The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-07-24

The report of casualties suffered by the
Ninth Regiment at Tientsin has revea,e1
that no l-ss than six officers belonging TO
that command were absent from Their reg
ular posts of duty when the regiment land
ed in China. There would have bsen eight
absentees had cot Major Lee and Captain
Dodds rejoined the regiment just prior 10
its departure from Manila.
Major Lee had been serving as judge al
vocate on the staff of General Bates IN
southern Luzon, while Captain Dodds se,ed
in a similar capacity with General Wheaton
in northern LuZon. The other officers, all
OF whom are still absent from the ccmman
are Capt. J. T. Finley, on recruiting ser
vice at Syracuse, y. Y; Capt. NJ. l. Her
shey. at Fort SlOcum. n. Y; Capt. ". p.
Harris, at Pan American Exposition. Buf-
falo. y. Y: First Lieut.. a. W. Yates, Ad-
jutant Generals Office. Washington; First
Lieut.. II. ID. Wise. Major Forty
Volunteers. Manila. and First Lieut.. B. NJ.
Hartsho-Ee, on sick leave al his home il
New Jersey In addition. there are three
vacancies IN the grade of second lieutel-
ant
While this shows a large pe.eentege Of
absenJces, il is said to be less than is
shown by the record Of any ether regiment
now IL service.
An officer OF high rank is authority for
the statement that absenteeism has rs-
Gently become one Of the greatest curses Of
tn United States military service IL is
lameutable fact that In some o. the rcgi-
meDts half OF the officers are absent On Cns
pTetence or another. About year ego The
country was startled by the information
that half the officers Of the Eighth Infantry
in Cuba were absent from the reg .ment.
compelling the officers with the command
10 DO double duty which vas weigh ng
heavily or them in that tCrrid china e.
These facts were at once made the b-=is
for a claim en- the part OF its perp'exsd
friends that there was a shortage OF III ers
in The Army. But Investigation showed that
the absentees were mainly officers dstzilei
TO other and more Congenisl duties or tCOss
bringing in greater emo.Uments. In fact.
the paucity Of officers with the Eighth II
faItTy was found 10 be no new thing. il
proved TO be the ordinary state OF affairs
almost throughout the Army.
A recent publication based on semi-Cfh-
ciaI information shows that In he Sec
ond Cavalry, en- duty IN Cuba. out OF to
tai complement of forty-seven commits
stoned officers. only twCnty-one were pres
ent the regiment. TWenty-One officers
were on detached service. one was On
leave. one Was sick. and there were three
vacancies among the second lieutonauts.
The Army list OF June 20 mainly CJLlrLaec
these figures. Two OF the Seconds majors
ard two OF its cAOJsins were colOnels Of
volunteer regiments IN the Philippines and
two other captains were Lieutenant colonies
of voluRteers-creditabIe and profitable TO
the officers interested. but very disadvan-
tsgeous 10 the Second cavalry, IL one may
believe the complaints that come up from
Cubd about the shortage Of officers with
the regiment. One OF It's best captains was
Going stan duty at department headquar
ts-s al Texas. and three sub2lteTns were
On city az West Point
The same authority showed that only
twenty-eisbt OF the forty-seven officers OF
the Eleventh Infantry wertf with the col
Or about the sane date. while sixteen were
o detached service. two were on leave and
there were three vacancies in the grade OF
sacond lieutenant. The last Army list
showed that ore OF these vacancies had
been filled. and perhaps the other two have
since been filled. About the same time
only -wenty-six officers were present in the
Twelfth Infantry. although only eight were
stated 20 be on detached service. Blu five
were or leave. and there were four vucan-
cies- These data are noticed in detail be-
cause they have recently been published
as an evidence Of shortage OF officers
with the troops in the field.
Many on Detached Duty