The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-23
PUSHING THE ENLISTMENT.
LIEUT.. IA. $. PIKE, OF THE TWENTY
NINTH, IN SAVANNAH.

Reported to Lieut.. G. ID. Pritchard,
the Recruiting Omcer Here, for In
structions and VIII Go to Jackson
viIle-Omcers of the Regiment
Have Been Sent Out Into Seven
Southern states and the Work of
to Be Pushed rs Fast as Possible.
Up to Date I73 Men Have Joined
the Twenty-Ninth.
Lieut. r. s. Pike, Twenty-ninth United
States Volunteer Infantry. reached the
city from Atlanta yesterday morning and
reported to Lieut.. G. B. Pritchard. in
charge Of the recruiting branch of the SER
vice in this section.
Lieut. Pike comes 10 Savannah in the
interests of his regiment, which 1t is de.
sired to bring UP TO the standard of
strength and efficiency as soon as possible.
He is acting in pursuance to orders from
the war department, under which officers
Of the regiment have been sent out into
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and L,ouisi-
ana to gather recruits for the Twenty
tailed by the commanding officer of the
regiment Col, E. E. Hardin. now station
ed al regimental headquarters, at McPher-
son barracks, Atlanta.
Upon reporting to Lieut. Pr.tchard the
new recruiting officer was at once induct-
ed into the mysteries of recruiting and the
enlistment of men and made acquainted
vii Taa
Of red tape that the government deems es-
sential 10 the proper performance of this
duty. In the matter of enlistments Lieut..
Pike viii report 10 Lieut.. Pritchard. who
VIII have charge of this branch of the
service in this section as well for the vol
unteers as fer the regulars, but of course
will receive orders from his regimental
commander in regard to matters connected
with the work of the regiment.
Lieut.. Pike will remain in the city only
day or two, leaving. probably tomorrow.
for jacksonville. There he viii stav until
the hood of enIstments ceases to come in
When ne VIII remove his headquarters to
some other town in the state. His stay in
Florida win be measured in duration nv
the time that is required to bring the reg
lment up to its allotted strength and If The
number OF enliStments shows decided
failing off before this desideratum has
been attained his stay will not be ex ended
Tor even this length of time The idea is to
&c! the men who can comply with the re-
quirements of The enlisting officer as rap
IDLY as possible into the service and the
reg ,ment into shane for ar
i've DUTY in the Philip
pines. To this end every energy will be
USED ana every place that is al all likely
TO produce a number of enlistments in ac-
cord with the difficulty to be encountered
in reaching it visited
The enlistments for the regiment. while
they nave been to a reasonable extent en-
couraging, have not approached the num-
Der that the officers had hoped and ex-
pected would be reached. Lieut.. Pike
said that the enlistments to date num-
Dered about 175 men. but, as there are
half dozen or more states from which
recruits are taken, this showing Is not
especially pleasing. The flood of enlist
ment does not compare in intensity with
the one 1t had been expected would over
Whelm the recruiting Offices as soon as
the men had an oportunity to enlist in
volunteer regiments for the war in the
last men, too, the number enlisted
bears no reasonable proportion to the
number of men that have appliad as rnanv
more than half are rejected on account
OF physical disability or some other inn
pediment
Lieut. Pike is from Jacksonville and well
known in Florida, that he anticipates
no difficulty in largely increasing the num-
bSr OF enlisiments for HIS regiment during
his stay i'm his native state The war de-
partment has directed that the enlistment
OF men for these regiments be pushed as
fast as possible. and that they be got into
the best possible shape for active service
and be in condition TO see 1t as soon as
the weather in The Philippines permits the
sending of unacclimated meu TO the trop-
les, with a reasonable expectancy that
their ability to fight will not be driven
out of them by the heat or soaked out
of them by the rain. Col. Hardin. 100 is
anxious that his regiment shall NOT h. far
behind the leaders in reporting to the de-
partment that is fully recruited and
ready and fit for duty.
Some time shortly Lieut.. Pritchard VIII
take trip around the state visiting those
towns from which he has received inqui-
ries about the service in great test number.
and expects 70 gather a harvest of re-
cruits for the regulars as well as for the
volunteers The applicant is allowed. as
far as possible, to select in which branch
and arm Of the service he win be en-
listed,