The San Francisco call., 1904-04-28
4rmy Scandals Re0eaIed.
Special Correspondence.

April 14.-Contained in the last news
papers TO hand from Vienna are
lengthy extracts from a new work
written by an Austrian officer on the
lines Of In a Little Garrison Town, y
which might have attracted almost as
much attention as Bilse's book, had not
the German lieutenant been first in
the field. The latter work. which pro-
fesses TO expose the existence Of whole
sale corruption in the army Of the
Dual Monarchy, is called In x. and
X. Diensten," and has the subtitle,
Pictures Ct Military Morals From
Austrian Garrisons"' Its author, how
ever. has avoided a punishment sim
liar to that suffered by Bilse-and in
cidentally foregone the pecuniary re-
wards of such martyrdom-for, before
publishing his volume, he threw up his
commission. He writes anonymously,
but is said TO be a prominent figure
in the Austrian sporting world. At
any rate, his criticisms on what he al
leges is the present state Of the Aus
trian army are drastic, and it is
thought in Vienna that the book can
not be ignored by the powers that be.
The scene Of In X. and K. Diensten'
is laid in the garrison towns of p.
CPrague), X. (Kracow) and Pre-. (Pre-
zemyo). the latter Of which is described
as the most corrupt Of all The writer
says that the regiment in which he
served was commanded by a Colonel
Srechwitzer. nicknamed stupid Dow
idl" who. he declares, mounted his
horse no more than ten times in a year.
The officers lectures are described by
the author as helpless stammerings,"
and he declares that his rank of gen
eral was obtained entirely by trucking
and lickspittling. The lieutenant
colonel Of the regiment is said to be
.the possessor Of several orders, but alb
solutely incompetent For years. says
The author. he used his position to
embezzle moneys intrusted TO him, be-
ing abetted in this easy means of earn
ing a living by his adjutant, Lieuten-
ant Mahcek, who, however, himself
head over heels in debt, finally began
rcbbing his superior officer. At last
the lieutenant colonel revenged himself
by reporting the adjutant, who was
sentenced 10 five years Imprisonment
ssnd degradation. The lectures deliv-
'ered by the major Of the regiment
were. says the writer. such monuments
OF incapacity that he finally had to ask
the captain not TO correct him before
the younger officers. Enraged at this
humiliation, however, he vented his
spite by ordering horseback exercises
TO be held in the open air-instead Of in
the riding schOOl-the thermometer at
the time registering below zero, and
by ordering tn regimental doctor to
reject all cases Of sickness in connec-
tion with the riding school, until not
a man Of them was left" The book is
filed. also, with accusations Of cruelty
on the part Of the officers toward the
men Under them. Concerning the work,
the Vienna Arbeiter Zeitung says: In
how far these occurrences, admitting
their accuracy, can be regarded as
typical Of the whole army, we would
not like to decide. If the corps Of Of
icers were to have but a 10 per cent So
luton Of this putrid pus IN its 'vener-
able body. we should have to describe
il as completely diseased and morally
poisoned viii Herr V. Pitreich Cwar
Minister) be able to refute the suspicion
OF disease2"
Although the United Services College
AT Westward Ho has graduated over
1900 pupils since It's establishment in
1874, public interest in the place has
been keenest-since its doom as a
school was sounded recently-as Rud-
yard Kipling's alma mater. The col
lege was, of course, the scene of
rStalky & Co.." and nearly all the
characters drawn therein are associated
with Kipling's school life at Westward
Ho. The master described as the
head" still is connected with the
school in the person of Cornell Price,
one Of the few of his instructors for
whom KiDling had a good word TO say
in this account Of his schoolbOy DAYS
Kipling's old room is still to be SEEN
likewise some of his old schoolbooks
with many characteristic autograph in
scriptions. The United Services College
iS being transferred from Westward Ho
TO Harpenden, the North Devon town
being hard to get at, whereas Harpen-
den is only twenty-five miles from
London.
1t is not generally known why the
project TO mark with a commemorative
tablet the house in Metz, Germany,
where Paul Verlaine was born has sud-
denly been abandoned. It seems. how
ever. that just at the last minute some
one connected with German oficiaIdom
hit upon an old poem Of Verlaine's in
which he roasted" the Kaiser, when
William ii instantly gave orders that
no further honor TO the poets memory
should be paid in the Fatherland.
Little or nothing got into the English
newspapers regarding DR.. Conan
Doyle's recent motor accident, but it
was a remarkably close call for the
author of Sherlock Holmes" The lit
erary knight, who recently has become
one OF the keenest Of automObilists,
was motoring back to his home at
Hindhead with his brother, and was