The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-13


mulcted the state of probably $1,000 I'm
! der the law the expense would have fallen
| upon the state and not upon the Federal
| government, since the Federal government
has only authorized me to take into camp
men who are willing to volunteer. | am
endeavoring to so conduct this matter that
all expenses will be unquestionabiy legiti-
mate and be borne by the Federal gov
eminent and not fall as a burden upon
the taxpayers of this slate
Another reason for not ordering com.
panies into camp as they stood was thai
l wished to make the enlistment purely
voluntary without putting upon any one
the moral pressure he would have been
under had his company as an entirety
been ordered into camp. l received nu-
merous letters from mothers and wives
begging me not to force their sons and
husbands 10 go to war, and l did not
want their blood on my hands. Those who
go to war from Georgia go of their own
should.
1T may be well to say while on this
subject that the difficulties which con-
ifonted US in selecting officers for two
regiments out of six and the unassigned
battalion did not confront other states
where they have in their militia no more
regiments than are called for.
After a conference with all the col
onels IN Inc state service, Col. Oscar J.
Brown and Col. A. R. Lawton were Sc
iected as regimentaI commanders. This
selection met with the approval of all the
coionels OF the militia. These two colonies
were then authorized by me to recommend
Tor their regiments lieutenant colonies
ana majors. This was done and each
recommendation was approved by me. I
'heh requested the colonel of each regf-
ment to confer with his lieutenant colonel
and majors end recommend other officers
ana IN every instance the company officers
recommended by these officers were Sc
lected. In the selection of company off,
GERS 1t has been the purpose so far as
possible and practicable. to retain those
now IN commission in any company which
volunteered, and in every instance to give
the men who are 10 enlist officers who
were acceptable to them.
Ihe first order passed was as follows;
Recruiting will be from the state al
large and in organizing companies and
oattalions members of the Georgia vol
unteers will as far as is practicable, be
organized into companies and battalions
as similar to their former organizations
as the circumstances will allow; and pre-
ference will be given to organized com
panies volunteering as a whole with a
majority of the men now enlisted. which
IN no case must be less than the mini
mum number now required by the state
law, namely thirty-two men"
In order to raise companies it was nee
essary to select officers to secure re-
cruits, and in making these selections we
have, wherever competent men could be
| secured, selected those of the militia off,
GERS who could bring with them the larg-
est number of men. BY doing this Wa
came as near as practicable to allowing
the men to select their own company COM
manders
In one instance a company which of
! fered to volunteer as a company in COM
pliance with the order above quoted, was
not permitted to enter the regiment as
a company because action was delayed by
them until all offices had been filed and
| it was then too late.
II am satisfied that we will have raised
our men and mustered them into service
before the government is prepared to
arm and equip them. We have not car
ried our men to camp as quickly as they
were carried in some other states, but
that was because the plan l adopted was
exactly the reverse of that adopted in
other states. In this state all prelimi-
nary examinations were made before the
recruits left home. In other places this
had to be done after arriving at the camp
before the volunteers are carried into
camp we save the expense of carrying
them to Griffin and bring home large
number who are everywhere being re-
jected for physical defects. By this plan
alone we WILL without delaying the mus
terlng in of the regiments, save in ex-
penses OF transportation and subsistence
not less than $4,000 and avoid doing the
men very great injustice. notice that in
one of our neighbOrlng states where $40
recruits were accepted, 40 were rejected
on physical examination. large number
of these men have doubtless given up 20
sitions and go home to find themselves
without employment Under the plan
adopted by me they know before giving
up their positions and leaving their homes
that they will be accepted by army Of
ficers and mustered into service. By hav-
ing these examinations made at home
every man who is accepted is recruiting
officer and we can fill in the rejections
as rapidly as they are made while If the
reflections had been made at the camp,
the only ones returning home would have
been the rejected men, who, instead of
encouraging, would discourage others
from entering the service.
"By this plan the camp life before the
recruits are mustered in and begin service
is shorter and less demoralizing. / notice
that in several states there has been much
disorder in camp while the recruits were
awaiting enlistment, and several murders
Rave occurred. We hope to avoid such an
experience in Georgia.
"The character of the officers and men
now in camp at Griffin is of itself com
plete answer to all criticisms as to the
methods adopted by me to raise Georgia $
quota. l do not believe that any state in
the union will send TO the front superior
men or better officers than those furnished
by this state, and yet this has been done
in a manner which enables us to retain an
ADEQUATE militia force for home protection.
Whenever recruiting is necessary to make
Il more effective. il win be done
1T is unfortunate that there are those
whose opposition "a the state adminlstra-
ton has been SO much stronger than their
sense Of patriotic duty that they have en-
deavored to humiliase our state by an eff
fort to defeat the raising OF Georgia's quo
tn Of troops by themselves bringing politics
into this matter and falsely charging or in
sinuating that l have been influenced by
political considerations.
1.-THE method by which the company Of
fieers have been selected as already stated
by me is a complete answer to the charge.
Especially is this true when il is known