The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1910-09-23
The Kentucky Shame.


Day by day since the army maneu-
vers at Fort Benjamin Harrison began
the news dispatches have been bring
ing news from the Kentucky regiments
on duty there,calculated TO make the
State hang it's head in shame. The
exposure began bfore the troops reach
ed camp. The regiment was sent into
the field without general medical
stores and minus even the first aid
to the injured" packets which the law
requires should be in every soldiers
knapsack. Each ensuing day has
brought to light some new detail of
culpable negligence or scandalous in
efficiency on the part of staff or
line. One whole battalion of the Sec
ond Regiment landed at the maneu
vergrounds minus it's entire subsis-
tence equipment and supplies; the
greater part of the tents furnished
all the regiments were leaky; the
First Regiment, when ordered to the
firing line, was found to be without
ammunition and had the combat been
real would have been butchered with
out being able to defend themselves;
finally-and the end is not yet-the
regular army officers, in order that
the men might take their part in the
maneuvers with some show of intelli-
gence, found it necessarily to drill
the men until their feet wree raw
in the a, b, c's Of their business,
which they should have been taught at
home by their own line officers.
What is the result? The State has
been exposed to the entire nation as
a Commonwealth where even the
citizen soldiery are pawns in a mis-
cradle game of peanut politics and
log rolling; a State dead to the call
of honor. The powers that be and
have been in the Kentucky National
Guard have put upon the State the
wealth unwilling or unable to bear
its part in the defense of the nation
to be ready with full regiments fully
equipped to take the field at a mo-
ments notice. The odium thus in
CURED cannot be shaken off or les
sened by the fact that these expo
sures came during mimic" warfare;
had it been actual combat the re-
suit would have been the same. The
State should give thanks that it was
not left to the bloody test OF war
and the needless sacrifice of lives to
expose the shameful condition.
The only thing left to do is to
clean out of the States service every
officer civil and military, response
BILE for this state of affairs and to
fix the blame by thorough inquiry.
Louisville people have long known
that the First Regiment has for years
been a political football for the ia
vorite of both parties. The former
commander of the regiment resigned
when Gov. Wilson adhered to the
law and insisted that he pass an
examination such as is required of
all commanding officers in all other
States. With him went a large num-
Der of officers and men many of them
breaking their articles OF enlist
ment. This in itself was proof posi-
tive that no such thing as military
discipline existed in the rgeimenet.
and had there been any great eff
cheney of organization or personnel
they must have been destroyed by
such a course. AS a matter of fact
the regiment was demonstrated to be
nothing but political rallying point
and the men who acted thus showed
that they put personal ambition and
cabal politics above patriotism and
the good name of the State.
Under the regime that followed,
conditions, as recent events, show,
have been bettered not a whit. The |
Kentucky National Guard is appar-
emily a political asset, not a fight
ing machine formed for the defense
o fthe nation. How has Kentucky's |
allotment of the Dick law fund been !
used if the equipment is rotten or
nonexistent? No Adjutant Generals |
department worthy of the name
would have sent troops to the field |
without needful supplies; no line Of