The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-30
BIG ROW IN CAMP
OF STATE MILITIA
Official Lightning Follows Petit
ton for Troop Dis
bandment
Men Charge Snobbery and the
Officers Lay 1t All on
Veterans


the petition of the first and third
companies, coast artillery corps, ma
tional guard of California, presented
Monday asking Governor Gilrett for
their disbandment. Charges and counter
charges are flying as thick as Spanish
bullets at San Juan. lfiil. The men are
insistent. The officers are obdurate
The whisper of court martial, of in
subordination and disrespect to superior
officers mingles with the growI regard
ing inefficient commanders, arbitrary
mannerisms and political debts payable
in gold braid -.
The senior officers of the disaffected
companies openly, accuse the veteran"
members of being tie fundamental in
stigators of the trouble, saying that
they see in the proposed changes in
the state military service the death of
their social club, 1.-THE Nationals" and,
disregarding the ultimate betterment
of the service, are endeavoring to
maintain their private pleasures at the
expense of the state.
"VETERANs" STAND FAST
The .veterans' declare their records
in war and peace have proved their
loyalty and patriotism to the state and
the service and that the upheaval long
pending is due alone to the ineff1ciency
of officers, the political medicines with
which the service has been systemat-
icaily dosed and the attitude of inso-
lent superiority with which the men
have been treated.
And chaos reigns. The governor still
has the petition under consideration.
Until he acts the rumbllngs will go
back and forth and upon his action will
depend the next step and the ultimate
solution.
Major H. G. Mathewson had no
hesitancy in stating that the veteran
members were responsible for the
trouble.
THESE. veteran members" he said
have no military aff1liation with the
companies at all. They are men who
once belonged to the service but who
retired. Wishing to keep up their
military ASSOCIATIONS they formed the
social club known as The Nationals
With this club neither the state nor
the federaI government has any con-
-nection. It is purely social club
composed of the members of the two
companies and the veteran members
Now, the state allows each company
s1o0 a month for armory rent and up
to the present this money has been
paid into the treasury of the social
club, the men keeping their. arms and
accoutermentS in the basement of
the club quarters at 1850. Eddy street
To all intents the clubrooms were the
armory. The, club charged the COM
panies $50 month each for rent, SIS
a month for armorer's service and the
remaining $40 for light, water and gas
Thus the state was practically. paying
the club 5000 month.
TAESE nEr rxTur grunUrnrE
Recently it was proposed to move
the four companies into one armory
where a more suitable dri1Iehan could
be had and where the men could be
given a better military training than
they could obtain by marching about
the streets or drilling in their base
ment. When this was proposed the
veteran members saw their $500 a
month going from them and hence the
trouble. / am confident they engineered
the entire deal The men have been
advised wrongly. They have been
made the catspaws for the old timers
who do not like to see their club lost"
Major c. l.. Tilden, president of THE
Nationals replied to this by stating
that the sole aim of the social club was
to bring men into the service.
Experience has taught u.s. he said,
that the most difficult thing in main
getting the men to join. We banded
together and formed the social club.
We saw that recruits were getting
scarce; and at our own expense we de-
vised a way of giving them that
pleasure"
While General Lauck would give no
definite statement as to what he consid-
cred the source of the trouble he made
1t evident that he held the same views
as did Major Mathewson. LAS soon as
! am ordered to do SOL he said, II shall
lay the blame where it belongs. The
complaint does not come from the en-
listed men so much as from others who
see that they are apt to lose some
thing, pretty nice for themselves if the
companies are moved into another
armory. The two companies have been
ordered to move into the armory by
Sunday night and they will have to
do So"
The members of the companies specif-
cally pointed out that they will obey
orders so long as they are in the serv-
ice They claim they have not been
guilty of INSTRUMENTATION, as they have
not refused to obey orders. The off,
GERS claim, however. that in neglecting
to put their complaint through proper
channels they were guilty of ,disrespect.
Whether courts cartial will follow will
rest with the governor.