The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-11-04
WORSE THAN NO GUARD"
Gov. Powers Says State nj iIitia Was Hin
ORANGE in Supplying States Quota For
War.

Bangor, November SIN an interview
| here today Gov. Powers expressed the
opinion that the National Guard should
be instituted on different plan.
81 think" he said, "that whatever Is
done should result in the constant readl-
ness to supply the states quota OF troops
without going outside the organized
guard.
"The fact that the Maine troops could
not be recruited inside the regular guard
in the Spanish war costs us vast deal
of money, more than ought to have been
necessary.
"Ihe secretary of war called on me for
the states quota Of troops. Antic,pat-
ing this, l had already given orders
and they had been obeyed, to have all
companies of both regiments recruited
to the full strength allowed in the state,
and to have company commanders Tor
ward for discharges the names OF all
men not flt for service according to the
accepted military standards.
"When the call came ordered the
two regiments to Augusta, and, LATER
after consulting with military men, de-
cided. that I must al ow the First,
through seniority, the chance to go ou5.l
We ut once set about preparing the regi !
ment for service, and then discovered that.
Notwithstanding the fine appearance OF
the command. many of its men were not
acceptable under the physical examlna-
ton nf the regular service.
II tried to secure men from the other
regiment, but only one of the captains
bennett, who ought to have been cap
tain in the First, only there was no possi-
Bile vacancy, did anything to secure me
any men, and finally we had to order
enlistmenrs and send men around the
state after recruits.
"Besides the feeling between the regi-
ments, there was strange physical con-
dition. Why, in one of the companies,
/ found man with glass eye, who was
going to be allowed to come to Augusta,
until stopped him.
snow, in all the time we spent back
Ing and filing and trying to make up u
complete regiment while still working in
accordance with the orders from the
war department.. the state WAS spending
large sums of money. Besides this, we
were forced all this time to shut our
eyes and ears to the pleas of countless
good men throughout the state who
offered to raise companies If they could
receive commissions. We had to turn
these down. ! had no authority to accept
them. d
f'In this respect our condition was
worse than If we had had no guard in
Maine at all. For had we no guard I
could have made up regiment in five
days, and made it up of men who would
have passed the ply steal examinations
and who, also, would have known how
to use flreai ms.
81 felt, however, that 1t was better to
adhere to the wishes of the department.
and sent out q regiment from the guard.
st will not say how much more it
cost the state than it ought to have, but
the sum is large.
"As to the future of the guard in
Maine,3 as said, the ultimate object to
be attained is the constant readiness to
put under arms a regiment that is actu-
ally ready for service. How this can be
brought about do not s y.
II do say. however, that 1t will be het.
ter to have single regiment of IL com
panies with 100 men in a company than
the two as we have been having them.
The men should be picked strictly in
accordance with the regulations, and
should not be admitted to the companies
on account Of their personal worth or po-
sition or anything else but efficiency.
Then we should have but one set of OFF,
GERS, and the regiment would always be
on q war footing"