The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-13


bubble reputation at the cannon S
mouth to look into the life and duty
of one of Uncle Sans privates before
going so far that they cannot tura
back" said gentleman at the Char
lesion Hotel to a reporter for the
News and Courier yesterday. "Let
them consider, to begin with, the life
Of a recruit until he becomes thor
oughly drilled man ready to take his
place in the ranks Of the regiment and
do his turn at guard duty. Things
are not as they used to be in the army,
and reforms have been introduced that
greatly improve the condition Of the
private soldier, but he must not be
prepared to find life of never ending
jollity and merry-making with an oc-
easional interval of fighting just to
relieve the monotony Of existence.
Gas I have said, there have been
some changes made in recent years.
Under the old regulations any man
who could pass an insurance examina-
tion could get into the army. All the
recruiting officers wanted was bone
and muscle, and as rule it was about
all he ever got. The result was that
all self-respecting people regarded a
common soldier with suspicion: and
more than half suspected that he had
enlisted under an assumed name, and
a cloud like poor Joe Willet's ragged
comrades, when he ran away from the
Maypole Inn, and fell into the hands
of the seductive sergeant. Then he
might have been unable either to read
or write or to speak word of English.
In many cases he had not been twenty
four hours on American soil, and was
still begrimed with the filth of the
steerage in which he had come over to
follow flag that he had never seen
before. It was only in the lower quar-
tiers Of the cities that recruiting Off
GERS could be found, and it was only
among the lower classes of the popu-
lation that recruits could be obtained.
The average self-respectipg citizen
preferred they eypenitentiary. It is i'm
possible to describe the class of men
who came to enlist then. Of course.
there were some good fellows among
them, but there were also criminals of
every description "a disgrace alike to
the country that employed them and
the flag that they followed.
But, as / say, things are much i'm
proved now, and the results decided
change in the personnel Of the rank
and file. e man to enter the army
now must not only be citizen of the
United States and be able to read and
write, but he must produce recommen-
dations from ereditable persons, set
ting forth that he is Of good character,
morally and otherwise. The result is
that only the best men are taken,
while FIVE out Of every six who apply
at the recruiting stations are turned
down.
s'But even this change, important
as it is in elevating the character of
the army and making it fit for decent
young fellow, who wants to earn an
honest living, to enter, has not thrown
down the bars and bridged over the
gulf that yawns between private sol
der and his officer. and that is some
thing that had as well speak Of, as it
is thing that so many of those who
are now about to enter the army may
find it to their advantage to know.
For you have no idea how much ignor-
ance there is UPON this point and how
often the recruit finds himself brought
up at double quick against granite
wall Of tradition, Of whose existence
he had never dreamt.
"When you hear of social gulf
down here in the South you begin
naturally to compare it with shat that
lies between the Southern white man
and his former slave, and when you
have gotten that fixed firmly in your
Imagination you think you have about
grasped the situation. But you have
not. The old ante-bellum darky could
speak to his master often on friendly
terms and was something of an hum
BILE companion. But not SO with the
common soldier. He can speak to his
officer only on official business. OF
course this is something that eau be
done away with. The least familiarity
or equality would be death to discip-
line, and it's very stupid youngfel-
low who fails to recognize the neces-
sity for it, and to see the propriety of
the man with the shoulder straps
granting him no further recognition