to be
mustered out of the service, saying
plainly that they had enlisted not to
play base ball, but to drill, and that it
was impossible under the existing cir
cumstances. Now. that company is
too valuable to be lost to the service,
and although I was obliged to forward
the order to the governor, 1 did so with
the request that it be not accepted.
THAT is but one incident; the fact
is apparent that the militia cannot do
good work and play ball at the same
time, especially where the boys are
obliged to do their playing on drill
nights l have known companies to be
frxr inn ffaC
after 9 o'clock, so they could have
game of ball. when they should have
kept at drill until 10 o'clock; no COM
pany is so well drilled that it can af-
ford to throw away half of the even
ing Now for the order it reads:
The commander chief (the gove1rnorl
has adopted new regulations for the guard and
they will be promulgated shortly. They pro-
vide among other things, that at the an
nual inspection the companies will be re-
quired to show their proficiency in guard
duty; also that any company which shall be
marked by the inspecting officer below 20 per
cent shall be at once mustered out OF the
service ana will not be permitted to reor-
ganize.
This makes it necessary to give as much
time as possible to military exercises and
armores that are used by more than one com
pany must be devoted TO the purposes for
which they are intended. The playing of
base ball or any similar game in the armor-
les in ST. Paul, Minneapolis or Duluth will
you see the companies outside of
the three cities are not affected 1 see
in the papers that they say [ had no
right to issue the order for you will
recognize the last part of the order as
mine; the first part is the one to be
promulgated by the governor. The
point they make is that an armory is
under the charge of the senior officer
of the battalion or regiment drilling in
it. Now, in st. Paul cad Minneapolis
there are both infantry and artillery
and I am the only senior officer COM
handing both. Furthermore, I could
order a major of a battalion to issue
the order or the captain of a company
can order his company to discontinue
playing base ball. In case any men,
Der of the service considers an order
tyrannical or abusive he can appeal to
the superior officer next higher, and IN
this case it is the governor, so the gov
ernor might revoke this order-but 1
hardly think he will do so when I ex-
plain the situation to him. I have
never consulted the governor on this
subject, and do not know what his
views are; I issued the prohibitory or
der entirely on my own authority