St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-03-17
How the Soldiers are Defrauded.

Ihr ease of the Fort Sill trader. Mr.
j. :. Evans. thus made prominent. i
An excellent one t" illustrate the whole
/ system and It's hearings. Fort sill WAS
/ first established in the southwest part
"t the Indian territory III the winter ot
/ l-ti--9. II soon hccaInc one of the
largest aud most important of the army
stations. Mr.. Evans of Kentucky, an
experienced and TAN dealing merchant
and q gentleman. fan above the typical
amy >utler. opened the first store
there upon the authority &" the troops.
W hen the chang" WAS made. he hecaInc
trader on the recommendation of the
officers "t the post. and proceeded To
erect buildings and lay in Il stock of
General merchandise This required Il
! Large capital. aS the ntare>t railroad
VAS then the Kansas Pacific. and much
at his hnIldlng material. as we'll ~ all
/ his merchandise. had To hc hauled in
wagons for hundreds of miles through
a country without roads In most
CLASSES of goods the Transportation cost
more than the merchandise itself Had
the SECRETARY appointed his tricud Marsh
L" The original Vacancy in the Font Sill
| leadership. il would not have effected
| the desired object the appoiutcc would
| hal, been Obliged to command large
capital. and then. conducting. the huSi-
ness in person or 10y deputy. he con
tented with fair profits. 80 MI. Evans
Was permitted To establish himself with
4 large and valuable stock. investing
his whole fortune. get the business well
established. and then. although giving
| full satisfaction To those for whose ac-
commodation. Theoretically. the place
is provided. he was unexpectedly no
tilted of the appointment ot Il successor.
/" have quietly stepped aside would
have ruined Mr. Evans: he could not
have removed his goods to the nearest
settlement at less than their cost. He
WAS at the mercy of Bclknap'> aprointcc.
and the Latter we'll knew it.
Mr.. Evans could do nothing but com
! ply with the terms dictated by Mr.
! Marsh. And 50 he returned to his
| frontier store under obligations to add
to the selling price of his goods one
| hou>dHd dollars month. to he paid in
advance t." the tigurc-head at New
/ York. Now it is Il sad fact that these
| poSt-tradcrS make their profits on the
sales to the enlisted men of the army
rather than on sales To the officers The
! latter have various other means of pro
curing supplies. and the traders favor
them also. Practically. therefore. this
bonus had to he taken from the pockets
of the soldiers of the seven companies
ut Fort Sill. Those troops then con
sisted of colorcd men of the 10th rcgi-
mcnt of cavalry, about 600 in number
! Each of these poor fellows. many of
| them freedmen earning their first wages
had to contribute from his monthly pav
of thirteen dollars about two dollars
toward this bonus fund. In other words.
during the last five Years, the enlisted
men III the army of the United States
serving at this post of Fort Sill have
had eXtorted from them, with the kuowl-
edge and consent of the secretary of
war, the sum of forty thousand dollars
half OF which has helped toward the
brilliant social display of that secretary
ut Washington. while the other half has
remained with the friend in New York
as hlISh-m"ney. At how many other
places the same thing has been done.
remains to be seem Correspondence
Springfield RepubHcon
The political history of the past year.
the dlsgracetul record mad, by the dem
"cl;ltlr party wherever it has bad pow
Ell. especially in the present Congress,
proves that the mission of the republi
can party is not ended. The safety and
security of the nation demand that the
| Olu mon pultN shall retain control of