Show I I I CLOTHE THE SOLDIERS SUITABLY SUIT-ABLY In the Philippine islands people need scarcely more clothing than Adam and Eve did immediately after the fall and fashion and comfort bid them wear as light and loose clothing as they possibly pos-sibly can Perhaps nowhere else in the I world is lighter clothing worn than at Manila The American troops that are voing to the Philippines go with tight fitting woolen clothing that is very comfortable In pretty cool climates but that will simply serve as menkillers in Manila Commenting on this matter mat-ter the San Francisco Chronicle says Perhaps the Quartermasters department depart-ment of the army is doing its full duty toward the troops going to the Philippines Philip-pines but such new uniforms as are in evidence among the volunteers the artillery ar-tillery command at the Fontana barracks bar-racks in particular do not tend to arovo it We see much of the bravery of blue and scarlet and blue and white and saw much of It on the Pekln Australia and Sydney when those transports started for Manila but we see nothing of the garb which a soldier must wear I in the tropics or perIsh of the heat There are blankets galore woolen blankets at that but has any one observed served mosquito netting or hammocks True there are signs of an is i ue of canvas can-vas suits but canvas in the subequatorial subequa-torial heats of the Philippines Is as bad as wool Sailors can barely endure It though their garments are loose and open at the neck and their baths are always handy The poor soldiers now cn their way to Manila clad in tight fitting uniforms will not even be In Honoluu harbor a day before thev I curse the stupidity that sent Uiemtq j I 1 r the front clad In garments fit for serv I jc at Dyea but utterly out of the question ques-tion In the suffocating heats of a coon try that lies nearer the equator than i Calcutta and Bombay j I The problem of clothing troops comfortably com-fortably in hot climates which was 1 long before the government of India 1 resulted in the adoption of khaki cloth i a kind of linen light but stout and of I the protective color of dried grass Possibly and very probably it cannot j i i be had here nor lawfully procured from I Hongkong but there are drillings nearly i I near-ly as serviceable which the government I might easily get and make up in time to equip the troops now waiting to I start We do not doubt that enough tailors and seamstresses could be had in San Francisco to make up 1000 of such light suits per diem What matters mat-ters it if red tape rules are in the way The main thing Is to equip the troops for the weather they are to meet not for the satisfaction of martinets who like the Bourbons learn nothing and forget nothing Suits of drilling sreonvlsored helmets hel-mets of cork hammocks and mosquito netting will save more unacclimated lives in the Philippines than the red cross But wooen uniforms felt hats and blanketed sleeping billets on the ground are bound to fight for Spain These comments are just and before the troops have been in Manila a week they will all testify that the woolen I uniform is a curse and a danger Their I only salvation In this respect will be to buy themselves clothing suitable to I the climate unless the war department insists that they shall die in regulation uniform rather than live in climatically I suitable clothing Red tape and woolen clothing seem to predominate In the I war department |