The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-09-12
OLD FORT HAYS REVIVED
Soldier Boys, the Patter of Army
Shoes and the Changing of Guns
TO be Renewed


the colors of the boys from Is to 2I
years of age, comes the matter OF
compulsory military training, and the
question as how best to educate the
boys is a serious one.
The Washington authorities have
decided that these boys must keep up
their education, yet at the same time
learn military life until needed, if the
older man cannot lick the Kaiser and
his men, So it has been decided to
order these boys to locate at the var
ious schools in the country, and while
they are given military work and the
government pays them $50 a month,
furnishing them everything, yet they
must keep up their other studies.
Washburn college at Topeka must
build barracks and a mess hall to ac-
commOdate $50, and the following
orders have been issued by the gov
ernment, which viii also apply to the
school work at Fort Hays.
Dress uniforms of serge, gabar-
dine or moleskin viii not be permit
ted nor will the student rockies" be
allowed to blossom forth IN leather
''putts" In the evenings and on soc
casions." The order will also include
the open display of fraternity and
class badges. Army regulations speci-
tically state just what decorations are
allowed on a uniform of a soldier
and the regulations specifically state
that no insignia of any organization
other than the United States army
can be worn IN such a manner that
they will show.
AT the Kansas University they are
to build II barracks buildings, and
they expect 1000 to $500 to enroll in
the military school work. They will
be under strict military discipline un-
der army officers and will have to
live in the barracks.
These students will be members of
the Students Army Training Corps,
and as such will receive $50 a month
army pay, all uniforms, clothing, food
and lodging and under contract be-
tween the army and the university
the army will pay all the regular fees
the students otherwise would have to
pay. The soldier students must take
regular military training and a 3-hour
course in "war aims" All his other
studies ne may select as he pieases
from a list approved by the army.
All these soldier students will be
under constant supervision by army
officers and the university faculty un-
der whom they study.
But at the State Normal School at
Hays, things will be different, and the
advantages presented are far prefer
able. While all the students viii be
under the same strict military disci-
pine and have to do their military
training under Government officers
sent here. The 10000 Sheridan Col
lseum building has been turned over
to the Government during the war,
and the boys will be quartered in this
beautiful building, with its heat, cleo
tric lights, baths, Offices, carpenter
and auto, and other shops inside the
walls. The present troops are quar-
tered in the arena of the building
with their cots in rows, these boys
leave soon, and next Wednesday
and Thursday a new crowd Will ar
rive and take the cots and go to work.
The seats in the balcony viii be re-
moved and when the Ii and 19 year
old boys come by Oct 1st, they, too,
will find their cots In the big audit
orium building, and if there Is not
enough room there they will be put
IN the different rooms in the bulld-
ing, and it will accommodate at least
thousand.
A mess hall will be erected just
back of the building, where the army
cooking will be the order, and the
boys will have to eat just as they
would if they are ever sent to the
army fronts.
These boys viii be given their
schooling just as Lawrence and the
other schools, they will have their
army drills morning and evening, and
be under army regulations
1t is understood that men desiring
band work viii be sent here for in
struction, and Fort Hays will again
have its military band.
Another move on foot may bring
several thousand of the Kansas boys
of the 18 and 19 class to Hays Gov
eminent inspection shows that we
have. one of the finest Military reser-
vations In the country, splendid water
good fields for drill and the best OF
rife range IN the hills southwest of
town, the government may take over
the Normal part of the reservation,
west of the LaCrosse-Hays road up
to and including the hills, and make
it the training camp for the boys of
Kansas, drafted in the 1S and 19 year
old class, as the military authorities
at Washington think it advisable to
keep these boys, while IN training,
seperate from the older men, and
Hays has been found the ideal spot.
If it is done the camp viii be over
near the old parade grounds, and the
railroad switching and store houses
on the reservation land just west OF
the railroad bridge, where it is per
fectly level and can be used without
the expense of grading
This means not only the bringing
of the soldier boys, but the officers
and their families, the instructors,
and the parents and best friends of
the soldier boys.
Changes are proposed in the stan