Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-09

and enjoys it. Under recent date he
wrote home:
Il hin any soldiers in the Philippines.
II asked regarding the needs of the
United States army there. would reply
that it is already supplied with every
thing that the a and file of the army
could reasonably ISL
After five months close observation
of soldiers in these islands and a general
knowledge of the army for a number of
years, l do MT hesitate to say that ours
is the best fed. the best clothed and the
best paid army in the world. Anr this
is as it should be. because the person.
mel of the United States army is emf
nently superior to any other in physique,
intelligence. education, endurance, cour-
age and patriotism.
The ration issued to a soldier by the
government gives hi ma better break
fast. dinner n supper than is enjoyed
by nine-tenths of the people of the Unit
ed States. Fresh beef and mutton for
the troops is purchased partly in Austa-
liza and partly in the United States.
1.-THE price paid by the the government
has varied very much, the cost being
sometimes as low as AZ cents and some
times as high as s cents per pound.
"The meat is carried to Manila in a
frozen state and will keep in good order
seventy-two hours after being taken
from the ship, provided the conditions
ak " VI 'It st1itA L il"S 'it'ii NSph WILL
as long as forty-eight hours even when
conditions were unfavorable."
So wrote Genera Joseph Wheeler, gen.
orally known as Fighting joe to a
friend in his old home. Alabama.
THE OLDEST V~ETERANfb
Those who are campaigning in the
Philippines and thousands of brave boys
are enduring the exile of the Pacific for
their country, tell great tales of the en-
durance and fighting power of the vete-
ran, perhaps the Oldest of them all, for he
is e., who arrived with sue hopes last
fall and who has bravely struggled on
through all the adversities that nave
beset the American troops abroad, to
the present.
From first ia last Fighting joe has
been foremost. If there is a dangerous
charge to lead "Fighting joe plans the
attack. drives well in the advance, and,
like Lawton, walks along the firing line
while the battle is in progress. Thrice
has he been glazed, once many
scores Of times has he been selected as
the target of the sharpshootehs and
warned by his men to keep out of range.
In eplOring into the county, General
Wheeler has not been backward. and
when others have ridden he has walked.
prOwled, one of his men said of him,
STOPPING low, when accommodating a bit
of dangerous Ountry and climbing trees
10 get q good view OF the e!eIliy III d lair
field. Som Of the pictures of him are
really funny; al show great personal
characteristics.
Once. when advancing into what Gen
eral Wheeler feared might be a trap he
climbed a tall tree and with spy glass
looked ahead: other and younger men
Offered to do the work for him.; his Off
GERS pointed out the danger of making
a target of himself but "%Fighting Joe"
fought it out with his staff and had his
WI way.
Nor is he a selfish officer. A tired
fellow-ofiicer can always get a lift be-
hin General Joe: a sick or disabled one
is lifted into his saddle. He is a rough
and tumble FIGHTER. just such as Antonio
Maceo was, though so much older n
more hardened in war. that he stands
above and ahead of all comparisons.
NOT SELFISH.
Nor in the mess room is Gen. Wheeler
on the lookout for creature comforts.
Whether on s~hip-board or in the field he
takes what comes n is thankful for
anything. No one ever heard him COM
plain of army beef for himself: though
for his men he is :. constant kicker.
When he first went into the field
"%Fighting Joe" took with him a very
pretty daughter known as angel An
ME" to the soldiers in camp. Miss
Wheeler went as a Red Cross nurse and
look care OF the SOLDIERS VINO were
wounded or down; all diseases We're the
same to her, typhoid or inconsistencies.
she did what she could for each and all.
Now Miss Wheeler is to be married
but Fighting Joe" is at the front still
fighting. though he does not think it
will be for long.
OF this he himself says:
'My recent investigation led me to
conclude that the prevailing sentiment.
the great desire of the people. was for
the restoration of peace. so that they
could quietly pursue their avocatiOns;
and I am quite convinced that when they
learn that such will be the case under
American rule they will be perfectly sat
istied with our control of the island.
The priest and some of the members
of his family were very agreeable and
intelligent gentlemen.
Il went with members of my staff to
his church and showed all respect pos
sible to their order of service. The
music was very sweet, and this I found
to be the case in all the other churches
visited by me. At the time when I was
present only the women partook of COM
munion. They seemed very devout, and
nothing in my whole tour in LuZon inn
pressed me more favorably than the de-
votiOn of the women. They are devot-
ed to their churches, their religion, their
children. their parents and all their rela-
tives. They are Industrious in the ex-
IRENE, and never saw anything that
could be said to approximate frivolity."
General Wheeler is a Georgian by
birth although he has lived in Alabama
the greater portion of his life. He was
born in Augusta, September 10. 1888, and
spent his early childhood there. His
father was Joseph Wheeler, a well known
merchant and planter. His mother was
a Miss Hull. of Connecticut. While visit.
ing her sister, who had married Edward
Campbell Miss Hull met the young
sOutherner. and was wooed and won b,
him. Fighting Joe'' Wheeler was thu
issue of that union.
Young Joe Wheeler spent many Of his
hoyhood. days visiting his relatives in
l~hPSliGR- GQNN nd aftandod tho aaaa