The National tribune., 1908-01-30

Gen. j. Franklin Bell, Chief of staff
of the United States Army, is a little
hard on the soldier.
Married men in the Army are I'M
questionably a burden" he says. so
also are married officers Nevertheless,
marriage is the normal condition Oh
mankind. To hold a man in service Tor
80 years and deny him the privilege Oh
normal life is impossible. To permit
all to marry is equally impossible. The
married private, as q rule, is more than
burden; he is a nuisance"
Would it add to the efficiency of the
service if men entering it took vows OF
eternal celibacy?
Gen Bell has also promulgated a
general order for the re-enlistment oil
men in the Army bound for the Phlilp-
pines This is done SO as to give them
a full tour OF duty in the islands and
to obviate sending men to the Islands
and having their term of enlistment
expire within a short time after their
arrival there. This was done in view
of the fact that a number of men fail
to re-enliSt.
The new order provides that for the
convenience of the Government three
months before the date of sailing de-
partment commanders are instructed
TO discharge ali enlisted men who on
the date of sailing from the Philippines
will have less than two ears and three
months to serve and VINO desire to be
discharged for immediate re-enlistment
such re-enlistment to be made on the
y day following that of the discharge.
This will, of course, not be done if the
soldier does not desire to re-enliSt I'M
mediately, ard the discharge certificates
and final statements will not be deliv-
cred until he has re-enlisted.
Non-commissioned officers who do
not desire to avail themselves of the
privilege of re-enlistment, and who have
80 days or more to serve, will be sent
with their organizations to the Philip
pines. Those who have less than 80
days and do not wish to re-enlist will
be discharged, for the convenience of
the Government
There was great flourish of trumpets
when 1.-The fleet" started on its globe
encircling trip about the wireless tele-
phone" communication that had been
established between the ships of the
fleet. There were those who were in
credulous about the matter, and who
thought it impossible that something
that had been only fairly successful I'M
der the best of conditions on land could
be so very perfect at sea, where con-
ditions would be bad. 1t is now stated
that while connection is easily formed
between the big ships, the communica-
tons are such a tumble of sounds and
SO frequently interrupted that the sys-
tenn proved practically useless and
had 20 be abandoned. The fleet is now
using the wireless telegraph system ex-
clGsively.
Failure to preserve the arc between
two sets of instruments is the cause of
the breakdown of the system. Almost
as soon as connections are made they
are broken and only portions of the
messages can be conveyed. The War
Department, it is understood. has not
lost hope that the invention will be
finally perfected.
Senator Wetmore, of Rhode Island,
has been returned to the United States
Senate for another six-years term.
After careful consideration by the
Ordnance Department and General Staff
of the Army, it has been decided to
adopt new haversack and cup for en-
listed men, of which so, 900 OF each will
be manufactured for issue as needed.
The haversack will be smaller than
that now in use, and it will be olive
drab in color, instead of khaki.
The size of the hayersack now in use
was determined after the Cuban cam
paign of the Spanish War, when it was
found that that then in use was too
small to take in bulk the articles of the
ration as then issued. The ration is
now issued in packages more suitable
for disposition in smaller space, with
the result that such large hayersack
is no longer needed. The new cup will
be made of aluminium. it will be small
er than the present one, and il viii be
carried inside of the haversack, where
by reflection of the sun viii be obyiated.
Senator whyte, of Maryland, pro-
poses to have the town of Frederick,
Md, reimbursed for the sum of $780,
600 in tribute which the Confederate
General, Jubal A. Early, levied upon
the place in the civil war Senator
Whyte has introduced a bill in the Sem
ate providing for the repayment of the
amount. He regards repayment as jus
titled, for the reason that citizens of
Frederick warned the authorities at
Washington of Early's purpose to at
tack the Capital, and thus made il
possible for a force to be assembled to
protect it against the Confederate
troops.
1t was In the Summer of 1864 that
Early's army Nrested at Frederick and
made preparations for the descent on
Washington. When Early discovered
that his plans had been made known
TO thu washington authorities he forced
the cidzens of Frederick to raise the
$2nS.160 mentioned on penalty of hay-
Sag the town burned and looted. The
bill would place the 100000 in the
hands of the Mayor and Aldermen of
Frederick, TO be distributed to the per-
sons who raised the ransom money or
their heirs.
Hon. Leslie NJ. Shaw, former Secre-
fary of the Treasury, was in the city
last week, and had a conference with
the President; but he isn't telling
neither is the Presidert-what that
conference was about. He declares he
said nothing about politics. He says
he isn't talking politics for publication.
Oh his plans he declares:
Il have now, for the first time in 40
years. a few days TO myself. and I'm
enjoying them TO the utmost. / am
just going to follow the advice of an
old farmer friend. He said when you
haven't anything in particular in view,
just watch the wind. If You Will watch
1t closely. YOU will see that pretty soon
1t will form a little eddy here or there.
where il whiris the dust together
That's where you want to be. I'm go
ing to watch for the dust.
Last night i was called up by tele-
phone. and a man asked me to answer
the following questions: Was / prepar-i
ing to run for the Presidency? Was ],
getting ready to run for the Vice Presl-
deacy? Was I about to be candidate