The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-09

able the lives Of some Of tic enlisted
men under them, the relations between
the officers and enlisted men are as a
rule OF the most friendly nature, and
they frequently f~ratcrnizc in hours Of
recreation. OF recent years athletic
sports have been widely encouraged,
SO that to day there is q foot ball team
or a base ball nine made up Of officers
and enlisted men at almost every army
post in the United States. This ref
crence to sports is made to show that
the soldiers life is not altogether an
unhappy one i'll time Of peace. OF
course the soldier is required to per-
form certain duties, sometimes he is
subjected to ~hardships occasioned by
severe weather, disagreeablc surround
ings and other discomforts, which
every soldier, be he officer or private,
must expect to encounter at some time
in his military career. It is in time
of war that the hardships fall heavily
upon the officers and the enlisted men
alike, and only those who have passed
through active campaigns can appre-
ciate the horrors of destructive,
bloody, dcmoralizing war.
In making enlistments for the in
fantry aud cavalry branches Of the
service the same methods are employ
ed as in the artillery. Of course the
duties OF the infantry men are not as
exacting as those Of an artillerist. 1t
is srue an infantryman in time Of
peace is further removed from general
civilization than his brothers of artil-
lery and cavalry, and consequently
the natural hardships which arise in
modern army life fall most heavily
upon the infantry arm Of the service.
Under the head of hardships in army
life it is sometimes necessary to scpar-
ate a married man fy6m his family.
To that end marriages among enlisted
men are not encouraged, and in max
ing enlistments it is considered de-
slrAhle to selec: single men in prefer
ence to men with families, all things
being equal. At many of the army
posts enlisted men are married and
live with their families. AS far as he
is able, the commanding officer of a
post gives the married people quarters
by themselves, and the wives perform
various duties around the post, such
as washing. ~dressmaking, etc., and in
that way many a happy little family
10 kept united. 1t sometimes occurs
that Cupid breaks into the ranks Of
the enlisted men at a military post
and then the victim of the god of love
is required to notify the commanding
officer Of his intended plunge into
matri nony. AS far as he is able, the
commanding officer usually endeayors
to discourage marriage in the ranks,
but is the victim is persistent. tbs
commanding officer generally gives his
consent and manages to find quarters
for the newly welded pair.
Gen. Miles, in his last annual re-
port, paid a high compliment to the
character and efficiency Of the enlisted
men of the army, and he said that it
had never been higher than at the
present time. The short term Of ser
vice and liberal discharge by purchase
or order, of men who find themselves
unsuited Inns eliminated from the army
most OF these WHO are Il DISADVANTAGE
Gus element. Under the army regu-
latlons every post is a recruiting sta
ton. the object being t o effect a saw
ing in transportation. If vacancies
occur in one of the frontier regiments,
the officers of that post are allowed to
fill such vacancies locally, or as near
the post as possible. So it is with
the stations along the coast. If re-
crnits needed for duty in New York
harbor oar be secured in Greater New
York, it is not necessary to go to the
Pacific coast eor them.
During the past year the recruiting
service has been conducted with un-
usually good results under the system
OF sending the troops enlisted ut the
various Stations to regiments and posts
with the least practical delay. Not
only have assignments been regularly
made from recruiting stations aud rem
devious every ten days, but a very
large proportion of the men enlisted
ct city stations have becnscut at once
from the place Of enlistment to the
post where they were 20 stay. So
great has been the number Of men Of
fering to enlist that recruiting at all
stations has been restricted to enlist-
msnt Of exceptionally desirable mon,
without prior service, and to,former
soldiers with good discharges.