The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-07
MARRIAGES in THE ARMY
WHY GENERAL CORBIN AND OTHERS
DIsCOUNTENANCE THEM.
Early and Improvfdent Ones, as Many
Such Unions Are, Are an Evil
Pathetic Instance.
Letter in New York Post.


Washington during recess to intercede for
army officer who had been ordered to the
Philippines. has directed attention to a
passage in the adjutant generals latest re-
port which has excited more comment than
any official utterance hereabouts in years.
This was the paragraph discountenancing
early and improvident marriages among
subalterns in the army. General Corbin
has been accused on all sides of Directing
TO marriage as an institution when the
military service Is to be affected by il. AS
matter of fact, he has always expressed
himself as believing that marriage was a
good thing for an officer who realizes in
advance the responsibilities attaching to
such a change of state, and whose own
salary or private means, or the dover of
his intended bride, is sufficient to justify il.
What he does object to. and what other
practical men in the higher military walks
object to as strongly as he, is the sort OF
complication typifed by the New England
case just mentioned. The circumstances
are pathetic The young man, with nothing
to depend on for a livelihood except his
salary OF s11667 a month married a young
woman as poor as he. who expects to be-
come mother in few months, and who
Is in a very overwrought nervous cond-
ton. II he goes to the opposite end of the
earth, he leaves her without home-roof
over her head. as they feel unable, on their
small income. to rent a dwelling. In this
situation. and realizing the distress which
his wife would suffer IL any interruption
occurred In the receipt OF his monthly sti-
pend. he is almos1 beside himself at the
thought OF going away. 1t has been hard
enough for them to get along on HIS salary
while together; apart. IL would cost them
more to live, even If he remained at some
out-of-the-way post in this country; and
when IL is remembered that the most ex-
pensive place or residence under the turis-
d1ction or the United States is the Philip
pine archipelago, the chances are that the
husband will be able to spare the wife very
little indeed, and may have to run into debt
In order to do that
WEST POINT ENTANGLEMENTS.
1t is estimated that three-quarters of the
mail received at the War Department. deal
ing with the personal affairs of officers, has
for Its burden such cases as this. modified
by individual conditions. A pretty large ele-
ment In tn category Of inexpedient matri-
mony comes through the glitter of the COM
mencement exercises at West Point For
the better part Of four years the young men
seclusion. Their knowledge Of the ways of
womankind Is as limited as 1t could very
well be, and in the glamour of the closing
hours, with music and dancing, moonlight
walks and brilliant costumes, many of the
cadets become involved In love affairs with
out the slightest thought of the inevitable
sequel A year or two later the department.
hears from part OF these with some sorry
s stoTy. Perhaps the young people have
minds when they plunged into their hasty
union; and now. in order to hide their
troubles from the world, the husband
where there are no married quarters" so
that the wife will have an outward excuse
Tor going back TO her parental home. Or
money Is scarce, and they want to go to
some remote garrison, where no expendi-
lures will be expected of them. Or inspec-
tion confirms the complaint made by COM
mandant that such-and-such a young off,
Ger Is always shabby and of unsoldierly
appearance. and quiet inquiry brings out
the fact that, as both wife and husband
cannot wear gaudy plumage on small pay
the wife took precedence became her
sex. Or, vastly worse, the young officer, as
ignorant Of practical business as he former
ly was OF matrimony, has been borrowing
right and left from his comrades until he
Is distracted In mind and does not know
which way to turn. 1t is at this stage that
the temptation to duplicate pay accounts
becomes strong; and many a well-meaning
young fellow. finding 1t impossible to keep
two mouths fed and two bodies clad on one
Il
which he knows would doom him to dis
honor If found out, but whose effect he
hopes TO intercept before it reaches the
verge of exposure. 1t is the old story of
the bank teller, who borrows trife from
the vault with the full expectation Of pay
ing II back before the examiner arrives.
ceed at other times 1t fails, and then come
scandal and dishOnor.
DEBTS BECOME A BURDEN
Old officers familiar with army conditions
say that 1t would surprise the public to
know how many OF the graduates of West
Point leave the institution from $3.50 to $3.50
in debt to the tailor. This must on a Sec
ond lieutenant's pay be worked out by slow
degrees If meanwhile the newly made
officer has contracted an i'll considered mar
riage he finds himself obligated to the sup
port of one or perhaps two persons besides
misunderstanding and not producing ad-
ditions-and the percentage of his possible
savings Is shaved down TO the narrowest
limit. For while he can endure the extra
burden without complaint. but when mail
after mail brings dunning letters, some
times accompanied by threats of a report
to the department. the thing begins to wear
on his nerves; and no officer, old or Young
whose mind is harrassed with cares and
his nights made sleepless with wondering
how he Is going to work out of private
troubles can do full justice to the exacting
duties demanded OF him by the government.
AiCoaoiy tne departmental authorities
would not feel so strongly on this point If
the attention they owe to other and larger
interests were not diverted so much of fhe
time to the individual msfortunes OF Junior
officers Such cases excite the symnathv
or senators and representatives who ner
maps remember early struggles of their
own. They do not pause TO reflect that an
army officer when he seeks his commits
sion abandons the liberty he would have
enjoyed as civilian and consecrates him
self to life profession hedsed about With
hn
whose heart Is stirred descends unon The
department full of faith that ne Sg0a SUE t6le
and appeal Will do what logic cannot. and
the longer the secretary of war or the adj
Jutant general holds out the greater the
waste OF pubic time on both sides The
present move against rash matrimony is q
move In the direction OF governmental
economy ana good administration not less
than or military discipline
Nothing marks more clearly the differ
ence between army and navy than This
matter of the obtrusion of the private and
domestic affairs Of individual officers unon
the attention of the department Arrn,-
of1cers who got their drill i'm the old bard
school. and at time when military SERVICE
was not regarded by anybody as a picnic
criticise their brethren with severe com
parsons. NO naval officer they saw. seems
so young or inexperienced i'm life as 70
ignore the fact that when he dons his
epaulets he bows the same Dafr of ShouIdare
10 all the responsibilities which 90 Sritk
the uniform IL is a very uncommo1 tbi,sr
indeed. 10 hear In the navy of such a CO.,
as That which furnished a text for fbaso
lines. On the other hand IN is NOT 81 al
rare 10 see naval officer returning fror1
tour OF distant duty to greet child