The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-05-17
CAMPAIGN TO BE STARTED
FOR STATE GUARD
Governor Ritchie Seeks Co-operatlon
OF Business Men Throughout State
In Bringing The Maryland Nation
al Guard Up To Its Quota.

Guard during the recruiting cam
paign for that organization WhcR
will be started oil over the State Oh
May oath. and De conducted until
June 7th 1t is hoped that Mary
lands quota of 5000 men will be
raised by the end of the month.
The campaign will be comprehen-
sive in scope. 1t is in response TO
a real need that plans for it nave
been laid for at present the entire
strength of the National Guard III
Maryland is less than zoo men,
This force, of course, would be en-
tirely inadequate.
In Baltimore City the old Firth
! Regiment will be re-created. In the.
counties a new First Regiment Will
| be recruited, with companies in var
ious towns throughout the State as
J in the days of the old Guard before
! the great war. Assigned to Mary-1
land also are two batteries Of heId'
artillery and a field hospital unit,
The batteries probably will be dlVld-
ed between the city and State, de-,
| tachments being raised in various
Towns.
The new Guard will be armed and
| equipped by the United States Gov
ernment under the direction of Gen.
j. Mel. Carter, chief of the Militia
| Bureau. Drills Will be held one
night a week and for these the men
will be paid by the Government at
the rate of something over 81
night. Under the new Army DILL
now pending in Congress this scale
Of pay will be raised to approximate
Iy $3.50 a night fer private soldiers
up Each year there will be a train
ing encampment lasting about 10
days. and for this period also the
men will be paid.
In many instances employers OF
labor and the heads of business
houses throughout the state have
agreed either TO pay their men who
enlist in the Guard their full rate
during the time they are in camp or
to make up the difference between
| what the Government will pay ana
what they would get if they remain
ed at their work. By the time the
campaign is in full swing it is ex-
pected that practically every business
man will be ready to agree to this
plan.
No summer encampment will be
| held this year because of the necessi-
ty for equipping the Guard fully af-
ter it is recruited. Each man in the
new units probably will be sent to
the State Rifle Range for one or two
days practice at the targets, and for
this time each man will be paid in
accordance with the Government
scale.
Tentative plans for the campaign
were discussed at a dinner given by
Governor Ritchie to 200 representa-
tive business and professional men
from all over the State at the South
ern Hotel, Baltimore, last Wednes-
day night.
At this dinner every speaker
and among them were the biggest
t employers in the State as well as the
> Mayors of towns and leading profess
sional men from many counties
pledged his support to the campaign
And every speaker laid Strees on two
points which are expected to carry
weight with the thinking people OF
the State.
The first is this Maryland needs
national Guard, perhaps more now
than before the war. There has been
su much general unrest and so many
, whisperings of radical efforts to make
trouble among the loyal laborlng men
of the country and for the Govern
ment, that no one can tell when a
: State organization of trained troops
might be needed for the protection
of the Commonwealth and the prop
erty of its residents.
In addition to this need for the
Guard it is pointed out that in time
; of great public catastrophe, such as
visited the city of Baltimore in the
great fire of 1904, the need for Ma
tional Guardsmen can hardly be estl-
mated AT that time the Guardsmen
rendered service to the stricken city
: which no other force could have
given, and through their work hun
. dreds of thousands of dollars were
saved.
The second point stressed by those
who are to conduct the campaign is
! this: men who served in the Nation
. al Guard before the war, who were
: taken into the Federal service at the
outbreak Of hostilities with Germany
< and who former the nucleus fol
imany divisions which rendered hero
became civilians when they were dis
S charged from the Federal service at
the end of the war.
They did their duty nobly, and
they deserved a retidement to priv
: late life and a complete rest from the
: duties and responsibilities devolving
> even upon militia organization
Thousands of them went through the
entire war They served the coun'
try for more than two years, in many
instances al a tremendous personal
!sacrifice.
Governor Ritchie and those met
who will work with him to recruit
I the new Guard, notable among them
being Adjutant-Ge Milton A
Reckord, former colonel of the old
!. First Regiment and for a time its
leader in France, do not believe thai
these men should be called upor
= again to enter the service-at least
d that no special appeal should be
: made to them.
: Since the armistice was signed
= many thousands of young men have
become 18 years OF age, have reach
ed the period when they can be o1
= most advantage to their State an[
t can give most satisfactorily of theil
: service to the protection of that com
+ munity of which they are citizens
I. Their elder brothers and their oldel
h friends have proven to the WorlC
p that they were ready to assume thi:
+ | responsibility; now it is their dut!
+ to show themselves no less patriotic
- and ready 10 support and protect thu
T country in which they live.
! These are the fundamental points
q to be observed in the conduct of thu
+ recruiting campaign. 1t is likel.
- that meetings will be held through
out the State, under the direction o
the leading men in each community
II Every effort will be made to presen
IS TO these young men the fact tha
l. they owe a duty to themselves, thei
l. families, their homes. That duty cal
o be discharged by an enlistment il
(. the Maryland National Guard.
TTbaU will no CnDaryjSad nv Ad i'll