Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-09

about twenty-five or thirty years ago, gets a
glimpse Of the real elements of the British
army, the rank and file, the enlisted men,
q although illusions and descriptions Of life in
the service form, in many cases large portion
of the work. In fact youthful perusers of
these books get an indefinite idea that the
English army must be made up entirely Of
officers, men who sell their commissions occa-
sionally when they get into financial straits.
make desperate love. pose as heroes, and get
wounded at convenient times. The army itself,
the men," as folks are apt to speak Of the
private soldiers and non-commissioned officers,
do not appear upon the scene except as great
mass Of material. a machine. something on the
order of printing press or a railway train
Such thing rs individuality below the level
of the men who wear shoulder straps is i'm
possible.
This is the idea that yonng people are apt to
imbibe from those works that form their best
reading 1t is probably due to the fact that 1t
has only been in the last two decades or so
that the enlisted men in regular armies have
come to gain any consideration for themselves.
If a man deserted it was thought to be natural
event hat must happen, ought to be expected,
and could not be prevented. There was no at
tempt to make the life of man bearing a
musket such that there was less inducement
for desertion than for continuing in the ser
vice. Nowadays, however, considerable atten-
ton Is being given to
THE SUBJECT OF DEsERT1oN,
and many remedies are constantly being con-
sidered by officers to reduce this evil to the
lowest possible extent. Thinking army officers
in this country are giving the subject careful
consideration, the first principle recog-
nized in all of these efforts being that desert
because they find the army life irksome; there
fore the first step to be taken is to discover
wherein the objections and bad features OF
army life lie and how they can be corrected
In other words, there is, at the present time. a
constant effort being made to render the life
of an enlisted man as attractive as the clrcum-
stances OF such an occupation Will permit.
REASONS FOR ESLIsTINe.
It is undoubtedly true that most men enter
the army because it affords a sure place to
sleep, regular meals. good warm clothes and
some paw. Most of the men are probably
driven to enlistment by misfortunes, financial
and otherwise or BY a carelessness that renders
them blind to the disadvantages of the service.
Many others enter from a spirit Of adventure
or love for the calling of arms.
In speaking on the subject OF desertlon to a
STAR reporter the other day prominent army
officer remarked:
THE majority of men who desert do not
complete their first year of service. A great
many leave before they have been sent out
from the recruiting station. They are handled
pretty briskly by the sergeants, who poke in
their stomachs. twist back their shoulders and
chuck up their chins in drilling them without
regard for the feelings of recruits A week or
ten days is enough to satisfy some of them that
the army is not the place for them. and they
go. Then a great many stand it for six months
before they take their departure, and so they
string along But those who desert after hav-
ing served year undoubtedly do so because Of
circumstance that do not come entirely from
dissatisfaction with the service. Such cases
wi hannaD I tn me hat
there could be a plan adopted that would re-
duce desertion considerably; it can never be
entirely stopped.
NOVEL PLAN.
MY idea is to give a man a chance to leave
the army upon his own volition, instead Of
keeping him cooped within the limits of his
Observation-Disclosures restriction. He should
have to give notice. say of three or six months,
that he wanted to leave the service, and should
pay the government a certain sum for the priv
ilege of being allowed to depart from the ranks,
say S75 for a man who had served less than one
year. $50 for a two-year man, and S25 for a
three-year man. This money could be retained
from his pay during the time he served after
giving notice.
THE COST OF DISCRETION.
''You see deserter is heavy loss to the gov
eminent. should say that. on the average,
each deserter costs the United States $3.50 No,
trying him or Of Furnishing him. as you sug-
gest but the cost comes from the money which
the government has paid out for him in the
way Of clothing, feeding. paying, and training
during the first year OF his service, for which
he gives no return A soldier Is of no value to
the government until he has been in the army
about year, and II he desert before he attans
this period Of utility al that has been spent on
him Is a dead loss. no return whatever being
given for the outlay. Last year there were
rN- 1o-a <E
s625.OOo to the United States, for which
there Is nothing to show but the
spreading of an evil influence.
Il believe that if the men had chance TO
get out Of the army, by purchasing their dis
charge, the number Of desertions would be
greatly less. The incentive to leave would be
taken away, to some extent, and many who now
are planning to escape would feel no desire to
do so. We all have great tendency toward that
which is forbidden, for which we have no long,
ing comparatively, as soon as the barriers to its
free enjoyment are removed. This, think
would be the case with enlisted men; as soon
as they found themselves free to go they would
want to stay.
APPLICATIONS FOR DISCHARGE.
There are, OF the average, ten applications
for discharge a day at the present time The
number Of men who want to get out Of the
army is SIMPLY overwhelming Many of these
are men Who have opportunities to do better
OUTSIDE OF t9e service. 10 such discharge Is
usually granted There are a great many cases
Of minors whose parents apply for their dis
charge. Whenever the fact OF their enlistment
while under age is established the discharge
must be issued, according to law. There are
also a great many other cases, detailing hard
ships and mi-fortunes. that have TO be care
fully considered and settled. / am confident
that this number would be materially reduced
IL the soldier had some other means of leaving
the army except by stealth.
AMUSEMENT AND RECREATION.
1T has been the endeavor of officers, Of late
years, to mitigate the conditions with which
the enlisted man is surrounded. so as to make
desertion less desirable. and there have been
many efforts in the way Of providing amuse-
men. and recreation for the soldiers. They
are not particularly in need of exercise, for
their drills and m2neuvers furnish them with
a certain sort of physical work Yet it is not
recreation. and there is great need of some
kinds of games that will exercise them az well
amuse them. Baseball. football lacrosse
and many other games are played at MANY
posts by the soldiers with great skill. These
sports take them out into the air and give
them something else TO do, in their hours of
idleness, than sitting around their quarters
smoking. The moral effect too. is good The
department has Just issued its first order regu-
lating the government of post canteens which
form another institution that has been estab-
lished to alleviate the evils that sometimes ex-
list around an enlisted man.
THE cASTEEN
Is sort of soldiers club place where he can