The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09
GEN. YOUNG OF THE ARMY
MAN WHO PROBABLY WILL SUCCEED
MILES AS COMMANDER.
More than Forty Years I'm the Service
and Every Inch n soidier-His Ex-
pcrIences with Royalty.


said. 1.-The stories wouldn't have gone so
well II ve had been telling them in this
country
General Young had been talking about
King Edward and Emperor William. how
he and General Corbin had lunched with
the King, and had related a few American
tales TO cheer up tho assembled party.
The lntimation was plain. He and General
Corbin. both famous story tellers. had un-
loaded good ones, but old. on his imperial
Majesty. King of Great Britain. Emperor
of India and defender of faith. and had
made a hit.
''Oh, WELL" said the general, "a story is
always good II you tell it to somebody who
has not heard 1t before"
The general and General Corbin in long
years OF army work accumulated a great
mass OF stories of one kind and another,
and had. by judicious elimination. taken
bunch of them to Germany and England
that could pass muster among the crowned
heads, even IL they might be greeted with
5ibes. because of their age, in the Army
and Navy Club in Washington.
England IS years ahead of us in some
things" the general continued. But we
had a running start of the storytelling
question a hundred years ago, and they
never will catch up. We found the kings
and emperOrs we associated with could ap-
preciate a joke as well as any one. Conse-
quently dug up the good ones and told
them. and they were received with great
applause.
German army maneuvers that the Emperor
and King Edward were as human any
two men i ever met. They are companion
able. genial fellows. and when General
Corbin and General Wood and myself were
talking to them they were glad enough
TO have things cnlivened by few tales of
western life as We knew it.
Now, there the story Corbin told
King Edward at the luncheon at the Buck
1ngham Palace"
General Young stopped and chuckled
again
They said the King had not laughed
so much In ten years. You see. Corbin
ranked me. and he talked first to the King.
4 stood nearby and watched them talk. In
chat way had fine chance to study the
dome Of the Capitol over the Maltby build
ing. And when he told that story 1t was
surprising to see the King laugh. But no
GIANT OF A MAN.
General Young chuckled again. He is
giant of man, this future general COM
manding OF the United States army. Just
now he is the head of the war college board.
which has its offices in the big brick house
next to the temporary White House, where
President Roosevelt lives. The big front
room. where the general sits, was the draw
ing room of a mansion when the smart peo-
pie of Washington lived in that part of the
town. The general has his desk up by some
long. old-fashioned windows that stretch
from ceiling TO floor. In the rear rooms his
aides were busily engaged on his report
or the German maneuvers, which he, Gen
eral Corbin and Gen. Leonard Wood at
tended as the guests of the Kaiser
There are no finer specimens of physical
manhood I'm the American army than Gen
erals Corbin and Young Each is more
than six feet. and all that-but this is a
story about Young, whom General Corbin
q few days ago announced was TO succeed
TO be sure, General Corbin. although he is
very powerful in army affairs, does not
have the appointment of the commanding
generals. but he said Young was to get the
place, and there has been no protest from
the White House, 1t is conceded that he
knows what he is talking about.
General Young weighs 235 pounds His
chest is one of those big, barre-shaped af-
fairs that furnish life TO big men. 1t tapers
20 waist that even forty years of cam
paigning In four wars have not yet sue
ceeded in making unshapely. The legs that
support this massive trunk are pillars of
strength The arms are long and the hands
He went to the great war as a private in
1851, served through IL CALAMITY and came
out brigadier. Then he went into the
regular army second lieutenant and
now he Is the senior major general and will
succeed General Miles at the head of the
army in August, 1903.
General Young is handsome man. His
face Is round and red 1t is the face of a
s9idier. Ills hair is white There is plenty
OF IL. and he parts ii in the middle and lets
II wave over his temples. There is not. a
trace or the effeminate in that hair. II
!orms silver frame Tor strong, attrac-
tive face. The cheeks are ruddy That is
the exact word. There is just a suspicion
OF retrousse. as the novelist would say
about the nose. A close-cropped mustache
shades no in n.
general smiles a row OF strong. white, even
teeth come into view. When he laughs his
enormous shoulders bob up and down and
his great chest shakes.
'Ha. ha," he said during his heartiest
laugh. "Corbin said: Now, your Majesty
erai laughed for minute ana 1e 1ne g saG
King so tickled, but as l was saying
General Young threw one leg over the other
and took up red-covered memorandum
book from his desk.
GOOD TIME ABROAD.
Then he closed the book and never opened
AZ again, but he talked for an hour about
the trip to Germany and to England and tc
France.
They had a good time, those American
generals. who went abroad: there's nc
doubt about that. OF course. General Youne
refrained from saying anything about it
but it was evident from his talk that hi
and Corbin and Wood struck the most per
suasive, far-reaching and insistent case OF
lizards across the sea- that any Ameri
cans travelling in foreign parts have en-
countered in many years.
Germany was friendly through the En-
peror. and England was more so through
the King. Each person in authority ac
cording to the experiences OF the three
American generals tried 10 show these rep
rcsentatives Of this country's army that the
only original traditional friend of tn,
United States was the sovereign he repre-
scented. and the sovereign themselves were
not far behind in this endeavor. Genera
Young had nothing TO say on this point
but his experiences spoke for themselves
You understood said the general ''tha
even II / felt so disposed / could not say
one word OF comparison between our army
and that OF Germany. The secretary o.
war has forbidden that, and has ordered
Us to keep our comment OF the report W,
are TO make. However, there is no restric
tion on regards our experiences tn,
people we met and what we think of them
and 1 may say that / talked with I'll,
Kaiser and King Edward enough TO find on
that great as their estate IS, they are essen
TALLY human beings, and men I'm ever,
sense OF the word. Both are what we wouIC
call good fellows. They like congenia
company. good stories. good dinners and !
good cigar. They are neither one OF then
so hedged in with the sense Of their owr
Importance that they cannot meet every
body on common footing. and they cav
me the impression OF being bully chan,
whom IL would be a pleasure to run acros.
anywhere.
I'VE were in Germany a few days befor,