The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-28
ENLISTMENTS in ARMY
MANY YOUNG MEN ANXIOUS FOR
SERVICE IN THE ORIENT.
Applications So Numerous the Re.
cruiting Officers Are Taking
Their Pick of the Lot.

NEw YORK, Aug. Establishments in the
army have been phenomenal since the be-
ginning of the trouble in China. says the
Washington correspondent of the Herald.
Young men in all parts OF the country have
focked TO the recruiting stations anxious
to see active military service in a foreign
land. The recruiting officers are taking
their pick of the applicants and are having
NJ difficulty in keeping the regular army
up to about its full limit under the law.
Colonel Thomas Ward, the assistant adj
jutant general in charge of the enlisted
mems division. said that enlistments in the
army have never been so numerous as at
present. This is the more remarkable since
recruiting in the harvesting period is al
ways less than at any other time of the
year. Then the young men out of work
find all they want TO do on the farms in
the West The official records show that
the enlistments for April were LIZA; May.
AS; June. 1.s47; July. 200. and for the first
ten days OF August. covered by reports SO
far received at the War Department. S97.
1..is furnishes an aggregate of 1876 men for
that period. Usually the same months of
any other year have furnished hardly one
half OF that number.
Colonel Ward said: "Of the 2,7O6 enlist
mGnIS TOT July dDOuI l.SDD were Tor for
eign service, OF which number about $50
were enlisted directly for regiments desig-
mated Tor such service, while upward of a
thousand We're sent to rendezvous for as
signment TO such regiments and those al
ready in the Orient. The other enlistments
were for depot battalions, the artillery or
for general assignment. $50 of which were
made at military posts for organizations
serving thereat."
That the army is getting its choice of
young men of the country, is shown by the
fact that during July alone no less than
9.0S5 men who applied for enlistment were
rejected. The recruiting officers have been
able 10 respond to the demands of the
various regiments for recruits, and there
are lbs men now waiting assignments to
commands. Recruiting at present is all
for the regular army. Under the existing
la y the volunteer force must all be mus
tered out of the service on or before July /.
1901 1t is the purpose of the War Depart
ment TO begin returning the volunteers
from the Philippines early in December.
and the various regiments will be mustered
Ou- from time TO time as they reach this
country. Recruiting for that service was
stopped some time since. and the volunteer
force has fallen from it's authorized
strength OF $1,000 men 10 31,7f1 officers and
men,
Every effort is being made by the Navy
Department to recruit the navy up 10 its
full enlisted strength. To provide crews
for the battleships Alabama and Wisconsin
l. viii be necessary TO place the battle
ships Indiana and Massachusetts In re-
serve, and Just at this moment when at
fairs In C--na are at such a critical stage.
1t is considered desirable that there should
be in commission all the aTmored men-of-
war available. Tn authorized strength
o. the enlisted branch OF the service is
1880 men and $500 boys. The present num-
Der OF men enlisted is Is. 500 and LIS bows.
Like the army. the navy is particularly
careful in making enlistments. The latest
action taken 10 obtain recruits is the as
signment of the tug Fortune to duty as a
recruiting ship. she is now touching at
ports on Long Island sound. and as soon
as she has forty recruits she returns TO
New York. transfers them to the receiving
ship Vermont and returns to the next point
on her itinerary. When she has completed
her tour of ports, on the sound the Fortune
will go up the Hudson as far as Albany.