The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-24
THE DISCHARGE PAPERS
OF POOR MATERIAL TO SERVE AS
LASTING MEMENTOES.
First Muster Out Next Wednesday,
enth TO Go Next Monday.

There is some discomfort among the SOL
diers at Camp Mount over the discharge pa
pers which are about to be given them.
Until recently the men have been so
anxious to secure their discharges that they
have given little thought to what kind
Of paper they received, providing they were
honorable ones. Recently, however. few of
the papers have been issued to soldiers who
were too i'll to report for duty before the
final muster out, and it has been the sight
of these papers that caused a little dissat-
isfaction. The men claim that the quality
of paper on which the discharges are
printed makes the documents of little value
for preservation through long years to
come.
A large consignment OF the papers has
been sent to Lieutenant Colonel May. Most
of the men are so anxious to be discharged
they are ready to take anything in the
shape of a discharge paper, so long as it
relieves them from any further response
bility to the government One OF them, in
speaking of the papers yesterday, said: I'VE
fellows expect to go home Wednesday, and
any old kind of a discharge short of a dis
honorable one will do until we get out of
y.
were going to be given sheepskins, and
then again we have been told that the pa
pers will be only cheap white ones, poorly
printed and unless they are framed at once
they will not last a month. Many of the
boys will want to carry them around in
their pockets for a time, and mighty lit
tie of that sort of treatment will ruin the
papers, Why, I'm printer and know
hr1xxr
thick it is will. by constant creasing, crack
and fall apart in q short time. One fellow
at Chickamauga, who had been in the reg
ular army, had his discharge with him and
it didn't look like these we are going to
have. His was a sheepslSin, and although
he had given 1t some hard usage, it was
still in good shape for many years wear.
These papers were evidently printed ex-
pressly for the volunteers. The discharges
given the civil war veterans at the close or
the war of the rebellion were all printed
on strong paper in imitation of parchment,
and most of them are as good to-day as
they were thirty years ago. These papers
of the Spanish war at the highest price.
can be printed for less than three-quarters
of cent each The inconsistency of the
position of the government is that the reg
uars, who make a business OF lighting, get
fine Darchments, while the volunteers, VINO
gave up good positions to go to war and
who will probably not be able to get them
back again at once, are turned off with
cheap, shoddy papers, which will fall apart
We're not in battle; we enlisted to fight,
and that we did not get into an engage
ment was due to the government rather
than us There is nothing that the soldiers
will prize so much in years to come as
their discharge papers. Future generations
will want to see Inem-"
The blanks on which the discharges will
be written at Camp Mount of twenty
four-pound fiatcap paper, the printing be-
ing in ordinary script type. The regular
which will wear like leather, and the word
ing is engraved from plate. 1t Is under
stood that the same trouble IS being expert
cnced in discharging the soldiers of the
Eastern States. There is a movement on
foot to petition the government to condemn
the present issue, and give the volunteers
the same kind of discharges that are issued
to the regulars.
The work of mastering out was not fur
thered much Yesterday !; :. The surgeons OF
ment were waiting nearly all the afternoon
for details of the One-hundred- and-fifty-
eighth Regiment to be sent up for exam
nation, but for some unaccountable reason
there was not an officer of that regiment in
camp who would assume the responsibility
of ordering the men to be examined 1t was
stated. Colonel Smith was absent, Lieuten-
ant Colonel Thayer was at Greenfield, Adj
jutant Powell was not to be found and all
the majors except one were in the city, and
a dilgent search could not bring him to
light. AS a consequence, there was no ex-
aiming done. 3u
DISCI1AftGE DAY FINED.
Colonel May yesterday fixed the days for
the final discharge Of all the soldiers ex-
cept those of the One-hundred-and-fi fifty
ninth Regiment who are still on furlough
According to the schedule the Twenty
eighth Battery and the signal corps men
will be discharged Wednesday, Oct. IS; the
Observation-Disclosures Regiment a
week from to-day, Oct. 81 and the One-hun-
dred-and- fifty- eighth Regiment on Nov 3.
Up to the time, of coming home for dis
charge those of the signal corps who wanted
to continue in the service were allowed to
transfer to other commands in the same
service. Two Indiana membranes Hall and
than come home and be mustered out took
advantage of the offer of the government
and We're transferred to a Connecticut COM
pany. Both Of them will be sent to Cuba
with the Seventh Army Corps. They were
both formerly in the National Guard signal
corps of this State.
According TO the figures of the surgeons
of the various regiments who have con-
Quoted the examinat tons so far. the condi-
ton of the men is better now than at the
time they were mustered into the service,
the only noticeable difference being that
about ten out of every one hundred men
are suffering with disorders brought on by
thing. and one that justifies the care OBJ
served by the government in accepting men
for service last spring, is that In all cases
where men were suffering with Var1cocele
at the time of enlistment the cases nave be-
come worse. This was, of course, due TO
trates the necessity of accepting only able
hOdipd men for military service.