Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-02
ROSTER
MAKES TROUBLE
Commission Short of Funds
and Finds the Legislature
Blundered
TOO MANY VOLUMES ORDERED
Five Thousand Found to Be Sufficient
to Meet the Demands = Commission
Needs $4,000 More Than the Appro-
priation of $1,000 = The Guard and
Regular Army.
- r,mes-Republ,can.

Special TO Times-Republican
Des Moines, Nov. III $4'ooo more
WAS at the disposal of the soldiers
roster commission the entire roster
could be completed and ready for dis
tribution by the time the next legisia-
tire convenes. AS it is it is doubttui
whether one volume will be completed
because the law enacted by the, last
leeis,ature ties the hands Of the COM
mission.
The commission has progressed SO
far with the work that it Is known
now that the material for the roster OF
the civil war veterans will make d TO-
tai of about 1000 pages, and the COM
mission believes that the volumes solo
viii sell for about s1.25 a volume.
When the Thirty-second general as
sembly. smarting under the repuNe
Of Representative McAllister, OF Linn
comfy. finally decided to enact IA"
nroviding for the publication OF
soldiers roster, it somewhat overold
the thing by providing for the publi-.
,scation of 10000 copies to be SOLD. II
is the belief of the commission .ias
this is too many and that a,ooo copies
will be all that can be sold.
Members of the commission are
discussing the matter and there are
some in favor Of making six volumes
instead Of three, as first mtendeo. II
was the first intention to make the
volumes of about 1000 pages eacn anu
make three volumes. 1t is now found
that this will not be sufftc1ent. the
material will make about 1000 volumes
and it is proposed to devote one VOL
ume to the wars preceding the CIVIL
war and one to the Spanish American
war It is proposed to make the vol
umes on the civil war about 500 pages
each. making five volumes. The vol
umes on the wars preceding and sub
seuuent to the civil war will be small
or. so that the cost of the two will
he about equivalent to that OF one OF
the civil war volumes
The legislature appropriated $4,000
for the work and provided for 10000
volumes to be printed. The commits
sion has about decided that 5000 is all
that is needed and that to print more
would be a waste of money. But II 1t
prints and has bound one OF the vol
l,mes it must print 10000 copies OF 1t
lust as the legislature directed IL
may be that the commission can ar
range with the printer to print e,ooo
comics of the first volume and nave
the forms kept standing for a few
months till the legislature can be
asked to cut the number Of copies
down.
Iowa is profiting by the mistakes
made by a large number Of the states.
Wisconsin and New York are arrang-
ing to rewrite their rosters because
of the mistakes made the first time
in the editing of the material Both
of these states and Ohio as well pre-
pared their rosters giving nothing
whatever but the bare list of names
of the men. There was nothing what
ever to show whether the regiment IN
which they enlisted ever took an ac-
tual engagement during the war or
not, or whether the regiment remained
in the service for long or short
time.
In rewriting them the history OF
each regiment is given quite COM
plete at the first of each chapter or
regiment roster The roster of each
man is given complete for the time
he remained with the regiment and II
he then went to another regiment his
record is completed under that regi-
ment In that way the history Of each
man and the history OF each COM
pany and brigade and regiment is
complete and very little space re-
ouired. The Iowa volumes will be
gotten up in that way. 1t has been
decided to have the print large so as
to be easily read.
1t is discovered now that the cost
and all the work can be quite accurate
ly estimated. BY selling 5000 copies
Of each volume at $1.25 each, the cost
Of printing and binding will all be
born and will cost the state nothing.
The cost of compiling the material
will be about $1,000. The state ap-
propriated $1,000 and it will require
about $4,000 more to finish the work
and print 5000 copies of each vol
ume.
Ine V1S1t OF IeH. Jdllles "A. Ii dilt,
president of the National Rifle AS
sociation, was for purpose not dis
closed in any of the interviews he gave
out to the newspapers while here. 1t
is learned that he is visiting the adj
jutants general of each state in the
union and the purpose Is to secure the
passage of bill by congress. If his
visits meet with success the bill will
be introduced ut the coming session
Of congress. 1t is learned furthermore
that the bill will be fought desperate
ly by the West Point, regular army.
crowd.
The bill that Drain proposes is one
that will make the National Guards in