Arizona republican., 1912-09-14
RIFLE RANGES
 FUR THE N. [. A.
Col. Harris Secures Au- thority to Expend $5OOO in Improvements; Pro posed Militia Pay Bill and Its Provisions

Colonel Charles w. Harris. ad jutant general of Arizona has return cd from his trip to Washington, D. C. and Sea Girt, N. J., where he went on national guard business. His object in going to Washington was t" secure authority for certain eX- tenditures on the Arizona rifle ranges. and he went to Sea Girt to attend the annual meeting of the American Rifle association. the na ti"nal shoot under it's auspices being iiI progress.
 The Washington mission was quite successful as the colonel was author ized to spend $5OOO on the various ranges in the state. some of which need a great deal of attention and some of which can get along with ' cry little. An entirely new range will be selected for the Florence company as soon as the land com mission makes it's selection of state lands in that vicinity It is proposed rD add the area of the present range to the prison grounds and give the auardsmen a new range in some more appropriate place. in lieu of the present range
 Colonel Harris says he thinks there i~ no doubt that the measure knoWn as the national guard pay bill will be passed by the next congress. It las been favorably reported in both houses and is already approved b. tho war department and the National Guard association. It is believed the
 
 anything ever before devised to stim- ulate interest in state militia affairs.
 Under it's provisions enlisted men are paid 25 per cent as much salary as enlisted men in the regular army and officers are paid 20 per cent of the salary drawn by officers of like rank in the regular establishment. There salaries are dependent on good attendance at drills. No company can draw any salary for officers or men until it has held 24 drills and every company must hold at least A drills in one Wear. And there must be no Iretense about the drills for atleast 70 per cent of the strength of each company must be present at each drill That will mean at least 3S men and two officers, as it has been figured out.
 The soldiers will not grow rich at these salaries and it is not expected that anybody will join the guard as a money making enterprise, but for those who do take an interest in such things it will be a very worthy recognition. At the present time the members sacrifice a great deal ot time to the state, just to be in read mess in time of trouble, and in the r.urse of d year it costs them some money for which they get only the training and whatever fun there may be This modest remuneration afford ed by this law will defray their casl -xpenditures during the year anC perhaps little more so they vii rserelv trade their time for their ser vices to the state as patriots what ever pleasures they secure serving as profit.
 Under the law the privates are fur nished with their uniforms so there will be no expense on that score, but the officers have to buy their OWT finery which it is thought will prac- ticallv offset their greater remuner- ation The feature of the law th2 benefits the government is the re- ouirement of an attendance of 70 pei cent before anybody gets paid. Tha laeans that if some of the member: are careless in their attendance the rest of them will make it q poin To see that they do come, for thu absence of a few men d few time: may keep the whole company from receiving about dollar each at eacl