St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-01
PRIVATE SOLDIERS.
Their Lot Is by No Means One
Devoid Of a Single Ray Of
Happiness.
The Men as Fine a Set Of Eel
lows as a Commander
Could Wish.
They Are Well Fed, Well
Clothed and Lodged at I'm
Gle Sans Expense.
The Army to an Enlisted Man
Is a Home and an InSup-
ance Company.

There has always been an unaccount-
able prejudice against the army in this
country that has caused the government
great deal of trouble. says the New
York Times. 1t is so deep-rOOted that a
man who enlists in our service is almost
lookedupon as an Outcast-at least as
suspicious character. 1t is considered a
last resort for an almost worthless man,
and tits popularity supposed that no
manever enlists unless he is on the
point OF starvation or is a drunkard or
a criminal who wishes to hide his iden-
tity Under a uniform and an assumed
name. While, it must be confessed, a
great many questionable characters are
enlisted in the army, the main part of
the enlisted men are as fine set of
men as one could wish to command.
The blacklegs and the drunkards
are sooD dismissed, even if they
manage to get in, and today
Uncle Sam requires every man who
wishes to enlist under his flag to bring
a certificate of good character from his
last employer, and to satisfy the re
cutting officer in many other ways that
he has no evil habits. This rule has
been force only a few years. and has
already improved the character of the
enlisted men and decreased the number
of assertions to wonderful degree.
The army is better thing for the aver
age man than is generally supposed.
While the pay-$13 months small,
it must be remembered that it is $l3 a
month over and above all expenses for
food, clothes, lodging, hospital attend
ance and education. The clothing
allowance is so large. too, that every
man is able to save more or less of it
according to the care he takes of his
clothes, and some of them make very
considerable item of this. Whenever
the enlisted man re-erlists he receives
An Increase Pay.
and he has the opportunity of becom-
ing. through efficiency, a lion-commis-
stoned officer, with a still greater in
crease of pay. Moreover, If he is ambi-
tfous and has or getSfa fairly good edu
cation, he rs afforded every help rather
than hindered. as Is popularity sup
posed, from becoming a commissioned
officer. The army is to the enlisted
man home. an insurance company
and bank. The government permits
him to draw interest on any sum of
money he may deposit, and it is tOler
ably safe institution. If he is injured
or used up through sickness, he is
either nursed back to health or pen-
stoned for life. II he grows old in the
government service he is retired on a
pension preciSely,aS an officer is. And
after all the work of a soldier is not par
ticuIarly hard. That it is not disagree
able one is attested by the fact that a
great majority of the enlisted men,
and necessarily fine better ones, re-enlist
and practically,spend their whole lives
in the army. The happiness and COM
fort of the soldier depend principally
upon the commanding officer of the COM
pany to which he may be assigned.
Che company is family, and good
company commanders SO regard it.
The average soldier is a child from
his very training. He must eat, sleep
and work at certain time named by
another, and he is we'll fed and we'll
clothed, according to the ability of the
captain or lieutenant who has charge of
him. He can not even, buy handker-
chief without the permission of such an
officer. Nobody appreciated this fact
more than the first Napoleon, who. as q
rule, called his soldiers mes en1antS-a
practice that has remained with French
officers. 1t is an unfortunate fact that
there are
so A Good Many Officers
who take very little care of their COM
panies, but they are the exception. not
the rule. If man be drafted into a
good company there is no reason in the
world why he should not enjoy life to
the utmost. He will be furnished an
abundance of good clothes and will be
taught to take pride in keeping them i'll
good condition. He will be furnished
with food, not only plentiful, but of the
best quality and of sufficient variety.
Out of his small pay an English soldier
has to pay for his vegetables and any
extra meat he may have. Our soldiers
get more than they can eat of every
thing that is furnished, aud are permit
ted to trade the surplus off for any
dainties from the cOmmissarv depart
ment that they mag wish at govern
ment contract price. Then, too, every
company in the army has a conf
panY garden that supplies it
with vegetables, and again the gar
den is success according to the
efforts of the company commander.
Then there are ways In which COM
pany makes money to supply its mess
Will SlIll EIGdtCl dllA Ito ACoN-
ing room with literature, and often
with billiard and pool tables. Beyond
keeping himself and his accOuterments
clean, attending drills and doing guard
duty, the enlisted man has to take his
turn every three or four days doing the
work of a laborer about the post. This
is the CRYING shame of the army today.
The men are not enlisted as artisans nor
as laborers, and they should not be eX-
pected to do such work. 1t is worthy of
notice that they do the work, neyerthe-
less, very cheerfully. Some day, when
the officers have agitated the matter
enough, all this will be changed, and
( the soldier will be expected to do moth
/ ing but actual military duty. The SOL
der on the frontier has even more
amusement than the officer. The writer.
once
Lieutenant of Cavalry.
has many time, when alone with a
company in the field, wished that he
could sit down at the campfire with the
men and enjoy their jokes and share in
their conversation. They have the OPP
portunity of playing all sorts of games,
and the time to practice them, too. 1t
is probable that they have more society
atagoverHment post than they would
have at their homes, and they usually
have opportunities for sport in the way
of hunting and fishing that would be
enyied by many a rich New Yorker.
There are always post schools
for the education of the soldier.
and there are always post libra
ries that contain sufficient num-
Der OF books to keep him busy reading.
The writer served in company of-cav-
alry In which three men had sayCEd up
considerably oyer $1,000, and almost all