Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1918 — Equipment Shortage At Camp To Be Remedied Soon [ARTICLE]

Equipment Shortage At Camp To Be Remedied Soon

Hattiesburg, Miss., Jan. 21.—Until the senate’s investigation of the ordnance department, that department at Camp Shelby would have been a joke, but for its seriousness. With the speeding up that is gding on here, it is understood that the soldiers will have before long the necessary material and equipment with which to train. Up to a few days ago, when Lieutenant-Colonel James D. Gowen, the chief of staff, sent a letter to the commanding officers in which he gave extracts from the report of the officers frorp Washington who made an inspection df this division, showing the soldiers were short on about everything except food and work. There has always been plenty of good food in this camp and the hour of work have teen long and nerve-trying. When Company B, of Rushville, of the old 4th Indiana,- arrived at Camp Shelby, it did not have a gun nor a ♦ pistol. Its entire equipment consisted of a fielcj desk and a bugle When Company B, of the old 2nd Indiana, got here it did- not have even a bugle. When Major P. A. Davis brought his Ist squadron of the Indiana cavalry, there was one saber in the outfit, and that was the saber that one of Major Davis’s ancestors carried in the war of 1812. According to regulations, an armed sentry is stationed in front of the headquarter of a general officer.

The first day that Brigadier-Gen-eral Roger Williams took command of the depot brigade, he found a sentry carrying a stick on his Shoulder in lieu of a rifle, walking his post. The language the general used on this occasion was expressive. He had to hustle around for an hour or two before he could find a rifle with .which to arm the sentry« After the 3rd and 4th Indiana had been converted into artillery, the batteries had to practice with wooden cannon. Later two old rattletraps from West Point were given to the 13th field artillery for training purposes. The 139th field artillery, supposed to be equipped with sixinch howitzers, had logs on wheels to train with and is now training with three-inch pieces in addition to the Quaker guns. There was hardly an outfit in the camp* that had enough rifles to carry on a drill and it was not an uncommon sight to see a company of infantry starting to the drill grounds carrying pine clubs or rudely whittled imitation guns- with which to drin. One officer in an outfit that uses sabers had a long, slender dress sword presented him by the Indiana lodge of the Knight of Pythias, of which he was chancellor-commander. As revealed in the investigation at Washington, the officers in charge of Camp Shelby were not. to blame for these conditions. They were ready, and willing to do things, but had nothing with which to do things. Now that the congress will, according to the belief here, get rid of a lot of swivel chair heroes whose inefficiency has brought about such conditions as existed at Camp Shelby, it begins to look as if Major-General W. H. Sage, the commanding gen-, eral, and his assistants will put the 38th division in shape, for foreign duty much sooner than if the congressional investigation had not been held.