The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-07-19
THE SPIRIT OF NEW ENGLAND

n THE SPIRIT OF NEW ENGLANl
A sorry service for this corner o
E the country is the action Of eigh
! United States senators in protestin,
to the Secretary of War against hi
! order transferring the New Englan'
, division of the National Guard Il
, North Carolina for training. Tht
Solid South will not, we hope, mistake
/, the ire of the senators for NANTES
tations of the spirit of New England
J Their protest is nothing more nor less
than pork barrel politics in its mos'
petty and partisan form. In justice
to Senator Lodge and Senator Weeks
| it should be said that they were urgee
to this unwise step by an appeal from
Beacon Hill. Could they have con.
versed with the recruits at Framing
ham or with the rank and file of the
guardsmen from this Commonwealth
we are confident that the names of the
Massachusetts senators would not
be among the eight protestants. The
truth is that the New England guards
men, with few exceptions, are solely
concerned with getting as much train
ing as possible as soon as possible. To
them the waste of the month of June
and most of July is inexplicable. When
the War Department refused to mo-
Billie them they hoped their governors
would have the spunk to do it and
thereby give them the benefit of two
months additional training, so as to
multiply the chances of their safe re-
turn from France. But the guards
men were helpless in the premises,
and now that their orders are on the
way they are eager to obey them
without dickering or delay. An opin-
ion very generally held in the guard
of this and other New England States
is that training in another section of
the country will have several advan-
tages, for the New England division
is not an apron string" unit and
does not wish to become one by the
playing of pork barrel politics.
The change from Fayetteville to
Charlotte, N. c., for the training sits
of the New England division is said
to be due to the fact that the former
lacked sufficient water supply to &C.
commodate SO many troops. The ad-
ditional supply necessary could not be
developed by Sept. /, and the site a
few miles southwest Of Charlotte has
been chosen, where abundant water is
available. Soil conditions at Fayette-
vile are superior to those at Char
lotte, but the analysis of the latter
city convinced the Army officers who
made the examination that Charlotte
soil contains enough sand to make the
ground thereabout suitable for troop
training. Here is General Woods
opinion Of the Charlotte site:
! am most agreeably surprised
to find the nature Of the soil here
to be SO we'll suited to the use Of
the camp. l find also that the
railroad facilities are excellent,
the water supply abundant and a
fine spirit among the people. We
are trying to get the very best
places for the soldiers to be train
ed. If 1t had been left entirely to
me think should have put all
the camps in the best localities,
even if they had been in one coun-
ty. AS it is, we are trying to
make reasonably fair distribution
Of them with the view OF giving
the soldiers good soil, good water,
and good tr; lsportation facilities,
for we should have short haul to
the embarkment port. The welfare
of the men is the main thing to
be considered in the placing of the
camp sites.
Charlotte is the metropolis Of the =
Old North State Situated on Sugar
'reek, some l25 miles west by south
( Raleigh, the city is well served by
he Seaboard and Southern railroads,
eing on the main line of the latter
etween Washington and New Or
cans. At the last census its popula-
ion was $4,000. 1t has more than 49, 7
90 today. 1t IS noted for its good =
Innate, its educational facilities, its
and for its progressive
oirit. Historically, its chief claim to
anne is the so-called Maeklenburg
'eclaration Of Independence, which r
as adopted there on May 81, ITS.
he city was occupied there for sew
raj days by Lord CORVALLIS in 1850
nd later became the headquarters of
eneral Greene.
When the first President Of the
nited States assumed command Of .
10 American rfny under the Wash q,