Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-27
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
While we are discussing the increase of
salaries of government employees, we
should not forget the officers Of the army
and navy, whose pay is altogether too
small and has not been advanced for half
century, although the expense of living
has doubled during that time. Since the
Spanish war both branches of the service
have had their expenses increased by the
more frequent transfers from post to post
and to and from Cuba and the Philippines,
for which no allowance is made; and the
new law which prohibits railway companies
from granting passes hits the officers of
the army very hard.
When regiment is transferred from one
post to another the officers and the few
married soldiers who are found in every
regiment are, of course accompanied by
their families and hitherto free transport
tation has always been generously furnish
ed them by the railways which have OBJ
tanned the contract to transport the troops.
When the quartermaSte has been making
arrangements for this transportation the
representative of the railway has invari-
ably asked for the names of the wives and
children and even the servants of officers
families and has issued passes to every
one of them. It has been customary, too,
for the railroads to make no charge for
tne transportation OIL extra personal bag
gage and household effects. But, under
the law, that cannot. be done any longer.
An officer who is transferred from Fortress
Monroe or Atlanta or Fort Ethan Allen,
VT, to San Francisco or Fort Reno or any
other western post, or who is sent to the
Philippines or to Cuba is compelled to pay
full fare for every member of his family
and such servants as he takes with him,
and the regular rates of freight for all of
his extra baggage.
To man with wife and three or four
children this is a very heavy charge and
exhausts two or three months pay. In
addition to this there is always consdera-
BILE expense in making removals that can
not be avoided-the cost of packing and I'M
packing, of adjusting old furniture and
carpets into new houses, of making re-
pairs and supplying omissions that are I'M
foreSeen.
Cost of Transfers.
The old adage that three moves are as
good a fire. holds good with army
families, as it does with everybody, and
yet the government makes no allowance for
the personal losses occasioned by changes
of station These necessary expenses have
been growing every year; regiment sell
dom remains more than two years at a
post; but the pay remains the same Since
the Spanish war nearly every regiment in
the army and every officer has had tour
of duty in the Philippines, and while there
is an order allowing officers families and
servants to cross the Pacific on the trans
ports and to send their household goods
in the same way, by paying dollar a day
per person for subsistence, there is always
a very large expense attending these re-
movals that cannot be avoided and for
which the officer receives no allowance. 1t
takes at least three four months pay
to transfer the household of an army
officer from an eastern post in the United
States to the Philippines, and most of them
are compelled to leave their families at
home for that reason.
AID hot e @l,,%
army people in the Philippines are COM
PEELED to pay heavy duty upon every
necessary of life they receive from home
upon the children's shoes and stockings,
upon all other clothing they wear upon
every dishpan and teapot and every ke-o-
sene lamp, upon all imported food. even
when it comes from the United States
This makes living very expensive, much
country. l do not suppose that Congress
ever intended to compel officers of the
army and navy out of their small pay to
contribute toward the support of the
there was any desire to increase their liv-
ing expenses, but 1t has been done all the
same and their pay is inadequate. 1t is a
mystery how some officers families man
age to make both ends meet.
Duty on Goods in the Philippines.
have heard pathetic stories about the
economies which they have been compelled
to practice to keep up the appearances
that every officer is required to maintain
and Of the privations that are suffered not
only by officers wives and children. but
even more frequently by the widows of
those who have died for their country and
have left their families destitute, with moth
ing but meager pension
1t seems pretty hard to compel a soldier
serving his flag in the Philippines to pay
duty upon every comfort as we'll as every
luxury that is sent to him from home.
hoy IN wi III rfay, ant
was compelled to pay duty on the sword
worn by his father in the civil war, and
which he had inherited the most pre-
cious legacy that could be left him. He
inspiration well as a remembrance, and
when he got to the Philippines his own
government made him pay duty on it.
have known the collector of customs at
sent in the malls by a mother in Detroit to
her daughter, who was the wife of a soldier
in Manila; know white-haired brigadier
general at Manila who had to pay duty on
a pair of shoes that was sent him oy a
friend in Rochester. The customs officials
admit free of duty the household effects
an officer brings with him when he arrives
for tour of duty, but if a baby carriage
high chair or a dozen towels or pair
of sheets arrive afterward he is compelled
to pay the usual duty upon them.
The collectors of customs who assess
these taxes and the congressman who au-
thoriZe them are perfectly aware that the
officer who is compelled to pay them is not
in the Philippines by choice, but under or
ders from his government. They know
also that he does not expect to rema lin
there more than two years, which is the
usual limit of duty. and when he returns
to the states he takes these same articles
with him. Therefore he is required to pay
from Is to 60 per cent of the value of the
articles for the privilege of using them a
few months.
A second lieutenant receives the munifi-
cent compensation of ST. 400 a year, a first
lieutenant $1,000 and a captain $500, ex-
cept those in the cavalry, who have $1OO
more in each grade. An additional 10 per
cent is allowed for service in the Philip
pines, but that does not cover one-fourth
of the additional household expenses which
such service makes necessary. 1t does not
pay the duty upon the full outfit of clothing
which is required by every member of the
family because of the change in climate.
Ohfcers' uniforms are very expensive and
represent an investment OF nearly 81 600
which must be renewed frequently, and
that is point which Congress never takes
into consideration.
II 1t is not considered expedient to in
crease the pay roll Of the army Congress
might at least provide for the travelling ex-
penses of the families Of officers and mar
ried soldiers when they are transferred
from one post to another, or at least to au-
thorize the interstate commerce commission
to permit them to accent railway masses