The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-04-15
THEN and NOW
(By R. A. Wardl

The worn and battered remnant,
OF the armies Of the zoos" hav,
reached the reminiscent age. ant
spend much Of their time with tn,
events connected with the grea
struggle Of half a century ago. II
view of the changes that have taker
place, it is only natural that WI
should be led to draw comparisons
between the past and the present
Vigorous. patriotic young men, in any
age, are nations greatest asset
Those who are now flocking to the
colors, sacrificing worldly ambitions
and even life itself, to free the world
from Kaiserism, are worthy of all
honor and entitled to the best the
nation has to give. But were the
boys Of the "60's"-whichever side
they took, any the less loyal and
brave than our splendid army of to
day? We doubt it, for all were Am
orleans But what difference in the
provisions made for them. The gov.
eminent has been liberal in provid.
ing food and luxuries and entertain.
ment for our soldiers. We would
not have 1t otherwise, but we are
forcibly reminded of the difference in
the treatment of the recruits, "then
and now, showing that the soldiers
OF today are better appreciated than
those OF the Civil War A few items
of personal experience will illustrate
what / mean. Pullman sleepers were
not essential in the transfer of troops,
but cattle-cars beat walking, and we
were thankful for them whenever
possible to get them. We rode from
Baltimore to Harper's Ferry on them,
and when the cars were full, the rest
Of us covered the top. Do any Of
the comrades of the Blue or the
Grey, remember Of any "Thanksgiv-
ing turkeys" furnished us, except the
ones we caught going "over the top"
and were mighty thankful we did not
get the loads Of buckshot that were
carelessly scattered in our direction.
Our first taste Of army grub was at
Elmira, N. Y. in the midst of the
abundance. for which the great EN-
pire state is noted Boiled potatoes
meat and musty bread were scattered
along the greasy tables as we fed
pigs at home, and il any was lucky
enough to get a handful of each, he
was supposed to have a balanced
ration" While going down the Mis-.
sippi river to New Orleans we were
provided with bareback and bacon.
discovered that when the hard.tacks
were opened, they contained from
four to six fat worms, and some Of
the boys swore they had B. c. on
their backs. We cannot vouch for
that, but they were evidently old
enough to vote AS we preferred the
bacon for our meat ration, we dis
posed Of the other. We were re-
cruits for the 10th Regt. New York
Volunteers, stationed at Dry Tortu.
gas, Fla. guarding prisoners, and we
supposed being permanently located,
we might depend on a reasonably
good bill of fare. We found we had
to help eat 1000 barrels OF condemned
-four, 30 musty as to be nauseating,
with right smart" sprinkling of
dried worms. / asked the cook why
he didn't sift them out, he said, he
sifted out a half bushel from the
baking and those left went through
the holes in the sieve.
1t would have been as easy to lodge
a complaint with those higher up"
by an appeal to the Emperor of
China, and the effect would have
been the same. We received the
sum of 3d. per month,
appreciated currency, requiring 50. 35 !
n green backs for a dollar in gold. |
To-day, none receive less than $50 90
Der month. Now when the inquisi.
ors visits our homes and boarding
Houses on "wheatless days" to see
I there happens to be a crust of
wheat bread in sight, has any one /
,ver heard Of veteran being exemp-
er from this drastic demand? It
ieems to me that our former priya-
Itions entitle as to such consideration