The evening times., 1896-11-03
EASY To LEAVE THE ARMY
Ways of DsserterS Among
Soldiers and, Sailors.
GENERALLY WALK AWAY
The Boy in Blue Goes Off With
Only the Clothes on His Back, But
the Man-O.Warsman Packs Up ana
Gets Usually Nobody Wishes
Them to Return.

Desertions from the United States army
and navy are gradually decreasing IN mum
ber from year to year, but the percentages
OF deserters from both services are still
higher than the percentages for the land and
sea forces Of any Of the European coun-
tries.
Inc statisticians Of the War and Navy De
partments, i'll their annual reports, often
Confess their inahIIity To account FOR TINS.
The enlisted men in the United States army
and navy, they say, are better housed, Det-
ter fed, better clothed and better treated
than those of an y other country IN the world,
and in view OF all these racts, they frankly
own to their III ystilication over the large
regular annual tabulatiun OF figures on de-
ser,ions winch they are obhseu 70 compute.
pile.
singularly enough, in comparing these llg-
UreS with those published by the war OH
ces Of European countries on the same sub
ject, these statiSticlans have invariably
failed to devote any consideration to two
essential points Which they might adVIn-
tageously use In dra wing such comparisons.
First, the fact that the United States is
not Il military nation in times OF peace, So
that the fuuIncSs OF the act Of dcsertion,
which in some European countries is re-
garded by the people in general as worse
oilensc tDau tne Commission al Il hertUGs
appreciated by the young men who enlist
In American services; and, second. the elem
ency with which dcserters are treated IN
tbs Country as compared with the heavy
penalties visited upon men who desert from
the military services cf lands across the sea.
NO ZEAL.
In neither army nor navy is there so
much zeal displa yed nowadays in the cap
ture and punishment of dcscrters as was
formerly the rule. The War Department
has strongly limited during recent years
that II does not care Il particle for the ap-
prehenSiOn of GeSertcrs, for the capture
and punishment of men who had run away
from the United States Army was, until
comparatively short time ago, burden
some and expensive in the extreme. This
work involved the maintenance of TWO
large military prisons for general military
cOnvicts, chiefly deserters, and IL cvcntu-
ans became eAcerIin.ly costly.
Until five years ago, any policeman.
special officer, or civilian who captured
a deserter from the army got $50 hlocd
money upon turning his man over to the
military authorities AS u result Of this
system, there arose in the immediate vi
cinity OF large military posts class OF
men, known in the army vernacular as
hounds clo,hed with the rights OF spc-
cial officers, who made a business OF APP
pretending deSerters for the sake Of the
$50 reward.
These meu very rarely failed TO gather
In their prey, even If they often succeeded
In doing SO only at the price Of broken
heads or worse injuries. Those that took
up their stand near posts where drscrtions
were unusually common, on account of the
undcsirabllity Of the soldering, made a
lot of money iii this business. They gain
Ell not only the hatred OF IT,. enlisted en-
but of the officers as well, for upon every
deSerter brought in 4 general court-rnar-
iial had TO be held, and the men with the
shoulder straps, who are almost a unit in
dcSpisnG general cour:- martial duty, found
that they We're compelled to bc almost
constantly arrayed III tier full dress clothes
as members of the courts. and We're load
ed down with work Iesides, for the dis
posi- or descrter's case by a general
Court involves a tremendous amount
OF clerical labor. the sCTibhling OF realms
of official paper by unfortunate Judge ad-
vocates, Jading duty counsel for the
prisoner by tire officer sufficiently out
of luck to be so selected. and other and
manifold bedevilraents incident to the
service
Moreover. the military prisons at Fort
Leavenworth and at AlcatraZ Island
nlled 10 oyerflowin with apprehendcd de-
serters. imposed great burden on the mil
ltary budget, and required an amount of
guarding which threatened in time to de-
inand the services of the entire army.
THE BLOOD MONEY.
1t was with these considerations in mind
that the War Department reduced the blood
money for the capture of deSerters to $40
This reduction caused an Immediate cor
responding reduction in the number OF
hounds and now there is none OF them
Their occupation was taken from them
They soon discovered that after pa wing their
own and their prisoners expenses. which
they are now Obliged to do out of the $40
reward. there was 10 profit in the game
Indeed, during short experimental period
they worked 1T a loss.
So they reluctantly abandoned the busi-
ness. and resumed their former work of
driving drays and street cars. II was not
long after the establishment of the $40 re-
ward system that the War Department
was enabled to put into effect its cherished
scheme OF abandoning Fort Lcavcnwurth
military prison. which was turned over TO
the CIVIL authorities for use as a Federal
prison On account of the great decrease
in The number of apprchended des, rters
the military prison at AlcatraZ Island be-
came comparatively easy institution to
manage. and general courts martial rapidlv
decreased in number
For'the last ten years the Navy Depart-
mcnt has made hardly any effort to ca pture
deserters. The principle in the navy is that
men who Jump ship" are not fit for the
service, and therefore not worth looking for.
II is principle that in some cases is in