The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-04-22
TAKING ON THE BLUE
Recruiting Soldiers at Indianap-
oils for Uncle Sans Army.
Transforming a HOosier Youth Into a
Dashing Indian Fighter-SOme of
the Yieissitudes of the Life.

little offices are open from 3 o'clock in the
morning until O'Clock in the afternoon.
where the stalwart Hoosier youth who
wants 10 serve his country is always well
come. The furnishings Of the Indianapolis
recruiting station are not elaborate The
walls are not hung with gilded portraits OF
famous generals Two or three cheap prints
representing hard-fought battles on land
and sea constitute the art collection. Lieut.
Carter has his private Office, where he
smokes his pipe like a private soldier after
mess and writes out long reports to the
honorable Secretary Of War To the youth
OF the land the regular army has a. fas-
cination- It Is safe to hazard the guess
that into nine-tenths of the average young
men Of America there has at one time come
a longing TO wear the uniform of Uncle
sam The recruiting office is without doubt
an effectual check to much Of this budding
military ambition
OF the many who apply but few are
chosen, and those who pass muster do not
enter the service with glowing imaginations
OF a future life Of happy ease. The hard
ships the difficulties and the possibilities of
failure are laid before the applicant by the
officer in charge of the recruiting Office
After a young man has passed the age of
eighteen, and while he is yet lingering be-
tween the period of sapient youth and ma
a life business. After two or three years
h may make a general failure Of every
thing he lays his hands on, and perhaps
the shadow Of a disappointed love has been
East over his life. He finds that the world
has bumped him hard, and he's tired Of it,
Then 1t is that the recruiting Office has a
new applicant. The unfortunate young man
concludes that the frontier is the place for
him. and he proposes TO sacrifice himself
10 the army.
After the applicant has passed up the two
fights of stairs, stood the scrutiny of Ser
geant Walsh's skilled military eye and has
been in the presence of young Lieutenant
Carter for two hours and half he begins
10 realize just what a wonderful institution
Of system and red tape this United States
government has grown to be. If he weathers
the fire of $50 shrewd questions and has
withstOod the test of a rigorous physical
examination he is accepted. Then he be-
longs to the government for five years. He
Is put astride a cavalry horse or a musket is
thrust into his hands, and he is expected
10 fight, if need be- TO the death In return
for this duty the government feeds him,
keeps him clean and pays him Sl3 q month
The applicant enlists as a private, and he
remains in the rear rank unless he pos
Besses sufficient intelligence to utilize the
opportunity given him by the government
and educates himself to a promotion. By
hiligent study and honest. faithful service
he may, after three or four years, reach
the rank of a corporal. Then he may look
forward to an increase of a few dollars
month pay. The private, however, is usually
men 50 l rGa abo to Pee IS pb5 the
In the recruiting Office. He is not going out
there 10 roll cigarettes and Join theater
INDIANS fate and whisky ague, and chills
Lieutenant Carter, the bright young Off
M dirty To he
aspiring candidate, tells him of all these
things The Lieutenant can dance and play
the piano, ana make al after-dinner speech
20 a company of army officers and their
ladies', because he was "soldierized'' at
caves his home in Indiana and dons the
eOuntry's blue must make up his mind to
refinement.
1t is not the distinction of birth or edu
SSauOn mat cuts the private soldier off
at the frontier fort. The rigid discipline
OF army regulations. makes it impossible
men on equal footing. That trite old saw
Familiarity breeds contempt" is an army
axiom generally observed
Lieutenant J. Mel: Carter. who repre-
epOlls, has seen active service on the
ttTontier and has danced with the bellies, at
Institution in 1886 and sent to the South
Te f;b to join his fortunes fT with those Of the
first lieutenant on his shoulders he chased
MeXlcans and Indians on the Rio Grande
to the less hostile division of the army nj
indianapolis: The young officer has been
IN charge Of the recruiting office here since
last OCTOBER, ana has sent scores Of file
Hoos1er lads scurrying toward the Western
Applicants for enlistment must be be-
tween the ages of eighteen and thirty
years, unmarried, OF good character and
habits. able-bodted and free from disease.
The government doesn't want married men
or men who have relatives dependent upon
them The enlisted soldier is the property of
the institution that employs him, and he
must have no obligations outside OF his
tween fighting Indians on horseback or
lodging bullets from behind tree with a
musket in his hand. For infantry and
artillery the height must not be less than
five feet four inches, weight not less than
is pounds and not more than 100 pounds
Cavalry applicants must measure five feet
four and five feet ten inches and must tip
pounds. The physical examination is Sc
we're, and the applicant must submit to a
who goes about the work like a skillfu
practitioner. \ minor can be enlisted only
with the written consent of his parents
or guardian and when his physical devel-
opment is exceptionally good The govern
fraud and If, after the recruit has en-
tered into active service, it is learned that
he has deceived the recruiting officer as TO
his age or name, he is apt to be punished
After Lieutenant Carter has done with the
Sergeant Walsh.
The Sergeant has been the humble repre-
sentative Of the government for sixteen
years, half of which period he spent in one
Of the hottest Indian campaigns in Mon
tana. There is no romance about the army
for him. and he hustles the raw recruit
of TO a bah and then 10 the store room.
The department in which the governments
suitings are stored is on the third floor
Of the building and here the recruit is TAX
en- TO be fitted out in the governments blue.
He inCases his figure in a sun that is prob
ably two sizes too small for him, and the
private is then ready for active duty.
For two or three weeks the programme
IS varied. The new recruit usually spends
his time between loating about the barrack
room and displaying his brass-buttoned
PROPORTIONS at the foot of the stairs After
time the recruit grows weary OF admir-
ing his figure and he longs for the
fever OF battle Here he is disappointed,
FOR Lieutenant Carter has by this time
cruited a dozen more applicants and
the lot is bundled of 10 Davids Island,
New York harbOr. TO the jefferson Bar
racks at St. Louis. Here again the recruit
meets a bitter disappointment. There are
no available Indians 10 kill. but instead
there is three months Of hard military dis
cipline and incessant drill. Adjutant Gen
II n N-nshinnfnrf that