Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16

| There are two vacancies in the
Engineer regiment in this rank, one
made bv the transfer of First Lieut..
James NJ Magruder to the Reserve list
at his own request, and the oth-r the
transfer of First Lieut.. Homer B. Millard
to the unassigned list, pending action
on his resignation.
Pvt Ernest " Fowler 29th Military
! Police Company. has been transferred
! to the Reserve list of that organization.
Another effort will be made at the
coming session of Congress to have pro-
vision made for an adequate armory
for the District National Guard. AS
little support was received from the War
Department in efforts to have the Pen
sion Building in Judiciary Square
turned over to the Guard when it is
vacated by the General Accounting Of
! flee. because of the fact that officials
of that department have eyes on the
! building for additional Office space for
| that branch of the Government, Con-
gress will be asked to provide a fund
Of 100000 for the purpose of begin
ming the construction on public grounds
Of an arnory. The site is to be APP
proved by the Public Buildings Com
mission and the Commission of Fine
! Arts. 1t will be suggested, If the esti-
mate gets by the Commissioners of the
District and the Budget Bureau, that
| the total cost of the building be fixed
at 100000 and that it be constructed
under a five-year program.
| Every effort has been made to find
quarters for the Guard here in which
the members can carry on their train
| ing work with some degree of success,
but there is no satisfactory building and
| funds cannot be even obtained which
would permit of rental sufficient to at
| tract some private builder to erect suit
| abe quarters. 1t has been found on
| investigation that no one would put up
| building except on long-term lease
and the Guard officials have only au-
| thority to make lease from year to
year.
The buildings now occupied for arm
DRY purposes are Government buildings,
! formerly hotels, on the Union Station
plaza. and it is expected that these
will have to give way in comparatively
short time to the plans for the improve
ment of the parkway between the Capt.
| tol Grounds and the Union Station.
| When this step is taken the Guard will
be left absolutely without q home. al
| though the responsibility for housing
| the organization has been shifted from
the Guard officials to the Public Build
| ings Commission by a ruling of the At
torney General of the United States
that the activities of the local Guard
was such Federal one as to require
the Buildings Commission to allocate
to them quarters the same as 1t does
| to any department of the Federal Gov
eminent here.
The equivalent of IA companies with
a strength of approximately 800 officers
and men, together with headquarters
offices, storeroons. etc, are now located
| in these buildings and must be pro-
vided with quarters when the present
quarters are ordered RACED. twenty-five
additional company or small units
with a strength of approximately 1900
officers and men are still to be organized
here, and provision eventually must be
made for armory facilities for them.
One of the causes preventing the or
ganization of some of these units now
| is the fact that armory facilities are
not provided. If organized there would
be no place for the men and no place
| to put the large amount of Government
| them by the War Department.
During the past IS years, approx
mately 100000 has been expended for
| rental for armcries for the local Guard.
| It was pointed out that had such an
appropriation been made IS years ago
| the National Guard now would be
housed in an adequate armory and not
bounded with the early prospect Of
removal from one building to another.
Further, it was said that during the
time that this enormous rental figure
has been paid, the Guard has been
required to expend more for the up
keep, operation and renovation of rented
buildings than would have been required
to maintain properly District-owned
armory.
AS a mark of respect to one of -
members. Pvt. Earl F. Callahan, who
died suddenly last week, the drill of the
Medical Corps Detachment, 121st En-
| gineers, was called of during the week.
Funeral services for Callahan were held
Wednesday and the interment was in
| the Arlington National Cemetery, with
military honors by squad from the
| Regular establishment at Fort Myer, Va.
The following members of the de-
| tachment acted as honorary pallbearers:
Mai George j. Allen, commanding the
detachment Sergt Joseph L. Thompson,
Sergt Robert c. Kirby and Pvts. Eugene
S. Potter, William O'Keefe, Joseph
Kramer, Morris S. Webster and Frank
| T. Beckett.