Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-24


trip down to Camp Dix at wrightstown
n. J., and get lost in that maze Of wooden
shacl1s which is destined to house some
forty-odd thousand citizen-soldiers from
New York, Northern Pennsylvania and New
Jersey.
The camp itself seems to have no bounds
The top OF each hill opens up only another
vista of shaclls The noise lof hundreds Of
carpenters hammering sounds like the duel
Of many machine guns, and a riot Of trucks
and jitneys raises a cloud Of yellow dust
from the new roads which plays havoc with
skin, clothes and good nature. There Is
not a tree in sight and the sun beats down
mercilessly.
In case your mission is to interview the
camp commander you have first to go to
the adjutants to arrange the meeting with
the man who is to be the mayor OF this
wooden city and daddy" to the future SOL
diers who will be there. He IS Major Gen
eral Chase w Kennedy.
BY the time you finally reach the head
quarters you are feeling all in. You are
hot tired and very much bewildered by the
frenzy of the rush and work you have
passed through The adiStants office, being
the nerve center Of the whole camp, is all
hustle and hustle. After you have waited
in this office for a long time developing n
major general. you feel horribly unnecessary
and would give anything to be back home.
Stepping into General Kennedy'S Office
after that long wait in his adjutants office,
which bristles with hurrying clerks and con-
gested with the influx of scores Of more or
less bewildered reserve officers, is like COM
ing out of a storm into a pleasant living
room. The grinning, colored "doughboy'
who acts as orderly TO the generals ushers
you into bare room, the air Of which is
still heavy with odor of its pineboard walls,
Its. quietness shocks you for the instant
and then you begin to relax the hammer
and roar Of the carpenters and trucks and
the clatter OF typewrters sound very far
away in the secluslon Of this room
YOU MEET GENERAL KENNEDY
But it is the pleasant-faced man in
khaki who sits at the fiat, pine desk that
makes you feel entirely at ease. His greet
ing is a quick searching glance. Yet as
you explain your business you find that
you are doing so in a natural way and not
according to the form you had memorized.
This man with scarcely a word has made
you forget that he is major general You
feel that you have dropped in TO chat with
a friend.
Stout with stoutness of a man we'll past
fifty-fve. his white and white mus
tache suggest the type Of auccessful Ameri-
can big business man. But few men OF
his age in civil life radiate the atmosphere
of physical vigor of this man. His ruddy
complexion, powerful build and quick move-
ments all stamp him as a man of the out
doors.
The breyity Of his talk, the simplicity Of
his uniform-he has a soldiers dislike for
the coat and wears the familiar olive drab
shirt-the baroness of his desk and his
Office are typical Of the soldier and brand
him tho regular army man. This total alb
sence of the unessential emphasizes his
readiness for action.
As he talks there is no Disgusting of his
enthusiasm for the tremendous job Uncle
Sam has assigned him, his cigar is burning
and his whole expression registers enthu-
siasrn. Asked If he had any advice to
offer the men who are coming to camp as
to how TO prepare themselves to stand the
"gaff." the general only said: I'VE are
going TO make soldiers Of them when we
get them here"
That Is the way he summarizes his job.
All the undertakings of the building OF this
city entailing huge responsibilities and ere
ating big problems, are TO him the mere
incidental difficulties which must be sur
mounted before he gets to his real duty
the thing he has been doing for thirty-eight
years-mal5ng soldiers.
VARIED MILITARY CAREER
Not only has General Kennedy the SOL
dler temperament, but he brings to this big
I
few men I'm our service. Comparatively un-
known 20 the general public before his pro-
motion TO the rank of Major General re-
Gently. his promotion comes as the reward
OF lifetime of consistent service as a sol
dier in the field, student Of higher mill
tary subjects and as an organizer and an
executive in the administrative branches OF
the army and on the general staff.
His career lacks the spectacular elements
| OF careers OF General Wood and General
| Pershing. but il is typical of the army
career and the process by which the regu-
lar army trains its men I'm the gFuelins
service I'm Out-of-the-way places OF Uncle
SANS domain where trouble brews
As a young lieutenant out of West Point
he received his baptism of fire in the strenu-
Gus campaigns against the Indians i'm the
Northwest during the sos. He was with
Shafter In the campaign which took San
tiago I'm 1898 as captain OF a company,
and later was in the army OF occupation OF
Cuba and took part In the taking and re-
organizing OF the city Of Havana. From
Cuba he went 10 the Philippines for three
years service at a time when II was the
steady fob OF the army TO quell insurrec-
tons and then clvilize the insurrectos.
batter as a Lieutenant Colonel he served
two years in Alaska, where the task was
70 maintain law and order.
GRADUATE OF WAR COLLEGE
but 10 be commander OF a cantonmene
..alIlIfrnz mora than mara military l,.ourlear