The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-10-06
Saturday, October 8, 1917.
GONE WITHOUT BEING PAID

Inc vermont volunteers i'll the army
have not received their state pay for
two months and now they have gone
to France without getting the money.
Somebody has Numbered. 1t is not
so much that the boys need the money,
and some few Of them are better off
without 1t, but it looks as though the
Vermont soldiers are neglected and
i'll treated by their home state, when
nothing could really be further from
the truth so far as intent goes. The
following unsigned communication
sent out from Montpelier is received
by The Banner today
Delay in renting to soldiers the
additional state pay has been caused
by difficulty in obtaining proper pay
rolls of the Vermont volunteers now
in service.
Governor Graham has arranged to
have representative of the treas
urer's office and of the adjutant gen
erals Office go to Camp Bartlett at
Westfeld and procure as far as pos
,sible the payrolls of Vermonters, who
are entitled to the additional $40 per
month. AS soon as this necessary in
formation is obtained, the treasurer's
Office will Immediately take up the
work Of preparing and forwarding the
state pay for August and September
The trip to Westfeld is month
or six weeks too late and this lame
excuse about not getting the proper
payrolls is just about the same story
that was told in just about the same
way month ago. 1t was a pretty
good reason then, but it is less con-
vincing now.
The Banner isn't finding fault with
anybody The war is a big new job
and hard one. Those in places of
responsibility have had more work to
do than they could passibly get done.
In ninety-nine cases out of hundred
they have done all that could be ex-
C.
percentage of failure has been due
to the absolute impossiblity of getting
competent assistants. 1t is not to be
expected the war machine can run
prefectly from the start. If some of
us, who are sometimes inclined to
grumble, had our hands on the wheel,
the result might be worse then 1t is
now. Any criticism that The Banner
makes is solely with the hope of
helping to bring about Improvement
as affairs progress.
The state should get the roster OF
the Vermont soldiers even il has to
send a representative to France to
secure it. Years hence, this record
will be an important item in state his
tory and now is the only time there
will ever be to make the record clear
With the Vermonters scattered into
so many organizations, 1t will be i'm.
possible to get a correct roster by re.
lying on adjutants and clerks, who
have no special interest in Vermont
The effort to get the payrolls by mail
shows how difficult it is to get any,
thing without going after it.
In the. future the state should pay
promptly as far as possible and this
will stir the others who do not re-
ceive their money to see that they
get on the list,
Also, before it is too late. the state
should make sure of getting correct
list of the men, who so into the ma.
tional army. The list of those, VINO
start is not perfect as some are sent
home after the final physical examina-
ton and some few will be transferred
to other branches OF service. The
matter should not be deferred too
long.