Show IN DEFENSE OF CAPTAIN YOUNG anent the ithe discontent in troop 1 I second regiment U S volunteer cavalry major J G harbord has addressed the following letter to the tribune from panama park jacksonville florida under date of august 7 editor tribune A recent issue of contains an unsigned paper special your from this camp dated july alleging a serious condition of affairs in the utah troop of this regiment and containing an ai a unjustifiable attack on capt J W young T this his officer and his troop belong to my squadron are under my atlOn constantly and a desire to see no mans standing injured by tie the cowardly method of an unsigned communication prompts me to write you regarding tt it I 1 regard capt young as an officer whose efficiency grows day by day and who tries as hard to do his duty and do it well as aa any one in this regiment the same cannot be said of all his troop the only being who ever did his bis duty perfectly waa crucified for it nineteen centuries ago it Is true that fourteen men of the utah troop top recently applied for transfer this proves nothing th there ere Is i nothing to prevent an application of the kind every time a man Is told to ito hold up his head on drill I 1 saw each of the applications referred to and not one of them contained any reason as alleged by your correspondent ea it and they were se separately para tely re returned disapproved by the regimental commander col cannon because no cogent reasons are giyen for this transfer one of the corporals mentioned owes his appointment to capt youngs recommendation of ten days ago Ano another therone one followed his request for transfer with a verbal one asking that it be disapproved and still a third one is desirous of leaving the service because of physical disability the utah troop Is as good an organization as there Is in the volunteer army in many ways waya but unfortunately there are some men med in lit it whose spirits do not take kindly to discipline and for whom the oath to obey abey orders ordera seems to have bave had little meaning malcontents are found in every organization iza tion and the popularity of an officer with every man in his hia troop would be to my mind almost a certain sign that he was slack in discipline and not doing his duty no two troop commanders employ the same methods though possibly equally efficient and some ferment always takes place on a change of officers following col cannon the task of capt young was not an easy one but tie Is doing well and his efficiency should not be interfered with by his home press voicing the discontent e of some malcontent whose correspondence for newspapers probably could be dispensed sed with to the great benefit of his duty as a soldier I 1 trust you will give this the leaded publicity that was granted your anonymous car correspondent very respectfully J G HARBORD major second united states volunteer cavalry commanding first squadron |