Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-16
BONUS ARMY FINDS
CAMP LIKE FRONT
DrizzIe, Slime, Coolies and
Wild Rumors Plentiful, but
Sanitation Is Absent.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


'iie AiIdcoStIa Dy Ine Dedrag9led regi-
ments Of the B. z. F. has a striking
similarity to the occupation of quiet
sectors on the Western Front BY the
A. E. Except that this is lot
dirtier There is the same almost con-
slant drizzle and occasional downpour.
There is the same Shiny soup of mud
to wade through, eat in and sleep in.
There are the same coolies. There Is
the same prospect of unrelieved wait
ing. There are the same wild rumors
the same grouching, the same forced
cheerfulnesS. If there we're only some
German regiments across the river the
boys might have felt at home after last
nights downpour. which drenched Camp
Marks and made worse the already bad
sanitary situation.
Medical Corps Missing.
In France. of course. the Army
Medical Corps never would have per-
mltted anything quite so bad on a quiet
front. The B. E. F. itself is meeting the
situation quite creditably with the
limited means at its command Closing
of the medical clinic in the headquar-
tiers OF the 9th Marine Reserves left
the veterans on their own resources as
far as medical service is concerned.
They have organized their own medi-
cal corps, in charge of a former Army
Pharmacists assistant, while a con-
siderable stock Of the standard Army
medicants has been donated The three
former Medical Corps members this
morning were treating constant
stream Of men with colds. blistered feet.
Ivy poisoning and like ailments A few
with high temperatures were sent to
Gallinger Hospital.
1t IS little short Of a miracle. say
medical men who visit Camp Marks,
that serious epidemic of some sort
has held off so long. Last night almost
torrent OF water poured down into the
camp from the hillside where the la
trineS are located. MANY of the men
were chilled and drenched to the skin.
I'm supposed to be down here look
ing after sanitation" said a physician
from the District Building. Needless
TO say. l haven't been able to find anv
TO GATE and the chances of locating it
are getting Simmer every day
Mission Tent Soaked.
Even the great Gaspel Mission tent
put up yesterday Gid not give much
shelter. The floor, covered with sprawl
ing men. was soaked this morning.
Some relief was afforded in the pressing
medlcal situation by the establishment
OF medical clinic-including a physi.
can with complete military outft-by
the pennsylvania department. D. A. V.
The physician. DR. Kreiber of Harris
burg. was due to start work some time
today
There was much walking about the
camp barefoot. One result of the
orenchlng was to increase the size of
rag and-un can shelters were appearing
rapidly this morning as foraging parties
brought IN more and more material
from the cltyS Junk piles. As time goes
on the protection from the rain becomes
petter. Some groups were moving up
on hlgher ground. out OfSthe slime and
odor of the camp proper. Only casuals
now are accepted at Camp Marks.
There is an entirely different picture
at Camp Bartlett, where the men are
living in tents on sandy hillside which
drains rapidly. Here conditions were
much closer to those of a recruit camp
in the United States as f. F. Everett.
camp commander, gradually works
order out Of confusion. Some of the
veterans at this pleasant tent village
were 'grouching" this morning-because
they had 10 walk too far to town They
need a dose of Camp Marks.
Mighty Decent to U.s."
1T seems to me they've been mighty
decent to us said leader of the Texas
contingent at Camp Bartlett The
District OF Columbia didn't invite us TO
come, but told us to stay away. But
we're fairly comfortable. I didn't anti
Cipate coming to an old soldiers home.
/ came for a new kind Of war; and
that's what I'm getting"
sanitation at Camp Bartlett is ex-
cellent. A medical clinic has been set
up by Mr.. and Mrs. John Robert Sla-
te-. who came in with the Hoboken,
N j. contingent. Slater spent four
years in the Medical Corps. Mrs. Sla-
ter is practical nurse She is the
only woman in Camp Bartlett.
Slater had considerable supply Of
the common Incidents on hand this
morning, He used TO live in Washing
ION he says, and stocked the clinic by
canya.smg local drug stores with whose
managers he was acquainted. Thus
far they have had no cases of serious
illness but have treated mostly colds
and sore feet.
Valuable Social Record.
Although scanty in details. the in.
o!vidual records of this bonus army
which are taken for each man when he
registers at camp, promise to consti-
tute valuable sociological document.
Such record consists OF the name. res
ldence and World War organization.
Every man must register before he is
entitled to camp rationS The police
are making copies Of the registration
sheets for permanent records
Hasty inspection of about 5000 Of
these registrations yields considerable
information about the makeup of the
non-descript aggregation that has in
vaded Washington. Assuming that
these 5000 are a fair croSs-section. the
following facts stand out:
The names are predominantly Eng
llsh. Family names indicative of Anglo
Saxon ancestry seem to run somewhere
between 80 and so per cent. Some,
doubtless, are names which have been
"EngliShed." If the obviously Irish
names are added the percentage would
run much higher for the primarily
"English-speaking" element in the
bonus army. Slavic names run a poor
second, while there is only bare scat
tering of Latin names.
Most from Infantry.
The Infantry has contributed the
most. Close to so per cent of the men
appear to have come from Infantry out
1lIS' VIII llle EIlSulteIS anu Ine rlelQ
Artillery as poor seconds. The Marines
are represented very sparsely. indeed.
in these 5000 names, but the Navy has
two or three names out of each 40.
Other branches of the service appear
divided about equally, all very poorly.
While the biggest delegations come
from the biggest cities, probably more
than half of the total are from small
cities and small towns The nearer to
Washington the more are the commu-
mites represented. The big cities rep
resented by big delegations in this list
of 5000 are Pittsburgh. Cincinnati. Chi
cago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia,
New York and Baltimore.
New England appears to be the most
sparsely represented section, with only
ccattnrir,cr of fran, &c IL