The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1909-01-30
National affairs

undergo a mild physical endurance test
there have been mufled protests. As
usual thing army and navy men over
forty years old do not keep themselves
in training and II is suspected that a
majority OF them after a horseback
ride OF ten or fifteen miles would ex
periencc considerable fatigue and sore
ness. The test required by the Pgesi-
dent was horseback ride OF ninety
miles in three consecutive days, a
pretty severe test for soft men of mid
die age, the majority of them weigh
ing perhaps two hundred pounds. but
what right has an army officer to
weigh two hundred poundsl The man
weighing that much is probably not III
good health and has spent too many
years since he was thirty in scdcntary
eating and drinking. He is too heavy
for an ordinary horse, and extraordi.
nary horses are hard to find a rider
in practice has an induratcd seat and
can easily ride thirty miles a day not
only for three consecutive days but
for ten or thirty. Welt the groans
and the protests oi the CAPTAINS, col
onelS and majors came to the ear of
the President, and he determined to
show them what the Commander in
Chief OF the Army and Navy could do
and to that end one day recently he
got up between three and four o'clock
in the morning. mounted his horse
and with three companions rode to
Warrcnton, Virginia, where he ate lun-
chcon and, after rest of hall an hour,
rode back To the White House, arriv-
ing about eight O'Clock AT night hay
ing covered III the round tr'p a dis
lance OF ninety eight miles more than
he has required regular army and navy
officers TO ride in three days. The
President weighs 200 pounds, but he is
apugh and as hard as nails. He has
been riding constantly Tor years, prob
ably about rs miles a day, and was oi
course in training There can be no
doubt but that there is too much ct-
icminacy and Soitncss among the Off
GERS both OF We army and OF the rSvy.
Mr.. Roosevelt doubtless remembers
the striking example OF General Shat
Ter who was ~ command oi the Cuban
army sent - midsummer to Cuba
The immensely stout old General
weighed probably three hundred and
hitv pounds. but in the way OF bag
gage he was like three hundred and
nifty ton milestone around the neck OF
the army His headquarters were
miles in the rear ~ the army and there
on coach gruaning with govt he swell
tered in the humid tropical July eli
mate
The Ewes and the treasure lost to
the country through promotion by sen.
iority OF unfit men will never be
known The only road "a physical FIT
al L Ia m
iousncss There can he no sufficient
exercise without abstcmiuusncSS. Rock
icllcr'S doctor has Just predicted that
the multi millionaire will live to he q
hundred years old because as he says,
he takes a great deal OF exercise in
open air and always leaves the table
hungry" OF course the doctor pro-
phcSy is not proved but ii may be as
sunrd tina, Rockefeller has about as
good ply stefan and as wise as money
will buy aud this hint and suggestion
IN the way oi preventive medicine is
me that every reader may note and
oft 10y without paying the bill that
R""k ,icllcr doubtless pays his
hcty.
That the present Congress is 81 the
opinion that the big prcsidcu; eject is
worth fifty thousand dollars a year
more than the President who has been
hourlshug the big stick Is plain to see.
Senator Culum reported thc lcgiSla-
tive. executive and judicial bill To the
Senate The most prominent feature
of this bill is nm increase OF the salary
OF the President ui the Uu,trd States
to one hundred thousand dollars a
year The same bin increase, the sal