The Washington herald., 1916-10-28
Seen and Heard by George Miner.


New York, Oct 27-After four months of prac-
tcal experimenting it seems really too bad that
the United States army, at least that part of it
which was sworn in during the excitement last
spring, has not been brought to raore satisfac-
tory state of organization far as the convent
ence of the soldiers themselves is concerned.
After all these weeks and months on the border
and in mobilization camps it would seem to the
in the that the routine should be pretty
nearly perfect
A story in the papers recently, however, proves
the contrary to be the This incident is only
one of various occurrences of the kind that are
doubtless happening all over the country 1t seems
that the Fourteenth Regiment of New York since
its return from its tour of duty on the border has
not been disbanded mustered out of service.
On the contrary, while the men are living in their
homes in Brooklyn they still soldiers of the
United States army and obliged to spend a certain
amount of time each day in their armory To be
sure, on some days they are only there hour.
Other days they are kept there practically all the
time, for quota of the regiment has to be at the
armory constantly
This is all very we'll if they are getting paid
for it. But they not. That is, not actually.
Their are still on the roles and some day
they will get the $I8 month the government
allows. But up to date, their pay is in arrears
nearly three months.
They given only one meal a day at the
armory and that meal, according to the COM
plants made public this morning is anything but
satisfactory and hardly edible Many of these
soldiers working men in more or less straight
ened circumstances who were given leave Of alb
sence by their employers to serve their country
when the call came.
Now that the soldiers are back in their homes
their employers want them to go to work again
and refuse to keep their places open for them any
longer. OF course, the men cannot go to work
If they have to spend part of the day at the
armory A sergeant in the Fourteenth who made
the complaint just published states that he has an
invalid wife and absolutely no funds She is de-
pendent friends for her food. H gets the one
bad meal day and ultimatum from his en-
ployer that unless he comes to work at once he
will lose his job. He can't 60 to work without
desertng the United States army the punishment
for which even under these mitigating circum-
stances would be very severe
The reason for the delay in mastering out the
regiment is that the regular army officers must
make careful inspection and inventory of all the
equipment and supplies furnished the regiment be-
fore it can be disbanded 1t seems that this in
spection has not yet been had for some reason or
at least not completed, and no one apparently
knows exactly when it will be completed
Just why all this routine and red tape could
not have been attended to before and kept up to
date is question that would certainly bear look
ing into The troops have done no actual service
They have simply been in the summer camp and
on practice marches. An old campaigner would
say that so far as keeping the organization work
up to date there nothing whatever to hinder;
that the troops have really been in ideness and
that they should have been mustered out immed-
ately on their arrival home or as soon after as
any reasonable quarantine could have been COM
piled with.
The messing and discipline of the troops on
the border has unquestionably been very good
The only complaint I've heard has been concern
ing hospital arrangement. That understand from
a number of enlisted men I've talked with has
been pretty generally unsatisfactory.