San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-06
A PRIVATE SOLDIER.
HIS LIFE is NOT BY ANY MEANS Al
TOGETHER UNHAPPY.

I ety-The Men a Fine Lot of Fellows.
, Most of Them Save Money and Re-enIist.
While it must be confessed 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 soon dismissed, even if they
damage to get in, and today Uncle Sam re-
quires every man who wishes to enlist un-
der his flag to bring certificate of good
character from his last employer, and to
satisfy the recruiting officer in many other
ways that he has no evil habits. This rule
has been in force only few years and has
already improved the character of the en-
listed men and decreased the number of de-
sertions to wonderful degree.
The army is better thing for the aver
age man than is generally supposed. While
the pay-thirteen dollars months small,
it must be remembered that it is thirteen
dollars a month over and above all expenses
for food, clothes, lodging, hospital attend
ance and education. The clothing allow
ance 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 a very considerable item of
this.
Whenever the enlisted man re-enlists he
receives an increase of pay, and he has the
opportunity of becoming through efficiency
a noncommissioned officer, with a still
greater increase of pay. Moreover, if he
is ambitious and has or gets fairly good
education, he is afforded every help rather
than hindered, as is popularity supposed,
from becoming a commissioned officer.
THE SOLDIERS HOME.
The army is to the enlisted man home,
an insurance company and a bank. The
government permits him to draw interest
on any sum of money he may deposit, and
it is tolerable safe institution. If he is
injured or used up through sickness he is
either nursed back to health or pensioned
for life. If he grows old in the govern
ment service he is retired ON pension pre-
cisely as an officer is. And after all, the
work of soldier is not particularly hard.
That it is not a disagreeable one is attested
by the fact that great majority of the en-
listed men, and necessarily the better ones,
re-enlist and practically spend their whole
lives in the army.
The happiness and comfort of the soldier
depend principally upon the commanding
Sh1SSh Vi ohO company W hC DC
assigned. The company is a 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 wel fed and well clothed accord
ing to the ability of the captain or lieuten-
ant who has charge of him. He cannot
even buy handkerchief without the per-
mission of such an officer.
If man be drafted into good company
there is no reason in the world why he
should not enjoy life to the utmost. H
will be furnished an abundance of good
clothes, and will be taught to take pride
in keeping them in good condition. He
will be furnished with food, not only plen-
tiful, but of the best quality and of suffi-
cient variety.
LIFE IN THE ARMY.
Out of his small pay an English soldier
has to pay for his vegetables and any ex-
ira meat he may have. Our soldiers get
more than they can eat of everything that
is furnished, and are permitted to trade
the surplus off for any dainties from the
commissary department that they may
wish at government contract price. Then,
too, every company in the army has
company garden that supplies it with veg
etables, and again the garden is a success
according to the efforts of the company
commander. Then there are ways in which
a company makes money to supply its
mess with still greater dainties and its
reading room with literature, and often
with billiard and pool tables.
Beyond keeping himself and his accou-
terments 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 expected
to do such work. 1t is worthy of notice
that they do the work, nevertheless, very
cheerfully. Some day, when the officers
have agitated the meter enough, all this
will be changed, and tine soldier will be ex-
pected to do nothing but actual military
duty.
The soldier on the frontier has even more
amusement than the officer. The writer
once lieutenant of cavalry, has many a
time when alone with company in the
fed wished that he could sit down at the
camp fire with the men and enjoy their
jokes and share in their conversation.
They have the opportunity of playing all
sorts of games and the time to practice
them too
GOOD COMPANY.
1t is probable that they have more So
ciety at government post than they would
have at their homes, and they usually have
opportunities for sport in the way of hunt
ing and fishing that would be envied by
many a rich New Yorker. There are al
ways post schools for the education of the
soldier, and there are always post libraries
that contain a sufficient number of books
to keep them busy reading.
The writer served in a company of cav.
airy in which three men had saved up con.
siderably over 81 900. and almost all the