Middletown transcript., 1909-01-23
WASHINGTON LETTER

= X -<AoAAANNAOnss Ns Va SAuoaAy $uGut AOV0s
III EVER since the command from th
White House went forth that arm,
and navy officers would be required t,
undergo mild physical endurance tes
! there have been mufled proteels. As /
usual thing army and navy men over forty
! years old do not keep themselves in train
ing and il is suspected that majority O
8 them after horseback ride of ten or fif
teen miles would experience considerable
fatigue or soreness. The test required b
| the President was a horseback ride o
ninety miles in three consecutive days, 3
pretty severe test for soft men Of middle
age, the majority of them weighing per.
haps two hundred pounds but what right
has an army officer TO weigh two hundred
pounds ? The man weighing that much
Iis probably not in good health and has
spent too many years since he was thirty
| in sedentry eating and drinking. He is
too heavy for an ordinary horse, and ex.
traordinary horses are bard to find. A
rider in practice has an indurated seat
and can easily ride thirty miles day not
only for three consecutive days but for
ten or thirty. Well, the groans and the
protests of the captains, colonies and ma
jors came to the ears 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
this week he got up between three aud
four o'clock in the morning, mounted bis
horse and with three companions rode to
Warrenton, Virginia, where he ate lun-
cheon, and, after a rest Of half an hour,
rode back to the White House, arriving
about eight o'clock at night, having COW
cred in the round trip a distance of
ninety-eight miles; in other words, having
ridden in one day eight miles more than
be has required regular army and navy
officers to ride in three days. The Presi.
dent weighs two hundred pounds but he
is tough and as hard as nails. He has
been riding constantly for years probably
about eighteen miles day and. was Of
course in training. There can be 10
doubt but that there is too much effemi.
macy and softness among the officers both
of the army and of the navy. Mr.. Roose-
velt doubtless remembers the striking ex.
ample of General Shafter who was in conn
mand Of the Cuban army sent ia midsum.
mer to Cuba. The immensely stout old
General weighed probably three hundred
and Fifty pounds but in the way Of bag.
gage he was like three hundred and fifty
ton millstone around the neck OF the army.
His headquarters we're miles in the rear
Of army and there on couch groaning
with gout be sWeltered in the humid trop.
ical July climate.
The lives and the treasure lost to the /
country through promotion by seniority
Of unfit men will never be known. The
only road to physical fitness Is through
exerciseand abstemiousness. There can be j
no sufficient exercise without abstemious-
ness. Rockefeller's doctor has just pre-
dicted that the multi-millionaire will live
to be hundred years old because as be
says, ''he takes great deal of exercise in
open air and always leaves the table hun
gry." Of course the doctors prophesy is
not proved but it may be assumed that
Rockefeller has about as good physician
and as wise as money will buy and this
hint and suggestion in the way Of preven-
tive medicine is one that every reader
may note and profit by without paying
the bill that Mr.. Rockefeller doubtless pays
bis doctor.
~
That the present Congress is of the
opinion that the big President elect is
worth fifty thousand dollars a year mora
than the President who has been flourish
ing the big stick in plain to zee. Yester.
day Senator Cullom reported the legisls-
live, executive and Judicial bill to the
Senate. The most prominent feature Of
this bill is an increase of the salary of the.
President ofthe United States to one Eun-
dred thousand dollars year. The came
bill increases the salary of the Vice Presi-
dentto twenty thousand dollars, and that
Of the Speaker to the House to twenty
thousand. This is doubling of the salaries
for all three Offices. Until the election of
President Grant the salary of the Presi-
dent Of the United States was onlyl
twenty-five thousand dollars q year and
now after thirty-seyen years ct fifty thous-
and dollars i is proposed again to double !
i. The wealth Of the country has more /
than doubled since the Presidents salary
was last increased and there are number
Of men, presidents of much smaller cor.
porations Than the United Statssof Amer
lea, who are receiving yearly salary OF &
more than il is now proposed to pay the
President. Ii
The branch Of the Government, how.
syer, in most urgent need Of an increase j
of salary is the Federal Judiciary. The /
Justices Of the Supreme and Federal /
0OuAeS, AdSeS AAc WIG u1Cb WIZ AOtu suC l.
scales Of corruption and the ordinary cares ,
Of life that they may be able TO administer
the law In an atmosphere of serenity and
calrnness far removed from secular con- h
Germ. Complete conservation ofsuch men
cannot be expected, unless they shall re-
,eive compensating salaries ii
Fl
i Is refreshing to know thatthe feturn. |
ing Congressman from Panama speak
hopefully and encouragingly Of the pro-
sfess Of the Panama Canal and add their I
voices 70 the prediction that il will be tin.
shed in six years
New Artiaeial Marble II
According % the Denver Post mar Il
ole-lfke material declared to be great
advantage over other artificial stone Is now !
made from the waste slag Of blast fur.