The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-08-07
A QUESTION
OF METHOD
Young Bowen's Contempt
For Army Red Tape.

= OuuB bCWonS contempt 4
9 For Army Red Tape. o
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Young Clancy Bowen brought to
| New York from his western home a
life equipment of so much energy, COM
bined with the unshakable belief that
1t was easy enough to "do things" if
you only "got down on your four legs
and exercised" that his friends, both
new and old, expect a great deal Of
him. But they are yet awhile no near
er dropping the Objectionable introduce
ton to his name than they were three
years ago, when Bowen had no better
sense than to spend week of his pre-
cious time in the attempt, according to
promise, to collect an old and out
lawed debt from vanishing person in
\ the east for the benefit of some one "at
home" Then and always they called
him young" Only this winter he had
an experience which should have been
formative. 1t stunned him, perhaps,
but he awoke unchanged.
Bowen's brother, soldier in the reg
The stay at home, however, bore a
heavier burden of the distresses of the
campaign in Cuba than the one who
saw the battles. When he read in the
newspapers that the army was keenly
suffering for food while whole shipfuls
of stores remained untapped at anchor
few miles off the beach, the young
| fv.vff a< i'm
pent up until he had finished a scrap Of
breakfast at his boarding house. where
there was no one but the landlady, and
she deaf, and found the ear of an ac-
quaintance down town.
"Say, what good are those generals?
They amt fit to be pitching hayl Say,
I'd get a rope on to every one Of those
ships, one by one, and haul 'em up on
shore, and I'd dump 'em out and fill up
the brave fellows fighting for their
country till they was gorged!'
"You couldn't do that, or anything,
not If you was a general" said the
other. "Red tape" He repeated the
last words decisively. RED taper
"I'd ravel it all outy' cried Clancy
this is the simple experience:
The brother came back from the war
not bit the worse either for the fast
ing or the fighting, but the chance Of
army life did not bring him within
reach of Clancy's arms for more than
year. Then, after everything else
had been said, the soldier let fall the
information that he had been obliged
to leave his extra clothing, together
with most of his worldly goods, at the
barracks in California when he was or
dered to the front and regretfully wish
ed he had them now.
"Where did you put the thingsT'
asked Clancy, alive ct once, ready to
take charge of the matter of getting
them back.
Captain told me to pack my stuff in
my company locker, and did-No. 65,
Benicia barracks, Second infantry
storehouse." ratified off the soldier.
"Well, all we have to do is to write
out to the man, the janitor, or what
you call 'em, who keeps care of the
building, and ask him to send your
buds along -eh, as you have need of
em here. I'll fix it up for you"
81 Dunno" said the other hesitating
ly; ''that wouldn't be quite right, you
writing the letter and all. I'd better
ask my captain to write. He'll say
communicate to the chaps out west.
Then it'll all be regular"
ooh, WELL" Clancy shifted; chat will
do, / s'pose. Is your captain good
Teller? Will he tend up to it sharp?
If not, you'd better let me-
But the other interrupted decidedly.
He would do things in the right way,
| and it would be better in the end, he
said.
Several months passed. Nothing was
heard from Benicia barracks. Clancy
tried to make his brother punch up
the captain. He even wrote fevered
appeal himself to the man who, he
reckoned, must have taken away those
things and sold them, but the soldier
would not let the letter be mailed. The
brothers nearly split up over this ques-
ton, for Clancy said he was ashamed
that one of his family should have so
little 'hustle" in him.
81 tell you it's no use to do anything
but wait" said the brother in his stu
pid, firm way. And last week he was
proved right. A red mixed, blue linked.
green linked bundle Of paper, all pasted
together and strung out with pinned
copy of his letter to his captain, came
to the soldier. He brought the thing
| - NIax,o1, +l,o frct Orp0pf1IritU
"Snakesw said the young man. SIS
| that quite all2 Conversational, amt
it? Well, let's see. Respectfully for
warded to the adjutant, Benicia bar
racks, with request that a search be In
stituted for the purpose of finding the
clothing said to have been packed
away That's from your captain, and
they call it the first Endorsement
Clancy turned and twisted the wad Of
papers about until he found what he
was looking for, then read:
"sSecond Endorsement. The box lock-
| er referred to was shipped, with all its
contents, to Fort Leavenworth, Kan,
on Dec. 8, $780, and he says he knows
you might possibly get it If you ap-
piled to the quartermaster at Fort
Ileavenworth. That's good news.
Course they haven't made 1t take any
more journeys since. Now your cap
/ tain takes hand. He's respectful, but
he puts his paw right down. see that.
request that the contents be forward
| ed as soon as practicable
/ "Fourth Endorsement Respectfully
referred to the quartermaster.' That's
at Leavenworth. Now we're getting
warm. Fifth Endorsement. Respect
fully returned the adjutant, Fort
Leavenworth Kansas he says. Well,
he's found your stuff and wants 'au-
thority to ship That's what we're
after. Sixth Endorsement Respect
fully forwarded to the assistant ad-
jutant general something or other de-
partment Of Missouri. requesting au-
thority to forward Well, he just very
respectfully returns to the quartermas-
ter up there, who returns back to him,
and then he returns 1T to somebody