Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-08-09
NEW RECRUITS
Applicants at Local Recruiting Sta
ton This Week Passed Medical
Examination Successfully,
FROM CAPTAIN DAME
The Thirty-fourth Regiment at Fort Logan
Rapidly Filling Up-A Rigid Exami-
nation Must Be Passed By All APP
p~licants for Enlistment,

Edward Edmund Tonei, Of Madrid,
made application for enlistment at the
recruiting station to-day. He is a ma
tive of Kentucky, % years old, and a
miner by occupation. Yesterday after
aeon fourteen men in a bunch made
application, but as they could not speak
English and were in an intoxicated con-
dition, their applications were not con-
sidered. Four men who made applica-
ton for enlistment this week have all
passed satisfactory medical examina-
tion.
Judge N. b. Laughlin to-day received
a letter from Captain w. E. Dame, who
has been assigned to the command of
company E of the Saith regiment. Cap
tain Dame was just about ready to
leave for the rifle range with his COM
pany for a two weeks rifle practice
when he wrote the letter, after which
he expects to go home to Cerrillos on a
brief visit. He stated that 800 men have
enlisted in the regiment, and that the
recruits are coming in at the rate of
fifty a day. Captain Dame wrote that
the regiment Is composed Of exception
ally good material. and does not need
fear comparison with any other regi-
ment. The equipments of the men are
of the very best, as the government
spares no means to equip the regiment
in the most efficient manner. Most of
the officers served under Generals
Shafter and Lee, and 1t seems to Cap
tain Dame like getting back into his
old regiment.
According to the Denver papers 72O
of the enlisted men of the 34th regiment
are in camp at Fort Logan, and recruits
| are coming in at the rate of sixty a day.
Pueblo furnished a squad Of sturdy
fighters, but the majority of late ar
rivals are from Milwaukee and Mime
| apolis. Fifty cowboys from Arizona are
| expected to-day, and a batch of recruits
from New Mexico. There are many Wis
itors daily at Fort Logan from Denver
and other places.
One does not have to be in a recruit
ing station long before learning that
| wisdom and discretion are required
from the officers in charge to winnow
| the chaff from the wheat. They must
have the ability to judge correctly faces
and human nature; they must know
how to discriminate between the truth
arl 60 lc;tu 0f tho cfoforpQntC That are
made to them, and size up a man at a
| glance.
The requirements for the regular
| army are exact. He must be a native
| speak English and to read and write; If
| for the volunteers it is not necessary
| that he should be n~aturaliZed or know
how TO read and write, but he must
speak English.
These points are easily passed upon.
| 1t is more difficult to determine whether
his habits are orderly, his character
/ good, If he is out of work, whether 1t is
his own fault that he is so, and whether
he is unmarried. The s~hrewdness Of the
officer must supplement the answers he
receives, and must further be called into
play to determine at a cursory glance
whether his physical characteristics are
sufficiently near the mark to make 1t
worth while submitting him to the nee
essary examination by the army sur
geon.
If he succeeded in passing the officer
this examination is the next step before
his final acceptance. The applicants
who have passed the preliminary ex-
animation are mustered before the ex-
amining physician. Tests are made OF
the heart, the lungs, the eyes, the teeth,
the hearing. The body Us stripped and
the individual is made to go through
calesthenic exercise.
1t is a curious fact that more people
fail through defects Of the teeth and Of
the eyes than any others. Uncle Sam
requires a good digestion and good eye
sight. The applicant must have at least
two sound pair Of molars, each directly
above the other, so that they can prop
erly perform the function Of masticat-
ing the food.
The eyes must be at least three-quar-
tiers of the normal. Printed test cards
are placed at a distance Of 20 feet, and
the man is made to read letters Of vary
ing sizes. Many learn here for the first
time, to their dismay, that their eys-
sight is defective.
It Ia really pitiful to hear the excuses,
perfectly honest to themselves, which
they make for what they deem to be a
mere temporary lapse. They had been
anxious; they had been nervous; they
had not happened to sleep well the night
before.
"Give me another trial." pleaded a
man, who bore every other appearance
Of robust health. "I'll be all right to-
morrow"
But the fiat had gone out. It could not
be recalled. He went out .angrily, rub
bling his eyelids, as though they weie
rebellious children who had wilfully
brought their parents TO shame.
To all the men, indeed, who fail In the
final test, just when acceptance seems