Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16

Tommy, oWs yer SOUL:
But it's Thin red line of 'eroes' when the
drum begins to roll
There is only one habitable dwell
ing in all of Camp Meade, and the
camps 1890 'eroes" are spending
two-thirds Of their time jacking up
their houses. propping up the roofs,
stopping up holes in the walls, and
fighting the cold generally.
This was the condition found by a
reporter for The Star, who yesterday
visited the post to get a first-hand de-
scription of conditions which are de-
clared to exist in Army posts through
out the country An appropriation of
$4,000 to build one complete set of
barracks at Camp Meade has been
asked, but the program still lacks ap
proval.
This seems to be an off year for
'eroes. and the soul of Tommys
American brother is in pain. From
Col. o. S. Eskridge, commanding Of
ficer of the post, down to the young
est student cook there was plainly
discernible an expression of extreme
physical and mental anguish as soon
as the subject of living conditions was
mentioned
Houses are Cold.
Officers are living in houses through
which the wind whistles merrily. Ii
is impossible to keep them warm.
The roofs are sagging and have to
be reinforced continually to keep them
from falling in on the officers and
their families.
Wooden pilings on which the dwell.
lings were built are rotting away and
fresh ones must be put in--by soldier
labor.
The buildings are a constant fire
hazard.
I'VE never sleep easy when there
is high wind Col. Esxridge says.
The officers dig down into their own
pockets to pay the cost or repairing
the antiquated buildings.
The enlisted men are in an even
worse plight. They have no money
to spend on their quarters, except
what can be saved from the company
funds or ration money. They have
to rustic material to fix up their
quarters so that they can be occupied.
Comfort is impossible.
Wartime Buildings.
The buildings, Col Eskridge ex.
planned, were built nine years ago to
meet wartime emergency They
never were meant to be occupied per-
manently, and few of them were built
as dwellings. The commanding officer
is living in building which served
as a schoolhouse during the war. 1t
is two-story building and had only
one room on each floor. With his own
money Col Eskridge had the interior
rebuilt, partitions erected and rooms
divided off. Enlisted men of the post
did the work, and Col Eskridge paid
$500 for the materials.
Today, says Col. Eskridge, the house
is "habitable shelter at best; it
cannot be called habitable dwelling.
The windward half is never warm; the
leeward half can occasionally be made
comfortable. Curtains at the windows
stand out from the walls as the wind
blows in around the panes and sashes.
THE walls" Col. Eskridge said,
only slow up the wind as 1t passes
through the house"
The other officers quarters are in as
bad, or worse, condition. All were
built on rude wooden posts, which
have rotted away, and in most cases
have been replaced at the officers ex-
pense. The outside walls are made of
clapboard on tar paper, and the inside
walls are cardboard or beaver board.
No Remedy Seen.
When the buildings were turned over
to the officers as quarters, the Gov
ernment provided nothing but the
plumbing, Col. Eskridge said. This
was salvaged from other buildings
which had been wrecked. The Of
ficers had to live in them as they
were, which was virtually impossible,
or pay the cost of remodeling them.
The Government has provided no
money. In every case they were re-
modelled, the enlisted men Of the post
doing the labor. No two interiors are
alike; the arrangement depended on
the whim of the man doing the work.
AS a result of these conditions the
entire personnel of the camp has
spent most of its time trying to make
living conditions bearable, and little
time has been left for military train.
ing. There Is no remedy in sight,
Col. Eskridge said, because the build
ings have reached such a stage of
dilapidation that they require con-
stant work to keep them from tum-
bling down.
Col Eskridge pointed out the house
of one officer, ramshackle, unpainted
structure, the roof of which had sag
ged so much In the center that the
ridge pole described a 45-degree arc.
The roof had been propped up in that
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