Evening star., 1914-10-04

II ~ of the District of Columbia
was entered upon Thursday
night, when Commander Dempf started
a program for cleaning out the batta-
lion of dead wood, the second effort In
his regime as commander of the organ
ization. The first took place soon after
Commander Dempf took hold of the
organization. Inklings of his proposed
cleaning-up program have leaked out
from time to time, but the matter was
brought to head Thursday night,
when the commanding officer assembled
the four divisions composing the or
ganization on the drill rall floor and
noted the small attendance In some of
the divisions. There is where the good
ship struck contact mine, the effects
of which will be felt as long as there
is a shirker in the outfit.
When the divisions had been assem-
bled Commander Dempf came from
his cabin, looked over the organization,
and then started in. Il am going to
find out" he said, why the attendance
in some of the divisions has not been
better 1 am to blame somewhat for
the conditions which have prevailed,
because 1 have not insisted upon re-
| suits from the division commanders.
should have forced them to compel
! their men to attend drills of the naval
militia, for which they enlisted.
There are men who went on the an
nual cruise. received pay and were
shown up since the organization re-
| turned. AS long as I am at the head
am going to see that every one Of these
pense Of training them. Every man
who is not present tonight Will be
court-martialed next Thursday night.
Some of the divisions have been en-
trAI Ar okk
cause their officers have come down
here and worked hard several nights
| week in order to keep their men inter-
ested in the organization, I am speak
commanding officer Of the Sd Divi-
sion, and Ensign Nudge. the command
in gofficer of the 4th Division. These
two division officers have given their
rewarded with excellent attendance.
They have been and will continue to be
complimented by me for the most ex-
cellent attendance records.
mo officer" he said, "can expect to
get any results by coming down here
and giving only two hours a week to
the organization. When a ship was
time to get it. When they were re-
warded the officers who complained be-
| cause there was no ship did not even
| come down here on Sundays to make
cruises upon 1t.
'I want 1t known that am only go
ing to have workers in this organiza-
| tion. This is to be no place for those
who are not interested in the work,
| and they might as well now ask for
| their discharges"
| Commander Dempf then walked along
the line of one of the divisions. saw
| that none of the men had a rating
| badge on his arm, and said:
| Here is a division with not a petty
officer present. AS soon as the petty
! officers obtained their ratings they
| thought. their work was done and did
not come to drills. and their command
| ing officer did not find out why. l no.
| tice among those men in the line who
| have not a rating that they are the
| ones who are down here every Thurs
! day night and every Sunday, and they
are being kept from getting ratings by
the petty officers who stay away. This
( has got to stop.
| Then the roll was called by divisions.
| AS an absentee'S name was called the
| commander issued orders for the dis
position of the case, "court-martial," !"
| Sunday drill,' or in some cases dis
| charge. The cleaning-out process has
| begun. and in speaking to a Star rep
| resentative following the drill Com
mander Dempf declared that better at
tendance could be looked for in the
| near future, as soon as the deadwood
is cleaned out, and new petty officers
| are rated.
Before the four divisions left the drill
\ hall floor Commander Dempf publicly
ofdered the 1St ana "a DIVISIONS TO haul
out one of the whaleboats and to paint
| 1t. This was their part of the drill.
| The Sd Division, which had the larg-
est attendance on the drill hall floor,
was given boat drill Last Sunday this
division, in command of Lieut. Frank
W. Sigourney, aboard the new steam
launch assigned by the Navy Depart
ment to the Sd Division, and with a
whaleboat loaded with citizen seamen
m tow went to Fort FOote where aft
| er boat drills and other exercises the
men had an oyster roast. The marty