Evening star., 1899-04-15

with proper disciplinary and punitory ac-
ton regarding men who habitualiy absent
themselves from duty and to establish a
better understanding in the minds of the
enlisted men of the obligations resting upon
them.
First he said he found the company COM
manders generally seeming to be at loss
to know how to discipline certain persistent
ly negligent or Indifferent pq'ivates, and
who conceived their first and only duty to
be recommendations for discharge With
out even resorting to the ordinary method
OF sending non-commissioned officer to
the habituai absentee's residence to eX-
plain to him his oath of enlistment and to
persuade him to live up to it's obligations
they seemed to think that the only thing
to do was to recommend the man for dis
charge in the interest of the service One
captain alone at one time, recommended
that sort of discharge of one-half of his
company, and had the rule of past years
been blindiy followed of approving such
recommendations for discharge at least
two battalions would have been decimate ed
II not wholly disbanded. 1t became task,
therefore. said the adiutant general TO
convince such company commanders of their
duty to exhaust every disciplinary and
pun1tory method before resorting to a dis
charge. and, over and above ALL when
disciplinary and punitory methods failed to
| bring the so-called dead wood" guardsman
to time, then to make his discharge as con-
splcuouSiy dishonorable possible.
IL was found, too, according to the ad-
jutant general. that many privates. espe-
cially of the so-caIled dead timber sort
We're perfectly oblivious Of the fact that
the oath Of enlistment was In reality an
oath, legal, solemn and mandatory.
Careless Methods.
This lack Of understanding Of the private
was not to be wondered at, since in a num-
Der of instances it found that men
cnly signed the oath on the enlistment pa
pers, without reading or comprehending 1t,
and notably, in one organization, nearly
one hundred enlistment papers were found
to be improperly executed, and many of
them signed and blank, while others were
never signed or executed.
Here arose the task, explains the adjutant
general, of forcing the men to comprehend
and understand the nature of their oath
a task. by the way, which took in also cer-
tain officers. who seemed perfectly uncon-
soious of the moral obligations involved in
signing the certificate to the execution of
the oath.
1t takes a great deal of talk and writing
the adjutant general says, to have these
Ideas and purposes understood, but already
ne was beginning to feel rewarded for his
enortS- Whereas three weeks ago there were
received at headquarters many as forty
recommendations for discharge in single
day, now the average Is hardly two day
and 1t is hoped soon to SO minimize the
average as to measure it by the week in
stead of by the day.
General Harries has not only approved of
the adjutant generals course in this re-
gard, but has instructed him to insist more
rlg1dly than ever before a strictly mill
tary course in all administrative action.
There IS not the slightest intention to insist
upon keeping a man in the guard against
his own individual interests. On the con-
trary, the guafdsman who finds himself so
conditioned, either by business or domestic
affairs, as to render his discharge from
the guard desirable has only to set forth
the facts to secure his honorable dis
charge. The good and soldierly guardsman,
therefore, need not look upon the oath,
solemn and imperative as it is, as bug
bear. since he can get his discharge by
simply asking for it. but the bad and un-
soldieriy guardsman is quite another spe-
cies, 1t is stated at headquarters. He will
not be honorably discharged so long as he
maintains his defiant or unsoldierly attf-
tude, but, on the contrary, it Is to be made
the unavoidable duty of his company COM
mander to discipline him.
The Oath Prescribed
In this connection headquarters call at
tention to the exact verbiage of the oath
which every guardsman takes 1t is as fol-
lows:
Il acknowledge to have voluntarily enlist
ed to serve as a soldier in Company - of
the Battalion, District of Columbia Ma
tional Guard. for the period of three years.
unless sooner discharged
uO coi7Iliuy swear lndC Will bear true
faith and allegiance to the United States.
and Will support the Constitution thereof:
do also solemnly swear that l will faith
fully observe and obey all laws and regula-
tfons for the government of the militia of
the District OF Columbia, and the orders
Of all officers elected or appointed over me:
So help me God"
Cruise of the Jackies.
Gen. Harries has received communica-
ton from the Secretary of the Navy an
nouncing Commander NJ. r. 8. Mackenzie
as the commanding officer of the Prairie.
Commander Mackenzie is to communicate
with Gen. Harries, or such representative
as he may select, as to all necessary ar
raagements for the proposed practice cruise
of the Naval Battalion, D. c. N. G.
In reply, Gen. Harries has stated that
while It is preferred to have all arrange
ments perfected through the adtutant gen.
eral OF the militia, Lieut. Hopkins as COM
manding officer Of the Naval Battalion, d