The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1916-07-13
POLITICS in THE
NATIONAL GUARD
REASON FOR ALLEGED INEFFI.
CIENCY IN THE MINNESOTA
STATE TROOPS
Third regiment FIRST TO GO

DECLARED TO BE MOST COMPE
TENT, BUT RECEIVES LITTLE
ATTENTION BY PRESS
st. Paul, July 11.-If anyone tell
you that the Minnesota national guar,
now at Fort Smelling and enrout
south, is without politics give him tn
cha ha". There is plenty Of it: ant
one regiment, the First, is so saturat
ed that the manipulation Of the sof
snaps is close to the scandal line
These are the jobs that pay the big
money and both efficiency and meri
have been swept aside in the scramble
to land them and to keep the manage
ment of the regiment in few hands
The one regiment possibly free from
any faint Of this kind is the Third
composed Of upstate companies. Oh
the entire guard it is the most compe.
tent and receives the small end Of the
national guard boosting now being in
dulged in by the Twin City press
By scanning the local newspapers you
get the impression there is nothing to
the guard but the First regiment, Earl
D. Luce, its colonel, and a local mil
lionaire battery which has established
college training as the standard of
admission. Because of lack of mil
ionaires and college boys with han
kering to enlist, however, the latter
requirement has in a measure been
withdrawn. As result of the last as
sembling of the national guard, which
was during the Spanish war
when commissions were dealt in and
peddled out like state capitol janitor-
ships, a rule was established making
all commissions contingent upon the
approval Of the men and officers. In
the companies the officers were Sc
lected at an election and the same
thing applied in the case Of the lire
officers. These elections were partic-
ipated in by the members of the
guard. This did away with any posi-
bility of favoritism or politics. There
were examinations, too, for fitness. In
the past two weeks there have been
numerous changes in the officers, es-
pecially among those Of the First reg
iment. In nearly every case the charge
is that the commissions issued for
this particular regiment have been the
result Of pull and manipulation an6
that a majority of the elections held
were simply farcial. There have been
several designations in this particular
and the further charge is
made that they were forced in order
to make way for fatorites. In every
case seniority and merit have been
swept aside for those with pull. One
of the batteries, it is said, has been
similarly manipulated.
? -rlssz~"-'
Earl D. Luce of Minneapolis, rich
and with hankering for soldier life,
is colonel of the First regiment, and
the gossip down here credits him with
a majority of the disturbances that
have featured the official end of this
particular regiment. Major Shepard
of St. Paul was one of the first to re-
sign and he credited his retirement to
the activities of Colonel Luce. An
other whose seniority entitled him to
higher recognition had to give way to
a Minneapolis favorite, and he like
wise blames Luce. The First regi-
ment is composed of Twin City COM
panies entirely and Twin City rivalry
probably has more to do with the trou-
Die than anything else. 1t has re-
suited in much friction and has re-
;arded enlistments considerably. AS
20 the millionaire battery, it has not
been able to get sufficient men to en-
title it to entrance into the federal
service. All around, the whole thing
IS discouraging, but it may have one
effect-the rejuvenation of
The state guard. 1t certainly needs a
cleaning up.
Minnesota is threatened with an
invasion of the North Dakota. Non
partisan Political league, which won
4 sweeping victory in North Dakota
two weeks ago, and the possibility of
such is causing nominees of the re-
cent Minnesota primary to sit up and
take notice. The league has alrcady
it's activities across the
line into Polk county and the fear is
that the organization will spread. In
North Dakota this particular organic
alton, which had as its followers two
thirds of TIE farmers of the state,
swept everything before it. It's vic
tory was without parallel in the his
tory Of that state. Under the scheme
put into effect by it's promoters voters
Of the state are taken into member
ship. They pay small membership
Zee and this is used in furthering the
:andidacy of those it endorses. The