The San Francisco call., 1898-01-10
Two Important Changes That Have Attracted
 Attention.
Separation of the Naval From the Land FOrce-A Re-
 tiren1ent.
What May Be Done at Fresno if There Is an Election for Colonel
 of the Sixth.

The two events that have excited the attention of the members of the Ma tionai Guard in this city during the past week have been the request of Colonel H. P. Bush. assistant adjutant- general of the division, and the order from headquarters at Sacramento, d. recting that hereafter the naval militia shall report direct to headquarters in- stead of through division headquarters, as in the past
 AS to the first there has been since the announcement of the fact that Colonel Bush had requested to be re- Iieved from the duties of the position, considerable speculation as to what prompted him to take such step. The colonel, when he was captain of Com pany H of the old First Regiment In fantry, proved an excellent officer and brought his company to a standard Of excellence that excited the admiration of those who were interested in the guard, and it also excited the envy of many whose companies were not up with H. As captain of the company he was a strict disciplinarian, and, as was remarked by one of the men of his
 
 be done, the captain insisted that it should be done according to law and regulations and it had to be done When he became lieutenant colonel of the First it was not long before there arose a spirit of antagonism against him, not as man, but as a soldier of the guard, and there was a certain fac tion of officers who would have pre- o1c and that feeling became more mani fest when he was chosen colonel of the regiment. As the chief officer of the regiment he demanded the same com pliance with rules and regulations and law that he demanded of his men in Company II. neglect in the per fOrmance of duties called forth a rep rimand which was not reliShed by those who were negligent, and while he was respected by reason of his po- sition, he was not liked on account of his insiStence for a compliance with National Guard laws and usage. Then when he was taken from the list and detailed on the division staff as assist ant djutant-general many of those who were inimical to him set up a cry that if he was retained in that position the majority of officers on the staff would resign. He did remain and since then there has been a number of resignationS. After he took office he carried out his methods of exactitude in the presentation of reports and everything that had to pass through headquarters. In many instances re ports that were not made out as re- quired by law and which might have been overlooked by some, were sent back two and three times until they were in conformity with law, a matter which with a very little extra care cOlllN haQn done Tn in stance as in the last. This aroused the indignation of those companies that by reason of delay were kept out of money they were entitled to draw from the State, and instead of trying to con- form with the plain rules laid down the officers of these companies spent twice as much time in kicking as it would have taken to do what was required of them in proper manner, with the re- suit that they made it very uncomfort- able for the assistant adjutant-general In an interview Colonel Bush said that his private business did not allow him the time to attend to the duties of the office as they should be attended to- and that was why he decided to ask to be relieved. It is true that the man. her in which he conducted the affairs at headquarters took up a great deal of his time, for he personally attended to all the details and did all the clerical work, but it is generally believed that he was prompted to act as he did be- cause there were more kicks than honor in the place. Whatever may have been the true inwardness of the matter the fact remains that Major-Genera Nathan T. James, division commander has been unfortunate with his staff being unable to keep it together
 Now as to the act of the command er-in-chief in taking the naval militia out of division headquarters that is the outcome of plan that has been a long time maturing. When the organization was first started it was known as the Naval Reserve, then it branched out into the Naval Battalion. and as ii grew in strength there was a manifest desire that while the organization should be a part of the National Guard that it should be an independent branch of the service, and the first open evi- dence of this was the change in the law of March Ii, 1897, when it was designated as ''the naval militia of the National Guard of California" At first 1t was supposed that in the haste o1 legislation the word militia had beer unintentionally used for battalion, be. cause in another part of the same law describing what the National Guard ot the State shall consist of are the words "...... and five divisions of the maya battalion" but there were some who said wait and you will see that the militia will break loose from the bal. ance or the guard That those parties were correct is shown by the order which takes the naval militia out o1 the Jurisdiction of the division com. mander and creates two divisions of the National Guard, namely the land force and the naval force.
 L. A. Deyoe elected first lieutenant . and F. $. Mum second lieutenant oI company B, Fifth Infantry, have beer ordered before the examining board
 The resignation of Captain w s Winters of company D of the Seventh Infantry has been accepted.
 THE SECOND BRIGADE.
 The companies of the First Regimen and no doubt the signal corps and thc