The Washington times., 1902-01-04


ters at almost any time hereafter. ReGi-
| mental, battalion. and company command
ers may hold themselves ready to concen-
trate their commands at a certain point
| and line with notice of only an hour or
So General Harries has decided to test
the efficiency of the District Militia in
| this manner. II is desired to learn Just
how long il will take the citizen soldiery
to assemble all ready for active service.
| as would be necessary in time OF riots,
! strikes, or periods of public danger
For the last year or so rapid assembly
| orders have not had {. part in the work
| OF the National Guard but they are con-
| sidered an invaluable aid to the efficiency
of the service. Each company command
er will be advised to prepare rapid as
sembly roster of his company, showing
where every soldier can be found at any
hcur of the day or night.
| When IL is desired to call out a regi-
| ment on short notice the colonel will be
| ordered TO report at a certain place with
| his regiment in few hours time. Com
pany commanders would be- in turn. no.
| tilted to assemble their companies by the
| commanding officer of the regiment. In
| case the rapid assembly orders are issued
| no intimati tion will of course be given that
| the order is issued for anything but ac-
tual service. 1t is expected that few
| trials will place the brigade in such con-
dition that it can be assembled within
! three hours.
Bright Prospects. of New Year.
For the National Guard of the District
the new year has opened with every pros
pect of futuN prosperity. The year of
1901 was probably the most successful
in the history of the Guard, and closed
with the organization in higher stage of
efficiency than it had ever been since or
| ganized. The twelvemonth was unmarked
by any of the factional differences which
caused dissensions previously On the
| contrary one or two old sores seemed to
have practically healed over.
The brigade took more men into the
field at Camp Ordway. Leesburg. Virginia,
between July Is and y than had ever at
| tended an annual encampment The camp
was in every way highly successful
The splendid record of the rife teams
| which proved themselves the best of any
| in the United States at Sea Grit placed
the name of the District National Guard
| foremost in the list OF; militia organiza-
| tions of the United States.
Naval Battalion Prosperou..
The Naval Battalion has prospered as
| well as the other branch OF the service.
The citizen biuejackets derived a great
deal OF experience on the annual cruise OF
| a week at tho cama tt,na ,b, hri,odo ,,-o.
| in camp. Later on there occurred the
resignation of the commander. r. p.
| Haines. who had been in command of the
battalion since it's organization. and of
| Thomas Power. the CHIEF engineer.
| Commander Haines was a most excel
| lent officer. but with his resignation there
was an end put to certain factional differ
ences wlEch heretofore existed. Lieu
tenant Commander s. G. Hopkins is now
in command. Interest. in the Naval Bat
talon is daily growing, and enlistments
are very frequent. At'
The two vessels Of the Naval Battalion
| the Fern and the Oneida, are both in ex-
eellent shape. The former. which is the
larger, is used for drill purposes. 1t is
hoped by the bluejackets that the year
just begun will witness the construction
of wharf for the use OF the battalion at
the foot of Seventh Street The present
diiapidated structure is hardly ser
vceable.
Krags to Replace sprinEaeids.
Before many weeks the District troops
Will probably have exchanged the anti
| quated SpringHelds. which they now carry.
for the new Krag- -Jorgensen army riaee.: 2
Requistion was made for the Krags a
short time ago. II Was sent back on ac-
count OF some slight clerical error CT
,orm, but has been sent to the Secretary
of War again. General Harries expects
the Krags to be at hand in about month.
They will not all come at once, but it is
pIannd that all of them shall arrive be-
fore any are issued.
During the present month or soon "fter-
ward general inspection will be held, and
the arms the troops now carry VIII be
examined. The new rifles will be eN-
changed only in cases where the holder OF
Il Springfield has shown that he knows
nov, to care for the gun. Enough rifles
will be on hand, however, so that the en-
tire brigade can be armed with kraSs in a
half hour If they should be called out for
active service. where it would, OF course,
be impracticablc to carry two kinds of
ammunltion-one for each arm.
Pay for Half Year.
The force at headquarters will soon be
very busy making out the payrolls for the
term ended December 81, 1901. The
Gusrdsmen will receive their pay proba-
biy some time between January 20 and
February l.
Many Of the members Of the Guard will
find that their stipend for holding them
selves in readiness TO 90 to the front in
case Of emergency. slight though it is, will
be materially decreased If they have not
been regular in their attendance at drill.
The terms Of pay order issued some time
ago provide deductions from pay II the
soldier has not regularly attended drill
and paradcs ordered from headquarters.
The salary received by private IS Sl6.2O
per wear, and consequently he Will receive
IS 10 for a half years service If there are
no deductions charged against him. The
scale of pay runs on up to $40 year Tor
colonies Government employees who are
members OF the Guard receive nothing for
their service. The general commanding
the guard is another who Is allowed no
salary.
Rifle Practice Postponed.
The first ordered rifle practice of the
new year was to have been fired at tho
Centre Market Armory range on Thursday
night Owing to the fact that no one had
been detailed to act as inspector of rifle
practice in the place OF Lieut.. Horace NJ.
Bell, who is on leave, the practice was
postponed.