Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-05-31
FRIDAY, MAY 81. 1907.
OUR DEPLETED ARMY.

y The man who distributes anti.impe-
REALISTIC pamphlets will shout with
; glee whom he learns that our regular
army Is Just now presenting very
irregular front because of tho large
number Of vacancies In the various
regiments. The Department Of tho
East, q division incll,i;ng fcrtynine
I Snrrlsons In New England aui the
{ North Atlantic States, should have TO-
s7G2 prlvates enrolled but has barely
$500. In an army as small MS that
sSof the United States n shortage of
two thousand and odd men creates Il,
big hole--one large. enough indeed, to
u make the antEimperlallst heiSeso that
prospective recruits read his philoso.
optical ESSAYS before taking the fatal
sydownward step.
Army officers, however, explain the
shortage differently; they attribute 1t
TO sthe high prico of labor and the
rigid admission tests now applied by
4 the War Department. For the first
five years enlistment privates receive
!; from s13 to SIS a month, according to
Z the year of service: the second terri,
OF enlistment begins with $40 n
\ month, corporals in artillery Infantry
and cavalry get So ana tsergeun's SIS
moro than prlyates In and around
!; New York servants get from SIS to
4 $40, according to circumstances and
$s"men of all work." have no difficulty
In garnering from 50 to SO daily. Up
In Connecticut farmhands can now
draw $50 monthly and board, while
in the Middle West they can get about
what they have the nerve to ask for.
The pnsklllcd laborer skllful enough
Ito get q city job ms street sweeper
Will earn $50 month and IL an
s"easyt' Legislature comes into power,
maybe $50. Many of these persons
& come and so as they please spending
as much money and time in circuses
and penny arcades as they choose, and
varying their diet and drinks with no
z more restraint than that imposed by
the Penal Code. If money and free
dom are the chief considerations. no
ambitious young man will pick tho
{ career OF private in the regular
army.
Army officers, 1t Is true, show cor.
Rincinsly that a priyates financial
q prospects are much better than IS us.
ually supposed. A soldier can, with
.isoat promotions, save from $4,000 to
& $1,000 by long service and retire on a
4 monthly pension of S25. The unslill.
ed laborer cannot hope for anything
ezl IKE this. Hence, IL logic made the
Ia world go round. the ranks would fill
up In trice. But the Increased rig.
idity of admission tests and, still
more prominently the average mans
,S3unwise alteration OF the maxim about
Il bird In tho hand keep the quota
I down. The dilemma is this: The army
rejects the unamlstious. improvident
5 man and the ambitious money saver
s rejects the army because. by spending
\ few months In learning n trade or
onirnercial occupation, he can earn
from 80 to 81 day. and as an ener-
getic civilian is free to follow UP op
portunities for speculation and better
employment. Wise men will tell tbs
Z prospective recruit that his homes Of
fortune may be nipped by bad judg
& ,nent labor crisis or sickness
whereas the soldiers pay and sup
port keep marchlng on SO long al
Uncle Sam can totter forward. Bui
the young man at the Threshold of al
active life IS at present so encom