The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-14
CHARGES FOR CLOTHING
STATES PRICES MAY DELAY FINAL
DISCHARGE OF SOLDIERS.
Complaint OF the STUFF Furnished
Quartermaster General Richardson
Explains the Circumstances.

and-fif ty-seventh Regiment object strongly
to the charges for clothing which are placed
against them. Moreover, they are sup
ported by most of the officers, and 1t is
feared that some delay in the final discharge
win be caused by the trouble. Lieutenant
Colonel May is doing his best to arrange
the matter satisfactorily to ALL but finds
serious problem his hands.
The men say that the clothing they re-
ceived from the State in April was of the
worn-out sort. The Quartermaster himself
is reported to have called it trashy. The
suits were placed in a big pile in one of
the buildings and every man was sent in
to get what he could. Some of the suits
were new, but many had belonged to men,
bers of the National Guard. A few were
five or six years old. Some had holes in
them. Very few fitted at ALL The shoes
were no better, it is claimed. A job lot,
the sizes Of which ranged from to IL, was
given to the regiment 1t is said that the
quality of these shoes was such that they
could not possibly have been sold in any
other way. Some of the men refused to
take them, and so the captains Of the COM
panies had quite a number Of large-Size
shoes left on their hands The blankets
the men received are ridiculed by some of
the soldiers. The 'postage-stamp" blanket
is about five feet long, and could not pos
sibly cover a man. The flannel shirts were
of all colors, kinds and sizes Very few
We're blue, and those faded. Some of them
were so long that they were used as night
gowns. A few were torn up and given
service as dishrags Campaign hats which
had seen service on the heads of the Ma
tional Guard all the way from two to six
years were also part of the equipment.
THE STATE PRICES.
The charges to which the objection is
made are as follows: Old blouses, 81; old
trousers, $3.50; flannel shirts, 50 cents; old
blankets, 81; campaign hats, 81. The men
claim that they can secure shirts of an
equal value at about half the state price
The United States government price for
new campaign hats is only "a cents. But
the strongest objection is to the charge for
blankets. Being of no service, these were
packed up at Chickamauga and sent to the
Stafehouse here. Now, however, the men
blankets they sent back
On the unused articles furnished by the
state the soldiers are also making calcula-
TONS. They are comparing the state prices
with the United States government prices
Fifteen cents is asked for socks which are
little better than those furnished by the
general government at cents. The state
price Ter trousers is $295-United States gov
ernment price, $2.32; state price for blouses,
to SOL; state price for undershirts 81 800
constituted States government price, "a
cents; state price for underdrawers, "a 800
cents-goVernment price, % cents.
Some of the men who were formerly men,
bers of the National Guard are inclined to
believe they have paid for clothing twice
For their service in the militia there was
an allowance of $3.50 a year for clothing
This, however, was never paid to the men
In cash. 1t was kept as a reserve fund
But when the militiaman volunteered he
was charged for the uniform he already
had. Yet he never received any of his
clothing allowance while in the National
Guard Still another complaint is that more
clothing is charged against the regiment
than was actually received When the regi-
ment left it had 976 men. Now there are
exactly 976 leggings and blouses charged
against IT. But many of the men left with
out legg1ngs or blouses One company is
asked to pay for eighty pairs of trousers.
There are eighty men in the company, but
the captain certif1es that only sixty-eight
pairs were actually received.
To complicate the difficulty, it is now the
United States government which now
makes these demands from the soldiers
The State charged it's expenditure to the.
Nation and the Nation accepted the ac-
counts of the State. While the regiment
was South a board Of oncers was selected
to set a price upon the clothing received
and also to designate the amount. This the
board did, according to the records of the
state government. The captains had not
kept their accounts closely enough for an
exact list to be made out from their re-
ports.