The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-07-21
SLANDEROUSLYFALSE
:
Statement Given Out From
Adjutant General Cor
bins Office.
ISLANDER ON THE STATE
REAL FACTS TOUCHING NORTH
sCAROLINA'S TROOPS.
THE MATTER SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED
And Corbin Kicked Out Of Office If he Author
lied The Statenert--A Series of Lies
Circulated Concerning State,
All from Washington.

All from Washington.
Washinton, ID. c.. July 19.-In order
to show the progress of recruiting under
the second call statement has been
prepared in the office of the adlutanl
general of the army based Oh the latest
returns. 1t shows the following enlist
mentS:
North Carolina number required 1S4:
number enlisted %.
Virginia number required 900; number
enlisted 294
Georgia number required 7O4; number
enlisted 255.
Indiana. Minnesota. Missouri. New
Jersey. Rhode Island, West Virginia and
Wisconsin have exceeded their quota,
but all the others are behind in the sup
ply of troops. The worst delinquent is
North Carolina which has furnished only
% soldiers to meet its quota of 1913. ~
A more wilful, malicious and uncalled
for falsehood than the above has never
been circulated concerning a brave and
chivarous people. 1t is a lie ont of the
whole cloth, nothing less. If Adjt. Gen.
Corbin. to whose office the report is ac-
credited. is really responsible for it, he
should be dismissed from office in dis
grace. The publication of such stuff all
over the country does the State in
calculable harm.
This veraciouS report says:
North Carolina. number required 7S4:
number enlisted So As matter of fact
under the apportionment of the second
call of President Mckinley the number of
troops required of this State was / ,551.
OF this 1.551 men 1873 were to be used
in raising the companies of the first and
second regiments enlisted under the first
call from so men up to the maximum of
JOG men each.
The Second regiment, as is well known
here and equally well known. or sho.lA
be. to Corbin. has been recruited up to
its full strength. This alone means thar
$50 men have been enlisted under the
second call The First regiment which
also needed $50 men has secured $50. or
whereabouts. Therefore, into these two
regiments alone have gone. under the sec
ond call. 600 men. The number is slight
ly larger. but that is sufficient to expose
the falsehOod that but "55 men have
been furnished.
Beside the men enlisted in the First
and Second regiments North Carolina
was ordered to raise seven companies Of
negro troops each having a maximum
strength of JOG men and add them to the
three negro companies already at Fort
Macon. This has been done and the
regiment mustered into service.
Thus, instead of 7S4 men being called
for from North Carolina and the State
having furnished 80. in reality 1,551
men have been called for and all but
100 have been furnished.
The trouble has not been in getting
men, not with the people of North Caro-
lima, but in getting something wherewith
to feed and clothe and shelter the men
who volnnteered the trouble was with
the departments at Washington. honey
combed with favoritism and filled with
scented and gilded nincompoops.
This is by no means the first false
statement that has been circulated. 1t
was plastered on Washington bulletin
boards in letters foot high. and in the
Washington newspapers was dignitied
with job type, that North Carolina
troops were DESERVING by companies. The
Washington newspapers made a correc-
ton i'm a dozen lines hidden among the
advertisements and the bullentin boards
remained blank. AS q result of this mis-
cradle falsehood, and the Washington
papers knew it was a falsehOOd when
published. Adjutant General Cowles re
ceived n flood of letters from other States
Offering companies to take the place of
those supposed to have deserted. That
the SANDER has not been exposed is
shown by the fact that these letters still
come.
General Cowles is authority for the
statement that over 100 companies We're
offered where only twenty could be ac-
cepted; that 10000 men could have been
raised without difficulty.
After the desertiOn lie had been nailed
ana retraction forced from the publish
ers OF 1t the next statement sent our
was a reputed interview with Corbin in
when ne declared that he could get no
information whatever concerning the
Second regiment or only information that
was vague and useless Whether General
Corbin ever made such statement is
not known to this day, though it is OF
course improbable.
Lastly comes a supposed statement
from Corbin's office charging that North
Carolina has raised but 50 men under
the second call when as a matter OF
fact she has raised over 400.
1t is about time that this sort of thing
ceased
If newspaper men are responsible for
it they should be exposed; if General
Corbin has made such statements he is
unfit to be adjutant general or even cor
pOral.
North Carolina has gotten her share OF
glory out of this war, if justice be done
her. She would have gotten, as she has
always done in every war, more note
worthy achievements to her credit thar
any other State had she not been dis
eliminated against from the beginning.
IL is the old case of the lion and the
jackal.
SPANIARDS ILI.-TREATED.