Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-12-07
IOWA IN THE WAR.
Adjutant General Byers'Report Filed-
Guard Reforms Urged,

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Adjutant G General Byers,Report Filed-
Guard Reforms Urged.
Des Moines, Dec. 4.-Adjutant GEN
eral Byers Friday filed with Governor
Shaw his report covering the transac-
tons of the military department. for
the biennial period ending Nov. 80,
1899. The report is an interesting doc
ument for the reason that it deals with
the military affairs of the state during
time of actual war, and contains, as
was expected, many recommendations
for the improvement of the National
Guard system.
There has been more or less talk in
guard circles for years concerning
weak spots in the system, and now
that large per cent of the member
ship has been privileged to see actual
service in camp and on the field it is
certain an attempt will be made to
turn this experience to account in the
way of changing the rules that are to
govern the reorganized National Guard.
For these reasons the recommended
tons appearing in the adjutant gener-
|aPs report, while they may not meet
the views of all the guardsmen and
their friends, will be of unusual inter-
est. "a
The report will show that Jan. 1,
1898, the number of persons in Iowa
subject to military duty was 294,s79.
The number at the present time is
3O2,270. Iowa's regularly organized
fighting force on the first day Of Jam
uary,. 1898, consisted of two brfgades
of infantry, each having two regiments
of twelve companies, and each c5mpa-
ny divided into three battalions, of1four
companies, making total of forty
eight companies. The total of officers
and enlisted men was 1850. Iowa suc-
ceeded in getting four regiments and a
lsignal corps mustered into the United
States service during the war with
Spain, and these were known as the
Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty-first and
Fifty second infantry and the Twelfth
Signal Corps. Only one regiment saw
foreign service-the Fifty-frst-about
a year in the Philippines.
The obstacles encountered by the
state department in getting the organ
izations into the regular volunteer ser
Twice are described in the following ex-
tract from the adjutant generals re-
port:
when the first call for troops was
made, for three regiments of infantry
and two batteries of light artillery, this
department attempted to promptly
obey the order by enlisting the light
batteries and absorbing one regiment
with the three called for. Friends of
the regiment it was proposed to abb
sorb checked this. Then it was pro-
posed to send one regiment home and
recruit up the other three. Friends
again interfered. The war department
was appealed to, and agreed to allow
Iowa to have four skeleton regiments
of infantry, without any batteries. All
this caused two weeks delay in begin
ming to prepare the troops for muster
lin. Our regiments were finally sent to
the front in good shape, well drilled
and well equipped.
"But as soon as the second call was
made our regiments could not be util-
lied until their ranks were filled to the
maximum, because the war department.
ordered that these regiments be filled
TO the regular army standard. When
the recruits were secured the result
was that we had 500 green men placed
in regiments of 500 drilled men, and
the recruits, in addition to being green,
were unequipped. The efforts of this
departments to equip these regiments
and get them quickly to the front were
frustrated by the efforts of their own
4 friends"
j The report shows Iowa's part in the
|Spanish-American and Philippine wars
to have cost the state for the period
lowered by the report $14S,16s.
i The report recommends that the Ma
tional Guard be made an integral part
of the regular army, although such a
change would require amendments to
the state constitution and the federal
statutes. General Byers asks that the
ELECTION of officers in the National
Guard be abolished, insisting that it is
lruinous TO discipline. He also asks
for permanent camp ground and tar
|get range to be furnished by the state,
at a cost of $4,000, and for an arsenal,
to be built near the capitol, large
enough to store military property,
with the adjutant generals office in
lnonneotion