Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-08-18 | Page 24 | Guard Headquarters for Post is Likely

FOR POST IS UKELYj Establishment of Larger Force May Follow Visit ; of General Morrison. ( . I MAJOR TO COMMAND AcLion Would Bring 600 SolJiers and Larger Officers' Offi-cers' Siaff Here. BiitlalinM ln-;i.lfii!i-t.TS lor t'niled Slnt": guard -i ' 1 1 ' ' ."' I'1'" ! i ?t rl -fc and !in iru-r, I'",-.-.' ol' this l.rnmdi of fhfl frvii-i-s. .r..lal.ly 'H l tn.U- lished at I'urt Douglas .1 s result "f tin! offii-inl iiiH"'li.n of t.l. pust jrsl.-r.lay morning I., Major Uwi.mmI .lohn P. Morrison. Mor-rison. , After U"'i" "Vl'r l"'s1' apiaint-ins apiaint-ins himfiir with roiiditiims thsn ami lii'iiiK advised of the nature ( the in-1 in-1 1 n-r rir-fi of the s u r mil n 1 1 i n z territory, (ioneral Mmriimn expressed himself us-tiring us-tiring impr. sH with tli" importunee of l'lirt Douglas as the li.'u-al center for (Uo miiit.irv acth ilh's in the inter-mountain inter-mountain 1 : .. t.ri t. ami indented Hint t h'-asl. a battalion of (jimr.! vvoulil lie ordered In r as headquarters from whieli .Iri.ai'tiineiils will operate in the tlistriel. V. I.ile the intimation of On- i oral Morrison was not in the form of tin oft'ii'.ial aiinouneement if is holieveil to mean that fort Pnu;'hiH will soon I.e. the heaiUpmrtera for a battalion of tho cnar.ls. When a battalion is slafioneil there it will mean that a major of guards will I." in cemman.l ami the establishment establish-ment of oMan'e.l hea.l.piarters with this ori'irnr's staff. It will also mean that the post will he headquarters for four companies of ir.lt ni"n each, or a. total force, of lit 1 1 soldiers in addition to one major, four captains and about twenty lieutenants. About -loll additional' addi-tional' saanis would lifive to bo scat hero to make up the battalion quota. To Improve Guard. General Morrison is cominnudcr-in-nhief of the guard forces of the western department, as well as being depart-' depart-' mont commander, and the guards are thereby placed directly under his command com-mand and disposition. Tho euard organization is one to which General Morrison has given much attention and it is considered in the iiprht of one of his pets. He issued instructions in-structions yesterday to the company commander at Fort Douglas to weed out r.ll men ia the guard company here who are not mentally, physically and morally moral-ly fit. for most exacting service as EuaJ'lH of lives and property. Similar orders are being given to all company command rs of guards. It is the plan of General Morrison to place the guards on the highest possible pos-sible plane of efficiency and this is one of tho first steps in that direction. Tho guard, of course, is made up of men not quite up to the exceptionally high tttandard of requirements for duties in tVanee, but it is intended that the organization or-ganization shall not become a dumping place for men unfit, mentally, physi-eallv physi-eallv or morally for military service. A high standard of requirements for tho guard is to be established and men who are not able to come up to the standard are to be weeded out. PIe;ised With Post. Asked about the post after he had made an inspection. General Morrison replied that lie found it in ''very satisfactory sat-isfactory condition." During the early morning he conferred at post headquarters headquar-ters with Lieutenant-Colonel L. U. Northiugion, commandant of the reconstruction recon-struction hospital; Captain M. 6. Came, post commander; Lieutenant ,1. i bergesch. commandant of the engineer depot; v'uptain li. M. A...aler, comman dant of the construction battalion of railway ei:g:reers, and Captain T. L. iluk, post quartermaster. After the conference he made a trip about tie post and drove into Red Butte canyon where he inspected the present reservoir and the proposed site of the reservoir that must be constructed construct-ed to furnish water to the enlarged post. General M.orrison called on Colonel George L. Byram, commandant of the Third war prison camp, hut declined an invitation to go through the compound and seo tho Germans held there. As .for tho status of the organizations now stationed at Fort Douglas, General Gen-eral Morrnon sought all the information ho could gather and will take up this matter with the war department in Washington to secure a definite ruling ns to whether lort Douglas is a hospital, hos-pital, engineer or line po.-t. When this ruling is secured then the relative status of the virious organizations will bo established es-tablished and the question of who sdiouhl be post commander will be an-sw-e red.