The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-03-12

tory that all the men left as soon as
the Troy laundry came to. Astoria ana
those who did not go there found
IChmese laundry. The men have al
WAYS been looked after to see thai
they paid they bills and MS a company
Icommander | have gone 10 those WhI
fused to do the washing and merchants
who dealt most with the men ana got
Item the names of any man who was
failing behind and seen that they pal,
Iun. Since the establishment ot tht
Exchange the exchange has cashcd tht
/ final statements Of mon AT face vAlut
in order that they might pay any debt,
land have no excuse for going 10 Port
Hand to the paymaster owing {" ;
icSargs besag made ;a cash taeiY hna
Statements In addition 10 this hay,
lno.ided the merchants of Hammond
that any bills owing by these men ant
lcontracted before the establishment oi
1.-THE exchange. il brought to the ex-
change l would see that they wer,
collected. Only ole case has bees
presented and the man willingly paid
his bill of $+75,
The men as whole are willing &c
pay their debts, and believe the will
mgness with which company COM
manders have insisted that men pay
their bills has brought about a bad
practice among merchants in Ham,
In1ond Of allowing men to run up large
accounts with them. as high even a.
$50. 1T is also claimed that the pos
! exchange sell goods 10 outsiders
thereby diverting trade from the Ham
mond merchants to the post exchange.
Goods are not sold to civilians other
than those employed in the govern
Iment service, ana these have been dis,
Icouraged as much as possible as the
exchange has not been in a position
to handle this business and attend
properly TO the work incident to its
establishment. Several OF the life Saw,
ing crew and the engineer employees
asked to be allowed to trade, but have
been put off.
The statement "it is claimed by
those in a position TO know that all
this is contrary to army regulations" "
that soldiers are not allowed to draw
over one-third of their wages in goods
from the exchange and that the ex.
change is not allowed to sell goods to
outside parties not in any way connect
ed with government service" is not
warranted by facts, as there Is Nc
regulation limiting the amount of cred.
1t TO one-third of a mans pay, but is
governed by the order quoted above
land the paragraph of exchange regula-
.tions as to civilians entering the ex
change is carried out
That it is further claimed that by
Iallowing men tn draw goods from the
post exchange up to the full amount
of their wages, has been productive Of
many desertions from the army, in
fact, nearly all the desertions are
traceable directly to the actions Of
post exchanges" can not be sustained
by the facts During the IS days pre-
ceding the establishment of the ex-
change there were 13 desertions from
this post and for the 76 days the eX-
change has been running only two
desertions have occurred. For the
same period before the exchange was
'opened there were 10 general courts
martial and q summary trials with an
average Of 4 2-3 men in confinement,
and since the exchange was opened ,
general courts martial and IA sum
mary trials (none from December 23
to February s. and men present in
confinement.
From these facts it can hardly be
believed that desertions are traceable
directly to the actions of post "x-
changes.
H. L. STEELE,
Captain Artillery Corps, officer in
Charge Post Exchange.
Sixth Endorsement, Headquarters De-
partment Of the Columbia, Vancouv-
rr Barracks, Wash, February 13, 1905.
Respectfully returned to the military
secretary. war department, inviting at.
.tention to the inclosed report and in
.dorsement Of the commanding officer,
Fort Stevens, Ore. No rights of trades
people in Hammond are believed to
have been infringed.
(Signed)
CONSTANT WILLIAMS,
Brigadier General, Commanding.