The Springdale news., 1918-07-05
CAMP PIKE NOTES.
By Erwin Funk.
Camp Publicity Secretary

BY Erwin Funk.
Camp Publicity Secretary
Camp Pike, Ark, July Somehow
this warm weather seems to be fine
for poets in the army camps and here
we have another jingle that is going
the rounds. In army parlance, it is
entitled Passing the Buck:
The Colonel calls the Major
When he wants something done,
And the Major calls the Captain
And starts him on the run.
The Captain then gets busy,
And strives to make it suit,
BY shifting all the baggage,
On a shavetail Second Lieut..
The said Lieutenant ponders,
And strokes his shaven jaw,
Then calls trusty Sergeant.
And to him lays down the law.
The Sergeant calls the Corporal,
Explains how it must be;
Then the Corporal calls a Private,
And that poor Private's me!
American soldiers in France will be
expected to keep their faces clean. A
late order from the War Department
that razors are being is
sued to all men of the American Ex-
peditionary Forces. The razors are a
standard safety razor and ext.a
blades will be supplied as needed.
This is the first time in the histor1 of
the Army that razors have been is
sued.
Secretaries were installed in tie
four \. VI. C. A. buildings for officers
the first of the week, one il each.
No PROGRAMS are given in these build
ings, which will be used mainly as
reading and writing rooms, and for
social intercourse They are used
largely by the younger officers who
cannot afford the expense of the Of
ficers clubs, and who are not content
70 remain in quarters, which are de-
cidedly warm this weather While each
officer has a room of his own, they
are usually quite small and not near
ly so cool as the barracks of the en-
listed men.
Change succeeds change at Camp
Pike and no one knows what a day
may bring forth. While the Fourth
Officers Training School at Camp
Pike has been increased until it now
has some 1,200 student offifficers, $50
artillery students have been transfer
red to Camp Zachary Taylor at Louis
Vile. Machine gun men to the num-
Der of 119 have been transferred to
Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga. Sew
eral hundred second lieutenants have
been transferred to Camp Macarthur
at Waco, Texas. And so it goes. Some
Of these second lieutenants remind one
Of the elusive little pea in the days of
the old shell game with the barker
calling, "Now you see it, and now you
don't see il"
A number of the Army Y NJ. C. A.
secretaries from Camp Pike, both
white and black, met the incoming
troop trains last week and accompani-
ed the new selective draft men from
their home towns to the camp, serv-
ing the soldiers-to-be in every posi-
BILE way. Relative to the value of the
~" secretaries on the troop trains,
one Pullman conductor who had
charge of train from Camp Logan
to an eastern point is quoted as say
ing that There was an improve
ment of 100 per cent in the conduct
Of the men on the train where there
was a Y. M. c. A. secretary over the
last one | accompanied which had no
'.Y" man." And the conductor was
not biased in favor of the Y. NJ. C. A.
as he was a Catholic.
Recent instructions issued by the
Hostess House at Camp Pike for the
benefit of the new selective draft men
suggest that relatives do not come to
the camp for several weeks after the
new men leave home. 1t will be cas-
Ter to find the soldiers you want to see
and he will probably be out OF GUAR
antine. The men are also asked to
write the folks at home to re rain
from surprise visits. Thee will be
fewer disappointments aad much less
wasted time. Invite yoar rela tives
and friends to meet you at the Hos
Tess House and have them 90 there di-
rectly upon arrival, leaving instruc-
tons to the secretaries as to when and