The evening times., 1898-03-05
THE SOLDIERS OF NEW YORK.
The New Register of the Nationai
Guard for 1898.


New York, March 5.-It is possible that
the long-eXpected reorganization of the
National Guard of this State may not
prove all that its friends hoped it would.
As drawn UP. the plan proposed aimed
at abolishing the governors stan ana
limiting the number of officers who could
be appointed to the staff departments
The governor. however, who is an expert
in everything military. even to the most
comfortable way of saluting the colors
on a wet day, has made some changes
in the reorganization scheme as propoS;
ed by the plain colonies who drew II up.
and perhaps il won't strike so deadly Il
blow after ALL for he has stricken out
parag graph reducing the staff officers, ana
put one in that increased the number IN
stead. I'D
The National Guard Register, which is
Just out for 1898 shows that dread OF the
reorganization has not prevented the ola
rule as to staff appointments from being
enforced during rS9s!o One disting guished
staff lieutenant eoloiiel was appointed
that he might have n uniform To wear
at the foreign court to which he had
been sent as an 'attache. The uniform,
however was not gwen with the COM
mission: probably il cost more. But how
| happy every man in che Guard ought to
| be in thinking that his States uniform
appears on the back of the lieutenant
| colonel at some court of Europe.
By the way the commission was sent
after its owner: he hasn't been in this
| country since it was given to him. An
| other gentleman keeps a military school
| and naturally wanted a title TO his name
He got it; he's an assistant something or
other. with the rank and title of Colonel.
| n ID fG q
| O'Grady So it is evident that the Ma
| tional Guard is of use to some persons,
after all, and the Guard is glad that 1t Is
| useful.
The Register does not show the recent
| changes I'm the Guard. General FltZBer-
| aid is still in command of the FIRST Brig
| ade and there is only one brigade IN TINS
! city. All the changes Will have 10 wait
/ until next year.
| Looking through the Register, no
| change of form appears snd comparative
| " few changes OF detail. Three Lieuten-
ants have been commissioned in the
squadron. two captains and six heuten-
| ants in the Seventh: seven commissions
| only have been issued TO the Eighth; sew
| en- to the Ninth. ten TO the Twelfth,
| which IS remarkably few for that regi-
| ment, only two to the Thirteenth. eight
| to the Fourteenth. five to the twenty
| second, nine TO the Twenty-third. six 10
| the Forty-seventh, eight 10 the Sixty
| ninth, and fifteen to the Seventy-first.
| OF the officers eighteen either graduated
| from West Point or served in the army,
| ten served in foreign armies or in foreign
| militia organizations. forty-nine served In
| the army during some period of war.
| while one in the Naval Battalion was a
volunteer in the war navy.
Twelve of the Naval Battalion's Off
GERS were at Annapolis for a longer or
| shorter time, and one was in the Navy
| since the war. The Seventh provided
| sixty-three offers. for other regiments,
| the Twenty-second fifteen, and Squad
| ron A provided nine. In the Twelfth
| there are eighteen officers who started
| in the regiment, and twenty-three who
| came from outside The SiNty-ninth
| had twenty-seven from the inside and ten
from the outside; the Seventy-first's fig
| urs are twenty-eight and twelve respec-
| lively.
| II will be noticed that the suggestion
| has not yet been accepted that there
| should be a chaplain general, yet he is
needed as much as almost any aid on the
| governors staff. Then there seems to be
| a discrepancy in distributing appoint
! ments: for instance, there is one chief
| Of artillery and three assistant chiefs,
! Just one apiece for each of the four bat
! teries. 1t is very evident either that
| there should be another assistant chief 70
| avoid jeaiousy-for il is not fair that
| one battery should have general 10
| look after il and the other three TO have
| only a colonel, or worse. a lieutenant
| cOlonel-or else that there should be an
| other battery, when the general could
| keep his eye on the best or the worst of
| the lot and leave one apiece 10 his as
| sistants And IL is of almost vital i'm
| portance that there should be a chief of
i, II
! would be to be commissioned: '.BTiga-
| dier General and Chief OF Cavalry
| When some man not in the Guard can
| be pleased so easily, is it right 10 hesi-
! tate for an instant about creating more
| useless officers? No true guardsmau