New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-13
New York Boys
First to Arrive
At Plattsburg
Red Tape Appears When
$500 Rookie Officers
Draw Equipment
,Exclusiveness Barred
Candidates Dismayed When
Fashionable Clothes Are
Prohibited
,Exclusiveness Barred
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Plattsburr. May 12-Twenty-hve
hundred drowsy-cyod student officers
Of the United states Army piled out
OF their Pullmans on the shore Of
Lake Champlain this morning and
viewed through the drilling rain the
blurred outlines Of colony Of sauoy
young pine buildings perched on the
brow o. a gentle rise on the west.
There ;hcy Will live for the next three
months.
The first train. which pulled in At
SIX. brought New Workers. II was
barely out OF the way when Train No.
2. loaded with Harvard men, arrived
Then followed train on train until AZ
Q p. m. eight strings OF empty cars
were on the SidinCs az the Plattsourg
station and $500 men were being
checked In on thc camp muster rolls.
This was simple procedure. The
opening day confusion of previous
Plattsburg camps was absent. J ne can
didates quickly found their proper bar
racks and reported 10 the student ofiic-
or. Then the companies Of - men each.
or half strength. were marched 10 mess
20 sample what Uncle Sam can put up
for ffty cents "a day. That Is what It
costs reserve officers. UncOmmiSsiOned
candidates arc boarded free.
The mess was over by 10. Those
who ate al the last table were some
Boston folk. who wanted 10 be eX-
elusive, and chartered a Pullman car
OF their own. Some inspired train
master hooked this private car on the
tail end Of the baggage tram, which
pulled % last. Whether this wss by
acciden' or design was matter OF
speculation. EXclusiveness is some
thing Colonel Wolf is determined TO
stop.
Red Tape Appears
By this tmc the earliest arrivals
we're going through thc throos Of draw
ing equipment. The red tape unwOund
in the issuance 20 one man OF his out
f. would reach out TO Puget Sound.
After bed property had been parcelled
out and the men measured for clothes
and provided with tho various attested
forms. without which a quartermaster
sergeant wouldn't give Major General
Leonard Wood a pants button. the ca
diets were marched 20 the post gym
rasium. where the clothing was laid
out. Ii was an all-day job Quitting
these $500 men and hundreds in the
long lines outside the building were
dyeuchcd.
The distribution Of wearables brought
forth some new and interesting regu-
lations OF the camp. Reserve officers
who came with the newest things in
the Wa Of officers togcery as well as
civilian toCs learned to their dismay
that they could not dodge the tedious
clothing issue ceremonials. Further
more. they have the choice of sending
their carefully selected civilian out
fits back home or storing them in the
barracks Easements. for no member of
the camps will ever be permitted to
appear IN anything except his uniform
during the three months training.
No Trunks in Barracks
80 trunks are allowed in the bar
racks. Reserve officers must wear the
regulation enlisted mans khaki, in
Guiding canvas leggings. and pay gov
orrnment rates for the same while on
duty. lie may retain his insignia Of
rank. but fellow students without com
missions are not 10 salute reserve off
GERS. Enlisted men OF the regulars.
however. are required 10 do so. This
Us all covered very fully in general or
dcrs 40. -
Colonel Wolf is q shrewd commander.
lie b. tightening the cinchbauds of dis
cipline about his men. By Tuesday
when the training course begins. il will
begin 10 dawn on those present what
il means TO be an officer Of the United
States OF America IN war. More orders
are coming. and these. with the ones
gone before. must be obeyed under
penalty. which can include dismissal
from the service.