The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-16

Often the drilling Of the men must
be done on a sloppy floor. Moreover,
on account of the exposure TO the
weather it is impossible to keep the
place clean. Even if it were water
proof, the building is lacking i'll almost
everything requisite to fit it for use as
an armOrv 1t has no offices, the com
panv rooms are too small, and, worst
of all, it has no sanitary arrangements
whatever-no bath. no lavatory; no
toilet. even.
Officers and men alike feel keeniy
this disgraceful condition of the home
of their organization, not only be,
cause it makes the performance of
their military duties extremely dltil-
cult. but because it practically pro-
bibits anv activities looking to the sat
| isfaction of their higher needs as social
and moral beings. what ought ordnarl-
" to be their place of meeting IN their
leisure hours being now so utterly I'M
attractive that no one ever goes near
it except for duty. All attempts at
ANYTHING in the nature of social
gathering even are practically limited
to an occasional smoker given in an
other building for few of the men at
time. Yet, if a proper esprit de
corps is to be maintained, enlistment
in the force encouraged and the men
fitted for the full performance of their
soldierly duties, provision must be
made for their social, mental and
moral, as well as physical, needs.
There are in Honolulu at present
some four hundred men in the National
Guard Shortly it is hoped to increase
the number to seven hundred, when the
force shall have been raised to the
standing of a full regiment of mini
mum strength. 1t seems strange that
our citizens. so generous in their gifts
of time. thought and money for all
kinds Of work looking to the physical
or mental or moral welfare of any and
everyone likely to be benefited there
by, should hitherto have overlooked
the opportunity for work of the kind
for these hundreds of men. To these
men a public duty is owed, for they
are public servants, bound to the risk
of their lives for the maintenance of
peace and the protection of the life
and property of the citizens.
I hope that the present agitation
for an armory for the National Guard
will receive such support from the cit
liens generally that the result will be
an appropriation for the purpose, suffi-
cient to provide building having
everything requisite for the military
efficiency and the wellbeing of the
force. Such building ought to have
the proper offices, cOmmodious drillhall,
comfortable company rooms, gvmna-
ChnyUnp
baths and all proper sanitary arrange
ments.
An armory so equipped would sup
ply all the advantages of a club, suf-
| ficiently attractive to draw the men
to it's shelter in their leisure hours,
! and be a center of many activities for
| the welfare of the men, both as sol
diers and citizens.
I would suggest that there is
! larger use to which certain parts of
such an armory might be put, making
| it benefit not only to hundreds, but
| perhaps thousands of men. When we
| realize that in the near future there
| will be quartered in and around Ho
nolulu some five thousand or so regula,
| soldiers, whose off duty time will be
| spent for the most part in the city
that owing to our distance from the
| mainland there is little in city of the
| better class of enterta inment 20 at
tract them; and that the temptations
| to a Young man here are, for many
| reasons, much greater than on the
| mainland, it becomes a serious question
| whether such an armory as that pro
posed for the National Guard, if some
| what enlarged and extended in its ia
cilities for amusement, etc, and thrown
! open, in that department, to all men
in the service, would not be about the
best provision the people of this Ter
| ritorv could make for the welfare OF
| this host of men.
Such provision would be free from
the faint of patronage which any read
| ing rooms mission or institute conduct
| ed by church or philanthropic society
| would necessarily have.
| Another advantage of such enlarged
use of the armory would be its ten
dency TO foster that feeling of friend
ship and good will between the mer
of the National Gnard and those of the
regular army which it is the policy OF
the government to encourage. Sucf
an intermingling of the men would b'
of the greatest benefit to the men OF
the guard in bringing them up to
| high military standard.
Another advantage would be that /
would be to the credit of the city.
EDMUND TREW SIMPSON,
ho, intv Let Poo III n