Evening star., 1917-09-30
HIKE OF FIVE MILES
F0RD|STR|CT MEN.
Washington's Units at Camp
Meade Accounted "Far
Above the Average.
PHYSICAL DIRECTORS AIDS
rom a stan Correspondent.

From Stan Correspondent.
CAMP MEADE. Nd. September 2s.-
District men in the National Army here
had their first hike today. when the
312th Machine Gun Battalion was
taken out for a practice march over the
hills and hollows about the camp. The
hike covered only about five miles for
the round trip. but 1t was long enough
to bring the men back to the barracks
hot, tired and ready for dinner. During
the afternoon nobody had to work ex-
cept a few of the men detailed for
kitchen fatigue.
Maj. Edmund L. Zane. commanding
the battalion. inspected the kitchens
today, afterward saying they were the
cleanest and best kept of all the scores
of kitchens in the entire camp.
Temporary non-commissioned officers
were appointed today. but Capt. Tay-
names. saying that as the appoint
ments are merely tentative and some
of them might be changed later he
did not want to give any Of the men
District Men Compumented.
Capt, Taylor repeated with a great
deal of emphasis that the men sent
from the District are the finest lot
physically and in point of intelligence
and Quickness to get the hang of
things of any bunch of raw material
The men are all far above the aver
age" he said. "All the medical off,
GERS say they are frst-class physically
and show that they have been examined
and adaptaoility they are ahead of any
bunch Of men / have ever command
ed"
Not a serious case of sickness has
IA
SO far. and no sore arms from vaccina-
ton or bad reactions from typhoid
prophylaxis have been reported.
To the District, too, belongs the dis
camp on crutches H. R. Lemerise Of
Georgetown is the man. A couple Of
weeks ago Lemerise. who was an cleo
trician, employed by the Washington
a small bone in his foot He was not
to be kept from coming to camp with
the rest of the men of his division. go
he came along with the injured foot
bandaged and walking on crutches
The foot is getting better rapidly.
Meatless Meal Served.
For some reason or other there wasn't
any meat for dinner today. and the
had had a meal. There were sweet po-
tatoes. rice, bread and jam. tea and a
sort OF bread pudding. in which is util-
lied the accumulated stale bread. When
the men had eaten and returned to their
barracks an officer stuck his head in
the door and called out:
ANY of you men who didn't get
enough may have more; there's plenty
Of chow left"
To which a soldier said:
where do you get that chow stuff? ?
Didn't see any meat. did you?"
And the lieutenant grinned.
I,,x~
racks the men have put up shelves to
hold their toilet articles, etc, and most
of these shelves also display packages
of crackers, ginger snaps. cake and
Rapid Work the Rule.
One of the features of this camp is
the rapidity with which things are DONE
One day the correspondents are told
to come into being; the next day they
! are in full running order. The can
| teens are in this class. Three or four
days ago only two canteens, or ex-
changes. were in operation; now there
l. are a score more of these places,
where the men can buy cakes. candy,
| soft drinks. cigarettes, tobacco or about
anything they want.
Another camp activity that has
sprung into being in an Incredibly short
time tin is athletics. Already half a dozen
or more athletic fields have been laid
out and are in use. This afternoon Ave
intercompany base ball games were
played and the same number of foot
bali games, besides any number of VOL
ley ball contests. Boxing matches are
staged every afternoon and evening
/ Tonight two regular matches were put
on Boxing platforms sixteen feet
| square and elevated five feet above
| the ground are being built. SO the men
| in the audience can see the fun.
Physical Directors Assistants.
| George w. Braden. camp physical di-
rector, has appointed a complete staf
| of assistants, selecting officers from
| every unit In camp. A tentative sched-
uie Of events has also been arranged,
the first of which Is to be a hill and
! dale run, an interregiment event in
which each company Is to be repre-
/ sented by a team of Ave men. No mon
! mot physically At will be permitted to
contes. in this event. which Is sched-
uIed to be held in about two weeks,
definite date not having been fixed
one of the first things Director Braden
! did on reaching camp was to telegraph
an order for one gross of regulation
of soccer balls. to be rushed here to
camp. Base ball outfits are badly
needed at Camp Meade. Will Clark
Grifith please answer? Tho District
men especially desire such outfits.
Roster Of Athletic omcers.
Following 10 the roster Of athletic sf-