The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-22
DISCIPLINE AND
LAlHVHs CAUSE
SOLDIERS TO QUIT
Officers and Enlisted Men at
Smelling EmphaticaIIy Deny
That Numerous Desertions
Are Due to Poor Food OF
Partially of Officers.

Good discipline and disinclination to
form an intimate acquaintance with
pick, shovel and rake are proving Ser1-
GUS handicapS to the heroic ambitions
of many enlisted men in the United
States army.
Last month twenty-five men desert
ed from Fort Smelling, and for three
months the average per company has
been two per month. Two deserters
from the Tenth battery. returned to
the post Thursday, assign poor rations
and discrimination of the officers as the
causes of their assertions. Both ,charg-
es are indignantly denied by officers
and men. .-e.4-s.,l,
The deserters, captured Thursday,
are Raymond Maxwell and Richard
Jensen. Capt. W. M Morrow, adjutant
of the post, says Maxwell has been
tried six times for minor offenses dur
ing his present enlistment, and ad
mitted, after capture, that he deserted
fearing that if he remained he would
be compelled to face a general court.
Jensen's previous record is not in pos
session of the officers of the post Capt.
Morrow said toll h e G. o b e:
ut is true that we are having large
number of deSertionS, but it is not true
that more are deserving from Smelling
than from othepy posts. Almost without
exception, the deSerterS are young men
serving their first enlistment. They are
attracted by the present high wages
paid for common labor and in the har-
vest fields. Many Of them do not real
ize what they are doing when they de-
sert, nor will they until winter comes.
Then they will wish themselves back
in the post. have received numerous
letters from parents of young soldiers
who have deserted. Heart-broken let
tiers they are, too, and more than one
home will forever; be closed to foolish
young men who have sacrificed their
citizenship andthei honor"
The enlisted men at Fort Smelling
take the assertions more to heart than
the officers appear to. A representative
of T h e G1 ODE discussed the deser-
lions and, their, causes with enlisted
men in the companies. the band and on
the nom commisSioned9sstaff. Without
exception they Indignantly denied par
Etiality on the part of the officers and
We're all agreed that the mess at SnelF-
ing is the best they have. received at
any of their several stations. 3lo III
81 The mess is a matter largely in the
hands of the men themselves, the quar-
termaSter Sergeants of the several COM
panies and commands having charge
of the communication of rations. The
Ineh say the ueSefteFS are uHueSlfdpie
soldiers and broadly hint that the Off
GERS and men of the regiment are not
only glad to get rid of undesirable ma
teriaI, but that they make slight effort
to capture deserters for punishment.
They say that Smelling is hardly UP
to the average post in the matter of
manual labor, which is a prime cause
for desertion in some posts. General
prisoners from posts throughout the
department are confined at Smelling,
and they, with the petty prisoners, do
most of the labor outside of the regu-
lar fatigue detail, which would other
wise fall to the lot of the men of the
command.