Show j J DESERTION Scouts Exhaustive Paper on the Subject E 1 FROJf AUTHENTIC SOURCES i Tacts and Figures for the Soldier and CivilianInteresting Notes It is said by some that thearmy as at the failures present managed is one of of the age and to ascertain the direct 1 case we have visited the Post known as Fort Douglas and have sought the opinions of many of the file From recent re-cent statistics it appears that at least 35 per cent desert annually To fully understand this vexatious problem let us make a few prefatory remarks re-marks What is the make up cf the Of what class of men is it composed arniy posed Whilst Scout affirms that many now wearing the blue uniform are perfect gentlemen yet not a few are far below the medium Many enlist to avoid starvation Of that class we note men who have blasted their futures young licentiousness tures from drinkgamblinK or ness whilst rather than beg has caused more than one to swear allegiance allegi-ance who would not otherwise Look over the records of the army and rou will find private soldiers of refinement you refine-ment forced to do something to keep the wolf from the door while others do so from private causes Of the latter nearly always you will find men under some alias so then to cover crime not a few don the uniform It costs the government an immense sum to transport trans-port recruits from the different rendezvous rendez-vous to the posts in the far west and it is now high time due notice of the rapid decrease of the army be taken by our wise men at Washington Washing-ton Let a committee of civilians Congressmen be anpoinled to properly investigate and then the matter can be adjusted As instructed by the HEKAH we append the Tesult of our visit to the Fort We spoke only to the private soldier and with the noncommissioned men We deemed the information thus elicited elic-ited sufficient to write upon yet THE HERALD columns are open to the rank at any time they may wish to express themselves Private X in answer to our query Is itilltreatmentbadfood too much work or drink that causes desertions de-sertions replied In the first instance you ask Are we illtreated l As re regards that I can safely say not by the rank but otherwise by the corporals or sergeants whom we are bound to obey As you may be aware the wearers of the chevrons are not always the most humane of men yet a good one > sometimes may be accidentally is promoted Since my first enlistment now twentytwo years ago lye acted in several capacities am now a private have been a noncom but that was during the war Often we meet with extremely disagreeable officers butTery but-Tery generally they know their business The younger ones among them especially es-pecially the West Pointers are usually stem and military The best ones are the lda officers of the volunteer service Yet to the credit of the officers I must say they are all gentlemen The first sergeants are virtually in command of L their companies They look to the companys interests and their actions are always approved by the captain commanding The ill treatment thus spoken of then though it may be sanctioned sanc-tioned by higher authority the nonComs non-coms anger and perhaps jealousy You ask Are we fed as men should be VellJ think no > and mQre ever in this connection YQu can de term why some mendes it If I am detailed for cook cook I am or beim pnsoned There is no appeal fOIusj wemust obey or suffer the consequences consequen-ces The living of a cornpany depends upon its cook If he be careful and extremely saving he will barely have a sufficient amount of food for the men and often times I have sat down to a meal composed of coffee straight and bread Cooks ought to be so en listed and Paid accordingly They are detailed from the privates and cooking against their will they rather ruin than make the food at all valatable So put that down as cause tfo One and a big one at that Again there are other waiters of importance For instance I am asked to tw3S 11 strike for an officer that is act as his servant For my ser nV may get 5 or WO extra per month that of Srl course depends on the work I am excused from aU Company duty My comrades then do mine as well wel as their own I am paid for this ly the officer himself the overnment only paying me75everytwo months So tar so good While h some donfrlike is this work they may as well do it as it is pt no consequence and naVe On th P Oilier hand in were detaSS i forhe quarters of l0 to work under the directions the reantma ° r Id strenuously object thou h would have to go That they I term daily duty and no extra pay cannot understand v not wliy men are enlistcd especially for these positions and held in such but when I swear to Serve the tTllited States as a soldier I 1311t to do so and not fill a cleri cal position But Some < disagree will sire Remember I am giving you niw privAte views no one elses yet i have lean enough fo feel their correctness You desire to l9low if fatigue or work causes deser tion T on In some instances es but where yes sens1Sintlle winter it is not that shoveling Snow is the hardest work lf this SeaSon vet I tell its you no UII durill an Order during plea l1it weather Why Was issued some two months 1 > inCemlY may be farther back than that to the effect that thaA noncommissioned officers Illake in charge fatigue details must i That the lUen work or else reduced nonr1 Us virtually in control of the UoncUlII and as ive remarked some are pretty touch fellows 1D Though I drink and oftenhmes am mink llrisolled T1 justl so on account of nUlnbcr I must now tell you of cause most two md most Probably the Gcneral direct of any of them While against r rcCook lids issued an order forth gambling the antler still holds wllh and sen his abominable juice n ruins wcllnigh iaud degrade us We are Slavc3 whikv to drink and to get We almost mortgage ourselves Tbi5 l true niissar of Ulan of us The corn I1llssary Want of > JSS181 tobacco and other sulJer Il oldier < hatis the use of a Oh the 1hal11e Si rccation It is a and if n Congress Usat nIl cares to benefit w mlii tend the removal of the Post trader much to solve the problem To get drink men borrow money pay 650 every pay day every two months for5 an enormous interest Yet they must drink as it is so handy Again they selltheir clothing and knowing an investigation may follow they desert All or a major part of the desertions in my opinion are caused by too much tanglefoot We also sought out othrs and in the main all agreed that whiky and badly cooked food were the causes v It is within the power of the armyofn cers to remove these causes through a petition pe-tition to the Department and now that the matter is being discussed everywhere every-where and by all classes it may be advantageous ad-vantageous to ask for a Congressional investigation Where the Republic is so taxed and well weighed down with debt of various Kinds let the Democracy of the land take this matter of desertions into consideration In conclusion we say to Header who asked this effusion that we have rather hurriedly written this and trust it will be acceptable We give not our own views but those of others so that itcan not be imputed to us that we have written this for other than the countrys good Let the Democracy Dem-ocracy under Cleveland ponder well on facts presented and if the sutler business was removed from all government reservations re-servations then desertions would be less frequent and some chances then would be for us to believe in the stability of our army SCOUT CITY February 7th 1885 |