Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-03-29
TOO BIG FOR ARMY
CARL HUGO MULLER QUITS
UNCLE SANS SERVICE.
Is Six Feet Eight Inches Tall and HIS
Clothes for Year Cost More
Than His Entire Allow
ance and Pay.

Washington.-Carl Ludwig William
Christian Hugo Muller has had to
leave the signal corps of the United
States army because he is too big.
He stands six feet eight inches In his
stocking feet. Therefore his clothes
must be made to order and the cost
of them eats up his pay, as Uncle Sam
does not calculate, when he cuts out
uniforms in job lots for private SOL
diers and sailors, on having to make
an occasional uniform to order.
The pay of a private In the signal
corps is SIG a month for the first term
of enlistment, which is three years.
The clothing allowance of tirst-class
private, according to the regulations,
is about $13S.42 for one enlistment, or
approximately $46 year. But this
calculation is made for normal men.
The army gets it's clothing supplies in
job lots and the biggest ordinary man
has no trouble in getting fitted. The
quartermaster can always take care OF
a man who is six feet four inches IN
height and who weighs upward OF zoo
pounds, but when man is turned
over to him who stands six feet eight,
they are both up against it. This was
the case when Hugo Muller appeared
as recruit for the signal corps. The
result was that all his clothes had to
be made to order, according to special
measurements. This cost the govern
ment something. Hugo would not
have cared what it cost the govern
ment and would not even have inquir-
ed if the government had not taken
the difference out of his pay.
Muller enlisted on June Z, 1905, and
was ordered to Fort Myer, Va, just
across the Potomac from Washington.
For two months he received his pay
regularly. Then 1t stopped and Null
Ter got no money. He inquired about
the matter and was told that his pay
had been applied to his account for
clothes, which was far In excess OF
the regular allowance. At the end OF
the first year, according to his officers,
he was $148 behind and his father was
called upon for that amount.
The calculations were as follows:
His ordinary allowance for clothes in
a year would be $46. His pay for a
year should be $156. But he had col
lected two months pay, which amount
ed to $26. Therefore he was due $3.50
in pay. This and the $46 annual al
lowance for clothes amounted to $176.
But Muller's father was called upon
for an additional $14S, which shows
the cost of Muller's clothing for the
first year, according to the calcula-
tons of the signal officers, to have
been 1924.
When, after considerable trouble,
Capt. Muller obtained the discharge
of his son from the signal corps, he
was asked to make third settlement
of 500 and some cents. This aroused
the fighting spirit of the old sea horse
and he brought the matter before Gen.
Greeley. The general offered to waive
the amount If the boy were allowed to
remain in the regiment. This offer,
however, was declined by both father
and son, and young Muller is now
hunting jobs where clothes will not
play such an important part, but
where inches count for lot.
Hugo Muller, despite his size, Is a
young man good to look upon, with
great, laughing brown eyes, dark hair,
and rosy cheeks, and, although his
measurements are abnormal, they are
all in perfect proportion. He wears
Is shoes, IL glove, his chest meas
ures As inches and his waist 40, and
his weight is over 235 pounds. His
great army overcoat is fully as long
as an ordinary man, measuring IS
inches in length.