The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-09-05
WHAT is THE MATTER WITH THE
ARMY

The latest report of Adjutant-Gen-
eral +. c. Ainsworth, of the united
states Army, reveals the alarming fact
that in the last fiscal year there were
nearly five thousand assertions from
the military service of this country.
Counting assertions from the Philip
pine Scouts, the number is rolled up
to five thousand and thirty men, 4 In
twelve years fifty thousand men have
deserted. AS to this state of AFFAIRS,
General .Ainsworth says that the large
number of desertions SIS simply a dis
grace to the army and reproach to
American citizenship"
Mr.. Bailey Willard, in recent num-
Der of the Cosmopolitan, enters into
discussion of conditions in the service
and suggests that the responsibility for
so disgraceful a number of assertions
must be chiefly laid at the door of the
Government He supports much that
he said on a comparison with similar
conditions in the British Army, the
only large military organization which
can be likened to ours, since both the
armies of the United States and of
Great Britain have the same basis OF
voluntary enlistment. The percentage
of desertion in our army has been 4.97.
while in the British Army the percen-
tage has been but II.
Declaring that the outlook is for an
increasing number of assertions, Mr..
Willard writes:
1T is in, the dog-days that most men
desert. Over twenty-three per cent.
Of last years assertions occurred in
July and August A hot hike over a
dusty road in practice march, in
which the valiant private sees no sense
or reason; ditch to be dug under
the blazing summer sun; an acre OF
brush to be grubbed out or close,
smelly stable to be cleaned out by the
sweat of the cavalryman's brow, and
there is an end to the dream of mil
itary glory. 1t is a shock to
most young Americans who have en-
listed in the army to taste the delights
of military life to find that the most
important part of their training, from
the viewpoint OF the post commander,
Is to dig bitches. wash pots and pans.
wait on table, clean out stables, sweep
off walks, or cut brush in the hot sun.
These We're the conditions the desert
ers from the posts found in the army.
Soon they began to loathe the life 1t
sickened- their souls. 1t humbled their
pride, and they ran away from the SER
vice"
There We're but five companies In the
army last year from which there We're
no assertions. There We're few deser-
tons from any of the colored compa-
MES. Mr.. Willard says:
I'm fact, as they say In the army
the darkey rarely deserts. While or
the white troops 517 per cent, deserted
last year. of the colored troops only
SO per cent. We're reported as deserters
This Is because the colored man tinds
the service quite to his taste, On an
average he can do better in 1t than he
can out OF 1t, Hence he remains eats
Uncle SAINTS rations, does Uncle Sans
chores and Is happy. The white SOL
der deserts because the army Is dis
appointment TO him. The life Is some
thing other than he had pictured it.
70 do mental labor, to get down into a
ditch ON a hot day and WELD n shovel,
70 takeShis turn at scrubbing pots and
mans. Is not what he joined the army
for, and so he decamps,"
Another reason advanced by this
writer is that We are mot military
people" The tendency is too preva-
Ian 4 q rnonn. us to regard deSertlon lighL :