The sun., 1919-09-12
PERsHING,s BELT.
His Rank Places Him Above the Army
Regulations About Uniforms.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN--Sir. over
Warrington despatch OF September 9
you have placed a headline 'Pershing
Violated order with HIS Belt" The
occa sion OF this Is the fact that General
pershing on the occasion OF his recep-
ton In New York wore the Sam Browne
belt which he had adopted as part Of the
uniform of American army officers
abroad. You are wrong in stating that
General Pershing violated any order.
There has always been a provision in
tie uniform regulations to the effect that
the commanding general of the army
could wear any uniform that he chose,
and II will be Remembered that when
General Miles was commanding general
OF the army he wore very fancy uni
form with gold lace on his cap some
what along the lines of that adopted for
general officers Of the army some ten
years subsequent to his time.
When, the office of commanding gen.
eral ceased the right to prescribe his
own uniform passed to the Chief of STAN
of the army. When General Pershing
was commander in chief in France he
Nercised the right of prescribing his own
uniform, and it will be noted that he
substituted the coat of arms of the
United States on his collar for the usual
~. s." The law passed by Con-
gress making him General of the Armies
places him above the uniform regula-
items and he is perfectly authorized to
lii ...,tN NhaN ha
chooses
a great many officers have been look-
inc forward expectantly with the hope
that when General Pershing came back
from France he would do the very thing
that he did, namely, wear the uniform In
which he had commanded the greatest
army America has ever produced. Those
of us who served abroad consider that
We were more or less degraded when
we came back by having our uniform
stripped OF it's distinctive features. 1t is
certainly degrading for officers In thea
ire to be publicly reprimanded for wear
ing uniform which through its bloody
baptism had placed the American soldier
upon the highest pinnacle of military
achievement
Incidentally, General Pershing. in ao-
Gition to all of his other great qualities,
was the simplest and best dressed officer
In Europe. When our officers arrived on
tho other side we found ourselves with a
badly made, sloppy looking uniform well
suited to the cowboy life along the
Mexican border, but conspicuously out of
place in Paris and London. General
Pershing saw at once that 1t would not
Il g.. in,
the eyes OF Europe as the rough and
| ready hero of moving picture drama.
The British particularly appreciate the
psychological connection between clean
body and clean clothes on the one hand
and a high state of morale on the other.
The minute the British officer or soldier
Cets out of the mud and slime and blood
OF the trenches he cleans and pollshes
himself up as II he was going to a
court bail Although shoe shining par
lcrs are distinctive feature Of the
United States. we had never seen a pair
OF boots properly polished until we saw
tho British. Every British Tommy
polishes the buttons on his coat every
day British guns in the front line are
kept polished like those that ornament a
park, and British horses picketed in all
weather without any form OF shelter are
carefully groomed and their hoofs pol
ished as they would be in New York
horse show.
General Pershing saw at once that
American officers should excel in every
thing in the eyes of the Allies. So he
would not permit himself or any OF the
members of his immediate staff to ap-
pear at a disadvantage even in the mat
ter of dress.
General PershIng however showed his
good taste In the extreme simplicity of
chat ho .uora Of oil thu yvopdarf,,I