Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-28

and after they have landed grab the first
horses they come to. and thereupon convert
some Of their number into cavalry. SO you
see, as Kipling said, marine is "a sort of
a blooming cosmopolouse"
Colonel Waller began his career in the
bombardment of Alexandria, and was next
sent to the Argentine Republic Then in the
Spanish-Amercan War he took part in all
the engagements at Santiago, including the
destruction Of the Spanish fleet on July 8,
1898. At this time, by the way, Colonel
Waller was one Of those who received a gold
medal for rescuing Spaniards from their
burning ships. There's an odd way of work.
ing the civilized mind has got into. You give
a man medal for taking lives of the enemy
in quantities until some one says, "Stopv
Then you turn round and give him another
medal for saving the same peoples lives. In
other words, civilization is a mental state 10
which things only seem right and wrong ac-
cording TO context.
Colonel Walters explanation of how he
rescued these toasting Spaniards is Just that
he and others went out in little boats and
took them off the burning ships, which
doubtless paints a vivid picture to expert
enced marines but leaves a good deal to the
imagination Of the average layman.
The Colonel was in the Philippines in 1899,
and the next year took the First Battalion
to China to help the assembled nations quell
the Boxer uprising. There he was made
Lieutenant Colonel 'by brevet" which means
for distinguished services. When you are
major, as Colonel Waller was when he ar
rived in China, you have charge of a bat
talon. On becoming a colonel, you get a
regiment which multpies the forces you
command by 81; one can do it out on paper,
from Brigade Commander through to Simple
and Compound Lieutenants--it is like learn
ing verb trees in foreign language.
Gave Up Fortune
Colonel Waller captured a rather interest
ing treasure in Tien-tsin. 1t was a collec-
! tion of silver shoes-I mean really silver
metal shoes. The Chinese call them sycees
That does seem a peculiar and rather incon.
venient form in which to keep your wealth
| Well, the forms were pretty well blighted by
| the time Colonel Waller got actual possession
| of the fortune, because the building in which
It was stored had been set on fire, either by
| gun fire or purposely by the Boxers before
they retired. When the half molten mass had
cooled off and been sorted out the Colonel
was ordered to sell the treasure to the high
est bidder. Each sycee brought about $G5,
! bringing the total sum up to about 100000,
all of which was turned over afterward to
the Chinese Government,
Colonel Waller was sent to the Philippines
again in 1901, and in 1903 was in command Of
! a regiment at Panama. That was the time
that our marines slid out of the Philadelphia
Navy Yard very quietly, all of a sudden.
| Then one morning the Colombians woke up
to discover us calmly sitting on all the i'm
| portant high spots round Panama. In 1906
| Colonel Waller went down to Cuba to dis
arm the insurrectionists and to make Cuba
look as much like a civilized and orderly
country as possible. In 1911 he was sent to
Cuba again, ito await developments in Mex
| leo"
Last year Colonel Waller had command Of
the land forces at Vera Cruz. Now, the
| Colonel tells me, we have a very erroneous
idea Of Vera Cruz He says 1t is probably the
cleanest, most sanitary Latin-American city
in existence. The percentage of sick among
our men while there was lower than 1t usually
is in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. More
over, he declares they suffered less from the
heat there than they do here, because they
had a trade breeze practically throughout
their stay. The first thing they did on ar.
irving was-no, not TO swat the fly, kerosene
the puddles or shoot the representative
citizens-but to put up shower baths. II they
couldn't work 1t any other way they stucl
barrel up a tree. Then / suppose ther,
was a bucket line OF marines day and nigh
leading up a ladder 10 the barrel. so that the
blessings OF marine officers might descend
from above, as they should.