St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-06-08

In Camp at Tampa.

In Camp at Tampa.
Down here we are sweltering day and
night, with the thermometer ninty.eight
in the shade. Nobody dares complain,
for fear Of appearing unpatriotic: Still.
it will do us no harm to hear little OF
the truth, for this affair is turning out
just as the officers of the regular army
have foreseen.
Here we are thirty days after the decla-
ration of war and not regiment is yet
equipped with uniforms suitable Tor hot
weather The Cuban patriots and other
cigar makers look happy in their big
Panama hats and loose linen trousers,
but the United States troogs sweat night
and day in their cowhide boots, thick
flannel shirts. and winter trousers. In
addition to this they wear tunlc at in
spections-a piece of torture.
Who is responsible for this? No one
knows.
The poor men have to sleep on the
ground in the heavy, dirty sand. Their
sweaty clothing picks it up, and their
food is full Of it. Every Whit OF not air
blows fine dust about, and every horse,
cart, or even passing person adds discom-
fort to men already miserable. How lit
tie it would cost to have the camp sprin-
killed. once or twice a day! Or at least
the government might have provided
rough boards from which the men could
have sawed themselves few feet OF floor
ing.
We are in the habit of plying the SOL
der of Europe as hardly treated. For
downright neglect, / have seen nothing
to beat the way the American is treated
by Uncle Sam.
In this hot climate we yearn tor fresh
fruits and vegetables, for anything that
will quench thirst and at the same time
cool the blood. Meat and all heating
things we try to avoid by a wise instinct.
The troops, however, are supplied with
only that which is most unreasonable
greasy pork, and beans OF that brown
quality that makes one ready to spend
the rest OF the dav in watermelon
patch. | found officers with nothing
but these rations, because the commits
sary had nothing else, and they could
not afford to send for other things from
the town. Is it wonder that the men
develope abnormal thirst, and rush off
to satisfy this craving as best they can
some with plain water, some with milk
shakes, some with beer, some with other
compounds? The result is that already
the camp doctors are busy every morn
ing with men and officers suffering from
varying degrees of dysentery. We hush
this up as well as we can, but to do so
altogether is impossible. Who is respon-
sible? No one can tell.
The war is thirty days in swing. 1t
took less time than that for Germany to
put half a million wel-trained men on
the French frontier in 1870. Today we
look in vain for single regiment fit to
take the field. We hear much in the polit-
ical organs of throwing fifty thousand
men over into Cuba and taking Havana,
yet here we are drilling recruits and wait
ing for regiments to fill up. The strength
of a regiment is nominally twelve hun
dred men. AS matter of fact, the
average number is less than six hundred.
Who is responsible? Every day raw re-
cruits are dumped down here out of an
incoming train and they are taken out
into the deep sand, and made to move
their legs up and down until exhausted
nature cries out for rest. Drill sergeants
and recruits soon lose their taste for
calisthenics in the roasting pine barrens
of Tampa. The ordinary man asks why
were not these recruits licked into shape
up in the cool North. and sent down
properly clothed and armed. Who is re-
sponsible? If the invasion should take
place tomorrow, half the men would be
in civilian dress, raw recruits who had
probably never before had gun in their
hands.
Tampa is seaport town, and there.
fore one might have expected that our
superheated troops would have been SC
located as to enjoy saltwater bath at
least once day. One or two regiments
near Port Tampa have managed to
locate near the beach, but the bulk of the
troops are so far from the water that the
journey to and fro robs them ofany bene
fit they might otherwise derive from q
swim. In parenthesis, let me explain
that the fine dusty sand of Tampa is
impregnated with charcoal dust, owing
no doubt, to the pine barrens of thi:
neighborhood having been burned over
Thus our men in camp perspire streaks
of black down their faces and necks
The government provides them no bath
houses, not even trough at which they
may take baths by installments. So fal
the weather has been oppressivcly hot
and dry. 1t will be miracle if disease
| does not break out when the rains begin
These matters are obvious even to tn,
laymail. They are not necessitated by
the present state of war. While Uncl'
Sans boys are parching for fresh foot
and vegetables, train-loads are leaving
Florida filled with succulent fruits fol
Northern markets.-[Poultney Bigelow
in Harper's Weekley.
Death of Captain GridIey.