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Chapter 14 The War Department On September 4, 1914, I reported to the War Department as assistant to the chief of the Militia Bureau in charge of the field artillery of the national guard. The War Department budget was being completed , but I managed to have it include $600,000 for horses for the national guard field artillery. The idea was ridiculed, but I believed that I could make a good defense before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives.1 One of my responsibilities was to enforce proper care of and accounting for the materiel used by the militia units in most states. There were many callers from all over the country with difficult problems. The abilities of the inspector instructors2 varied, but generally they were good officers . They usually reported that the militia batteries were untrained and in poor condition. Correspondence was very heavy, and I often went to the office at night. Soon, I moved my family to an apartment in the Westmoreland,3 where we were very comfortable. My dear wife’s father and stepmother occupied an apartment in the same building. The war in Europe caused much interest, and requests poured in for the organization of new militia batteries, which required additional firing areas. I began a search for camps and target ranges throughout the country. The reservation at Sparta, Wisconsin, was satisfactory for the batteries in the north-central states. I visited Anniston , Alabama, where I found about eighteen thousand acres of poor and wasteland that was admirably suited for batteries in the south. I knew of a very good tract of at least sixteen thousand acres near Monterey, California, where the troops had maneuvered when I was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco. For the summer of 1915, I arranged an intensive program for the artillery in the east and south. When I was called before the Military Affairs Committee to defend the money for horses, I had thought out what to say. The chairman of the committee was noted for his objection to such appropriations. Before I had proceeded far, he stopped me and said: 98 THE WAY OF DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY “That sounds good to me.” As soon as the appropriation became a law, I arranged for stables, the purchase of horses, and the detailing of caretakers from the army. It was a new day for the national guard artillery, and the response was gratifying. In 1915, I became a member of the Board of Ordnance and Forti- fication, which often took me to Sandy Hook Proving Ground. I also conducted terrain exercises for the class at the Army War College. In the budget for 1916–1917, I had an item of $600,000 to purchase national guard ranges and camps at Tobyhanna, Anniston, and Monterey . This was appropriated, and I proceeded to negotiate terms. For the amount appropriated, I procured about twenty-eight thousand acres at Tobyhanna, including a large area for a campsite, sixteen thousand acres at Anniston, with about two thousand acres of government land adjoining, and sixteen thousand acres of a Spanish grant on Monterey Bay near the Del Monte Hotel. Early in 1917, I went to California, encountering a blizzard en route. While in San Francisco, I became very ill and remained in Letterman Hospital for three or four weeks. When subsequently I offered a price for the Jacques property at Monterey, the agent for the owners declined. I then went to see the lawyer for the owners of the property, who were two young boys and a young sister. He occupied a shabby office near the Barbary Coast and himself looked very scrawny and shabby. When I introduced myself, he told me to leave. I demurred and asked him where he came from. He said Virginia. I told him that I knew Virginia and had marched through it. He exclaimed: “Do you know about Virginia ham?” I said yes. He opened a bottom drawer in his desk and took out a ham bone with very little meat remaining. He said: “What is this?” I said: “That is a Virginia ham.” He said: “I read a recipe about cooking a ham. It said ‘Take a ham.’ It should have said ‘Take a Virginia ham.’” I then asked him to lunch with me and took him to the Palace Hotel. I told him to order whatever he wanted to eat and drink. He did both. When we walked out...

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