Evening star., 1899-02-11

The claim is made 10y those I'm authority
| that today the guard is better equipped
better organized and better disciplined than
IL has al least been for over a year pre-
Nlous. Officers and men seem again in
earnest, all realize that there Is duty for
each TO perform, and the best. II not the
| oniv. way to perform II Is in the prescribed
| regular military manner-the manner of
the regular army. as far as practicable,
! aoap.ed TO the militia.
/ so-CnIiea social Features.
so lar as any disposition exists 10 curtan
| or obhierate all or any social features Of
National Guard orga -.izations 1t is called to
attention that TIE commanding general has
| on the contrary, aged gathering OF
| officers at headquarters. and has sent his
special inspector amongst the guardsmen
with positive assurances OF fullest cn-opera
| ton in any effort they m. grg see hit to make
| 10 better the guard. II Is possible, how
ever, according To the statement made TO a
Star reporter. THAI SOCIAL features" SO
| called. may be intended as another name
Tor cornwall features" meaning those
features involving the introduc Ion of spirit
uous hqno's into the armory on occasions
OF smoker nights As to liquor in bar
RACKS at any time General Harries has been
very positively decided. lie is opposed to
such features Ca general moral as We'll as
particular military grounds. lie found an
oiu ORDER. printed and posted. prohibiting
iiquoi IN the harrac' : at ATTY time, and he
mas simply enforced IL. Special oldcn times
exceptions have been recalled to change his
! decision. but he has not seen mt to author
re ire Introduction Of Equur into buildings
hlred with money appropriated by Congress
| Tor strictly military purposes and hagpilv
| on only two instances since ne has as
sumed command of the guard has he been
| tempted to do so. When the argument was
made that certa n men would not come TO
| the barracks without some social feature
incentive, he has opened wide the social
| feature door. barring the on, cnnvivial
feature of liquor beverages. aud against
| this decision. il is stated. thus far only two
commanders have complained
he expects that men who take the oath
| OF enlistment to serve faithfully and
legally for three years Will not need a de-
| canter of claret or brandy or a ke, Of beer
| to attract them to the barreck halls He
! expects that military methods alone will no
| sufficient to discipline the lukewarTn and
| Indifferent guardsman, AMI regulates the
idea that liquor in barracks should be re-
garded as means of attraction To the sol
dier.
The declaration is male that the guard
| understands all his ana with the possible
| exception of two or three officers of vary
lIs rank and purposes, the guard applauds
the generals decision.
At n recent gathering Of reCirnental Off
GERS at brigade headquarters this matter
: was carefully explained to the officers and
only two seemed persstently I'm favor of
| liquor as a constituent Of the social fea-
lures of the guard. one of the two ofii-
GERS faVorinS that idea argued that the
regular army "canteen" a good nrece-
| dent to show that the proper regulation of
the liquor habit was not unmilifary, but he
was reminded that the 'cantren'' was a
sort of necessary evil especially IN remote
garrisons where il was deemed desirable
1 to keep men from going long distances TO
get poor and poisonous Nquor. With the
guard it was different.
The guardsmau who felt that he could
| not do without his liquor while at the
mory for an hour Hr two at night could ind
a dozen ''canteers' nearby, ii WAS explain
ed, ard the man who stayed away from
/ the social gatherings on smoker" and
other nights because liquor was not in
cluded in the social features had better
leave the guard. officers m cht, of course
he expected to regulate the behavior OF
men smoker nights If liquor Were fur
| nished but they should not he required TO
do so. II was further called to attention
that the barracks is q military building.
and attendance at drill meetings II made
by law of Congress a military duty. 10
depart from the methods so long prevail
ing world bc to subject the National Guard
administration to criticism, which might
lead 10 curtailment of congressman APP
propriations. always rather uhtuefenSS
given to our guard and never quite SUM
cient for its needs and purposes.
Progressive Innovations.
If any officer of the National Guard has
induiged I'm unmilitary comments lately.
| so it is declared, that person must have
| been a pessimist. 1t is further said that
! though there are lovers Of cd schools and
adherents to the methods Of fixed routine,
| to sneer at or find fault with anything SIM
ply because il is reformatory, new or pro-
| gressiVe is, to say the least unSOIdierly
The best regular armies in the word are
| the progressive ones. and the best militia
! organizations are those viii ing ana capa-
| ble of yieing with their regular army hfoih-
ers in all that pertains to duty and dlsci-
| pline Among other reforms and innoVa-
| tions which General Harries proposes to in
/ augurate are those Of annual camp eXer-
| cises and practice. The experiences Of the
recent war developed the important fact
| that very little of actual camping was ever
| learned from the usual ten days and fort
night dress parade camps of the militia,
| whose floored tents were put up by con-
( tract labor before the troops reached camp.
and the rations of the men cooked 10y hired
civic cooks.
Gen. Harries proposes to have the entire
District Guard learn its full lesson of duty
| in tent pitching, economy Of ratioES, care
of the foot and outstanding Of physical lc-
serve force. Instead of the gaudy show of
the dress parade enCampment, he is pre-
pairing for a series of practice marches,
and the officers themselves will be expected
to know in advance all that they should
teach to their men. This Is a regular
army method. hut it is a sens bic one He
will also insist o. the necessity of officers
to comprehend an3 interpret orders and to
execute them, and sooner or later will
establish a system of officers inspections
tc develop icy question and practical dem
onstrati ton the capacity of officers and nom
Commissioned officers 10 perform all their
duties, from the proper signing of their
names in a St-ictiy military manner up to
and including every feature of military
duty which an officer and non-commis-
stoned officer, from the highest to the low
est, should understand fully and be fully
able to perform. IL any man be inclined to
complain of or sneer at such methods az
these, 1t Will. it is mainta ned, doubtless be
one who is either too welded TO fixed hab-
its to make coed, progressive soldier or
too old to learn new duties.
Purposes i'm View.
The purpose of the present brigade ad-
ministration, it is argued. is 10 make the
District of Columbia National Guard a mod
el civic military establishment. Unlike the
state militia, it is maintained by federal ap-
preparations and its officers are directly
commissioned by the President. No civic
official in the District has authority over
the District Guard, which is governed by
the President of The United States through
the Secretary of War and the commanding
general of the Guard. To that extent
therefore, 1t is a federal establishment, and
as far as possible it should conform 10 the
hal