The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-09-14
APPEAL IN Vain.
Sick Soldiers on FurlOugh Can
Not Draw Their Pay
Because Secretary Alger Insists
Upon Following Red Tape.
UNPAID MEN SUFFER
Through Rigid Adherence to
the Payment Rule.
To Many Money Is as Essential
as Transportation.

New York, Sept. 14.-Among the most
pitiful sights to be seen at the army
building are soldiers on furlough seek
ing transportation and pay. The trans
portatiOn they obtain-after, it may be,
a vast amount of waiting and red tape
but the pay they seldom obtain, no
matter how much is overdue. Reading
that statement it will undoubtedly seem
so incredible that the reader will ques-
ton its correctness; it is, however, alb
sOlutely true-the pay officials at the
army building will readily admit it.
They can afford to do so, for the fact
implies no fault whatever of theirs; the
fault lies with the war department reg
ulations relating to the pay branch of
the service. and to the. off1cialism of the
manner in which these regulations are
enforced by the present administration
of the war department. The regulation
in question says that no soldier on fur
Tough shall be paid except upon a spec
ial order from the secretary of war.
The meaning of this is that a soldier
is to be paid only when with his COM
mand and at the time Of the regular
visit of the pay officer. There is no
provision for his pay at other times
and places except by the procurement
Of a special order from the secretary.
At the present time, and, in fact,
ever since the Santiago campaign, and
the beginning of sickness there and in
the various camps, any number of sol
diers have, through one Incidental cause
or another, been absent from their COM
mands when the paymaSter appeared
in hospital, most of -them-and- the re-
suit has been that they have not re-
Ceived their money. In many cases,
moreover, this has happened repeatedly,
so that many soldiers have had pay due
them for several months. The situation
of many is that they find themselves
discharged from a hospital and granted
a furlough to go home and recuperate.
They can obtain the means OF getting
home, but to many of them their pay
is as essential as transportation They
are often destitute of almost every
thing and anxious, if possible, to get
some decent things from stores, instead
of applying for the stuff the govern
ment furnishes. To illustrate this, may
be mentioned the soldier seen sitting
in the army building the other day,
waiting for transportation, and looking
down with fOndness and pride upon a
new pair of shoes on his feet. They
were such exceedingly good looking
shoes that the reporter could not re-
frain from asking the wearer If he got
them from the government. mo, he
answered.; i've just bought 'em;
them's government shoes over there,
pointing to the feet of a soldier sitting
near. The contrast was striking be
tween the shoes of civilization and the
army shoes.
knowing nothing Of the red tape
which renders it possible for him to OBJ
tain his pay only when with his COM
mand or by special order from Wash
ington, the poor soldier goes to the
nearest paymaster only to learn that he
cannot get his money until he finishes
his leave of absence and returns to MS
regiment Securing the special order
from Washington seems so formidable
a task that many of them never under
take it. The only method the local pay
officials can suggest is to write to the
secretary of war. In time, ana IN most
cases such communications would
bring a reply, but answers to CORE
spondence of that kind have been no
toriously slow ever since the war De
gan The men are not used to address,
ing letters to so great a dignitary as
the secretary of war, and give up the
Job through shyness-
It is distressing and embarrassing Tor
a pay officer of the army to be con-
fronted by a feeble, i'll, and wounded
man. supporting himself with d1thculty'
it may be, on a stick, and asking Ior
the several months plttance que MN
from a government for which he mas
all but given his lfe-posslbly ms
health for the rest of his existence-and
to be obliged to say to this soldier that
the pittance cannot be paid until ne
rejoins his command and pay day comes
around again. The disappointment ana
in some cases the righteous indignation
which OverSpread the face of such
soldier are nara 10 DGeI, anu l44C pay
officers have felt all the distress of 1t.
It has been particularly felt at the
pay office in this city, the largest IN
the country, to which most of these ap-
plications are made. 1t was said to-
dav by one of the old and confidential
clerks of the pay office that Col. Will
son, the chief paymaster of the depart
ment of the east, had had his sympa-
thies so acutely aroused by the neceS-
sity of refusing payment to soldiers in
the predfcament described, that he had
made request at Washington for such
a modification Of the regulations as
would enable him to pay those soldiers
on furlOugh who were constantly ap-
plving. and who personally were in no
way to blame for not having been pres
ent with their commands upon the reg
lllar pay day To this humane request
was returned the reply that no modi-
could be permitted; that they must con-
tinue to be rigidly enforced in the ~
ture as in the past
Much mistaken criticism has been d.
rected against the personnel OF the pay
department which has been largely
adiudged responsible for this treatment
of soldiers. The regulations and the
effort of Col. Wilson to have them re-
Taxed for decency's sake show that the
blame lies not in the personnel but in
the system. The system, however, is
consecrated and sanctified to such a
degree in the eyes of the secretary OF
war. that, observers say, the mere sug-
gestion of change apparently seems to
him a sacrilege; and the maintenance
of a Iong-existing bad system appears
to appeal more to him than the hard
who have all but persisted for the couns