The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1901-08-02
COLUMBIA ARSENAL
viii Not Be Abandoned 10 the Owls
and Bats.
Gen. Burlington Says the Government
Never Contemplated Anything so
Absurd-Msy Be Made an
Army Post.

anu pl'lCnSlohdl lllCh NCllJ ouI W JuC
Arsenal Wednesday afternoon and callsd
on Gen. A. r. Burlington, Chief of Ord
nance, who is here ON important bus
mess connected with the Arsenal flu
ture, Those in the party were: Mr..
A. b. Rains Col. II. c. Evans, J. D.
Dobbins, Eugene Anderson, Dr. Robt.
Pillow, Major W. J. Whitthorne, DR..
w. X. Sheddan Messrs. j. NJ. Mayes,
! A. n. Akin and w. c. Whitthorne.
Wednesday evening the General was
driven about the city by citizens and
entertained at the Century Club, and
Wednesday night he was the guest of
honor at an informal reception at the
Arsenal given by Major and Mrs Rock
we'll
In an interview with a Herald re-
porter Gen. Burlington said the govern
ment had no idea of abandoning the
Arsenal property at Columbia and
that it was silly to talk Of such an idea.
The Arsenal property would always be
used by the government for some pur-
pose, although it has been decided TO
discontinue it as an Arsenal
When asked what significance at
tached to his visit to Columbia Gen.
Burlington said: ~ am merely out on
a tour of inspection of Arsenal property,
and this being one of the Arsenals
which has been selected by the gov
eminent for discOntinuance, am here
to inspect the property with d view of
suggesting the final disposition of ii
when the order comes for its discontin-
uance. 1t is my first visit to the Co
lumbia Arsenal and can say truly that
| am very much impressed with the
beauty Of the grounds and buildings.
1t is very pretty spot indeed. AS
told the citizens just while ago, there
is no use for them to become unncessa-
rily alarmed about the future of the
Arsenal property. The government is
not going to tear it down and ship it
away 1t will remain just as it is.
The grounds and the buildings will
remain the same and continue TO be
an ornament to your city. think it
is the intention of the Secretary of
War to establish a garrison of men
here, and convert the Arsenal into an
army post. And | think Columbia
will be better pleased with the Army
Post than with the Arsenal. There will
be a great many more men, of course,
and a great deal more money will be
disbursed. There will always be some
sort of government works here. The
government has never entertained a
thought of abandoning the Columbia
Arsenal. Some two years ago l found
that the Army was short on ordnance
officers and recommended that the
best way to meet the need was to dis
continue some of the smaller arsenals.
Accordingly a list was made out and
among those to be abandoned. There
is nothing personal i'll the matter, of
course, but it is merely matter of
business. The need Of interior arse
rails have ceased to great extent to
exist owing to the great stride we
have made in late years i'll railroad
transportation, and the G overnment is
finding it expedient to lessen the num-
Der of them.
The General said that if at any
time in the future the government
might find it expedient or advantageous
to use the arsenal property for arsenal
purposes again the buildings would all
be here and could quickly be converted
to their present use.
Gen. Burlington will retire from the
Army in November when he will have
| been in the service forty-siX years,
+ having entered West Point in 1856.
He says he is tired and worn out and
will be mighty glad when he gets
loose. He is an entertaining, genial
gentleman and a charming talker rich
with "reminiscences covering many years,
and has none of the usual army gruff-
ness. In the course of his talk yester-
day afternoon with the Columbia citi-
zens he dropped the remark that he
never voted an election ticket in his
life, not even for constable He be
lieves that AN army officer should have
no politics.
Gen. Burlington left yesterday after
noon on the D: 40 train going north.