The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-28

I packed close and sweltering in the
fierce heat. hot and feverish from his
wounds and the malaria or typhoid in
his blood. and he is battered. bruised,
sore alike in body and spirit This,
and S15.6 a month. is his reward for
risking his life to fight the battles Of
his country.
In no country have victorious soldiers
returned to such q homecoming: our
men have been literally showed around
like cattle. and they kno IL.
At Montauk Point the excuse that the
camp was not ready seems to SATISFY
the department having control OF the
work there. But ii does not satisfy the
soldier. He is asking himself h II
was not ready. Having gone through
the experience himself. ne recognised
the supreme brutality of the order that
was issued TO hold the northbound
troops on the trains wherever they
might chance to be, packed In as
though they were cattle. n more OFT
en- than rot without adequate medical
supplies for the sick Of their number,
while the government made and un-
made ITS mind. pitched tents in
places, and hen tore them down for
re-erection elsewhere, n played the
deuce generally with common sense.
II you talk with the soldier you will
find he is wondering why the Long
Island railroad has the call on camps.
lie saw, even If no one else did, that
the road was incapable Of meeting the
sudden demand made upon 1t. This
was proven in the spring at Camp
Black. but that was an object lesson
the government did not see ut TO heed.
He cheerfully admits, however, that
the average foreman on the line mas
seemed better prepared to meet the
emergency than have the high priced
H. a.-..L#AsN W fAAIaaat of 1t1A RlTnn.
The former has 10 think straight or he
finds himself confronted by a situation,
not a theory, while the seTvan or the
government. who apparently was not
appointed TO his place because OF n
particular fitness for ii. and is account
able 10 no one, and can decline 10 De
criticised" may blunder around pretty
much as he likes. Thus. while the
camp was in process of formation, the
railroad was able 10 build restaurants,
freight sheds and rush the work on
water tanks, while the government was
not able to even pitch tents.
1t is to be hoped some one VIII pc
called upon TO explain just why Mon
tauk Point was selected for the camp.
1t is true, it is pretty and picturesque,
Notwithstanding that il is an absolutely
treeless eXpanse of sand hills, but aside
from its beauty there was nothing 10
recommend it. 1t was necessary TO
build roads before either lumber or
tents could be moved to the site Of the
future camp. This was no ordinary
leveling of rough placer; the very first
mr. was some 20 feet deep and sew
eral hundred yards long.
The first soldiers to arrive reached
camp. 10 find teams and laborers busy
through the thick mud, dragging their
camp kits after them, and gained the
hills beyond. where they threw them
selves down on the ~rain-soaked ground
TO acquire more rheumatism, malaria
or typhoid, as the case might be, while
the road making went merrily on. Or
those who were on the sick list hung
round the hospital headquarters, a good
part Of the time i'm the rain, and
watched the carpenters lay a boart
walk 500 feet long and 10 broad, thai
now serves as a passageway between
the tents. They slept shelterless on the
bare earth while this highly useless la
Dor was in progress, and all this while
they wondered much at the judgment
that directed the formation of the
camp.
on Saturday, the 18th. a little thing
occurred which made the sick men in
the hospital toss under their covers
with Indignation. II was not until mid
afternoon when the first visitors stag
gered mp through the mud 10 their
quarters that they were Informed peace