The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-08-19
HOMEFOLKS PLEAD
Flood of Letters From Mothers
and Wives of Guards.
$50
Adjutant's Stenographic Force
Busy Answering.
TELL TALES OF DESTITUTION
Aged Mother Has Three Sons
Dead, One on Border. a
Father Absent; Baby Born, One
Buried; Wife Penniless.

Springfield. ILL.,, Aug. 19.-An entire
stenographic force is kept busy in
the adjutant generals office answering
letters from every section of the state
in reference to the release of Illinois
National Guardsmen on the border.
A veritabIe flood of letters comes
from the mothers and wives of soldiers
who tell pitiful tales of restitution
and ask that their boys be released.
None of the writer's display the slight
est knowledge of the proper method
of obtaining release for the men upon
whom they are dependent. Many of
the letters, perhaps a ma iOrity of
them, are addressed to the governor
and are turned over by the executive
department to the adjutanr general
office.
An old mother, aged 10. inva1ided
| ard unable to write or read, had some
| one write that she is left "alone and on
tho mercy of charity"
| HE Was My ALL Writes Mother, IS.
Three of my sons are dead. and he
| (the soldier) IS left as my only de-
| pendence tC comfort and cheer me.
/ to read, write and wait on me, as he
| is my ALL says the letter.
A wife, whose husband is on the
border, writes that she has three chill
dren, a baby weeks old, born since
the departure of the husband. and
that since the troops left she has bur-
| led a 4-year-old child. She says she
without penny.
A mother, whose son evidently left
home without her consent, asks the
| governor to find him, as he is her only
support. she says. She does not know
what company or regiment he is in
| and believes he might have enlisted
under an assumed name. Unwilling
to tell the mother that nothing is
known of her son, the adjurant gen.
| cral has put clerks to work searching
the border in ar effort to find the
name of this woman's son that she
may secure his release.
Sick and None to Assist.
Another sad plea comes from a wife
| who writes that she has been bed rid
den since her husband departed with
his company and that she has not q
soul to aid her.
"An old grandmother" writes thai
she is entirely dependent on "hel
boy and wants him back. -
All of these letters are answered
fully and with the greatest dispatch
by the adjutant generals office TIL,
J Eumblest plea and the most absurd
all are given attention.
Most of the replies sent by the offic,
consist of directions for obtaining tn,
release of the soldier These direc
tions in general are as follows:
The dependent person should OBJ
tain from two reputable citizens of tn,
home town affidayits that a real de
tendency exists. These affidavit
should be mailed to the commander o
the company of which the soldier is ,
Inember. The soldier will then maxi
written application for his release
The application with the affidavits at
tached then will be sent to the com
. mander of the southern department
of the United States army, in the cas-
of enlisted men, and in the case O
commissioned officers to the adlutan
general of the regular army at Wash
ington.
Seldom does a bona fide request 70
release fail to receive favorable &C
ton, the adjutant generals offic
stateS