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Show I NATIONAL GUARD I OFSTATEOF UTAH H Adjutant-General E. A. Wedg- I wood Submits Annual Report. H j to Governor Cutler. Um RECOMMENDS ARMORV AT A COST OP $S5;000 Also Says the State Law Should B(LAm'ehde(l to Conform to . Law of the Land. Adjutant-General E. A. Wedgwood, in his biennial report on. tho national jnard of the state, handed to Governor John Q, Cutler Monday, classes tho fl stato'military law as obsolete, says the judec advocate-general of the United StatOH has declared that it doesn't con-form con-form to the recent Dick bill, pleads for fl the Ijcttorment of the national guard of Utah and' submits plans for a nevr stale armory . to be established in Salt Lake The adjutant-general wields tho big stick of a foreign war menace in sup-port sup-port of his recommendations for the betterment of the-stato guard and tho building of a stato armory. The polic' of the country is against maintaining a largo standing army, he say.s, therefore ir, follows that -the respective states must maintain their proportion of oili-rient oili-rient militia To do this tho respective organizations of tho national guard nust Alinvo suitablo armories for drill, instruction, care and storago of arms aiiil other equipment.' In support "of placing tho 6tnte ar-morv ar-morv here, General "Wedgwood says that as Salt Lake City is tho center of the stale's population a large part of i.lie national guard will bo drawn there-from, there-from, and headquarters will remain here . in tho future as in the past. Up to this time tho state has routed auj- hall with connecting rooms that was available re-H re-H trardlcss of tho fitness of the place. I Armory Forced to Move. The armorv has been forced to move not fewer tiinh five times. Rent also has materially increased, and General Wedgwood recommends that enough 'noney be borrowed from the stato land board to build an nrmor at a cost of something like .S5,000. "There is now 524.000 in tho military fund that could be used for this purpose if necessary. Tho armory could bo built, howovor, without additional cost to the state. The annual rental of the local armory amounts to $4320. This sum would p3y rho annual ;1 per cent interest on the 355,000 it 13 proposed to borrow from the stato land board to build the armory. ar-mory. Then a sinking fund could be provided to pay the debt oft' gradually. General Wedgwood's plans contemplate contem-plate tho erection of an armory of sufficient, suf-ficient, capacitj to house eight companies, com-panies, contain a drill hall, batto- gun room, storage and wagon rooms, post quartermaster and ordnance store rooms-, repair shop, kitchen and furnace room. This building as contemplated would-be set back lift' feet to give room for an administration building, containing the , headquarters of the adjutant-general, the armory custodian, the first infant, a. g.ymnasium and club room. From 500 to 1000 men could be quartered in such an armor-, it is estimated. On the second sec-ond floor would be a drill hall 100 by 150 feet inside dimensions and four ompan rooms. The floor spaco of the drill hall and gallery covers J 6,000 square feet and would seat about about 3000 persons. On the third floor would be four company rooms. State" Militia Law. Tn regard tothe present stato militia law, General 'Wedgwood says that the organization of the militia- under it does not conform to the organization of the regular army and it is necessary that the law be amended for the state .to participate' in the appropriation of congress, for the benefit of the militia, from which arms, equipments and. uniforms uni-forms are provided and certain expenses ex-penses for target practice and encampments encamp-ments paid. General "Wedgwood has prepared a revision of tho law, a copj-of copj-of which he submitted to the governor with his report and another cony of which he has sent to the United States war department for approval. General "Wedgwood says that the membership of the guard" for 190S is more substantial than it was in 1907. The total strength of the guard, as shown by the last report this month, was as follows: Headquarters F. and S., First infantry, infan-try, Salt Lake City, 17; band, Frist infantry, in-fantry, Salt Lake City, 10; company A, 2se,phi, 22: company B, Ogden, 36; company com-pany C. Salt Lake, 43; company D, Mount Pleasant, 44; company , JRich-fleld, JRich-fleld, 34; company F, Manti, 42; company com-pany E, Salt Lake, 37; First battery F. A., Salt Lake, 54; signal corps, Salt iLake, 20; hospital corpp. Salt Lake, 16: total. 3S4. ' ' The needs of tho guard for 1909 and .1910 aro placed at $55,800. General 'Wedgwood also recommends that the salaries of the regimental adjutant and the regimental sergeant-major bo placed at $100 a year, and of tho first sergeants ser-geants at 640. This would involve the payment of .only about $4000 a year, he says. The organization showing the highest percentage in attendance to duties, drill and the like for the last year was the signal corps of this .city, with 81.50 per cent; the band was second with S0.50 per cent. |