FLETCHER
TELLS OF HIS
Anchor a Re Hoy Who Has Joint'd th<
Colors Now at Presidio, in Hospital
Branch of United States Service
Member of the K. P.
“Perhaps you have heard of that ole
and honorable army institution knowr
as the Order of K. P. This is kitcher
police and is not so majestic as it
sounds. It merely means being a
flunkey for the time being, which in
cludes waiting on table and washing
dishes and mopping floors and peeling
spuds and packing coal and about
three million and a half other things.’
So writes Harry Fletcher, who left
Anchorage on March 20 with sixty
other recruits for Fort McDowell.
Cal., in a letter to John F. Coffey of
the Times. Mr. Fletcher is now a
member of the medical corps at the
post hospital at the Presidio in San
Francisco and expects to leave for
France the latter part of August.
The letter from Mr. Fletcher fol
lows:
POST HOSPITAL, Presidio of San
Francisco, Calif., April 2D, 1918.—
Dear Friend Jack:
I believe you are expecting a letter
from me about this time or possibly
before this. But you know the old
alibi—busy. However, this excuse can
no longer be called an alibi—for Pm in
the army now, old top. And such a
life it is. One grand and glorious thing
right after another. Thank the good
Providence 1 have passed through the
dish-washing stage of my recruithood
and am fairly well embarked upon the
uphill road that always leads to one
place—r ranee.
Now First-Class Private.
It will doubtless surprise you tc
hear that after being in the service
only twenty days I was promoted tc
first class private. Being in the medi
cal corps I had to show proficiency ir
such things as pharmacy, minor sur
gery, nursing, bandaging drill anc
clerical work, in not ana ivance
stage of course, but just sufFCier.r tc
show that I was not entirely unae
quainted with all that 1 had beer
shown. The promotion means only r
matter of three dollars a month addi
tional if you look at it from a financia
standpoint. But then I do not thou
I joined the army for any financia
advantage I might gain.
Ours is very intersting woik, pro
viding you like it, naturally. 1 have i
job at the office of the post hospital
and if you place the minutes in whicl
1 really work in one long row—taker
from a per iod of let us one month—
I am sure they would aggregate the
sum tot;.! of about eight hours. Evi
dently the army is a firm believe* ir
the eight-hour law—because that’s
what I do—per month. Of course, if
one cares to look upon all duties as
work—then I work twelve nours a
clay. And if you Include the time 1
sleep—why-!
To return to where 1 left off in my
last letter, we all arrived in San Fran
cisco in great shape. The trip from
Seattle down was one long glorious
summer day. Much valuable space
couhi be taken up with a description of
the doings on the boat. Moreover, if
would probably make interesting read
ing for the general public—but fai
be it from this buck to start anything
like that . I aint telling.
lou have probably heard of the waj
we were received in San Francisco am
how we took part in the Liberty par
ade and were cheered along the rout*
of march, and how the dear girls jus1
crowded around and insisted upor
kissing us all and—oh, what’s the us<
of telling it—you wouldn’t believe it.
On Monday, April 8, vve all went t(
Angel island, and they proceeded t(
put us through the hoop and and th<
coon. By the next afternoon most o:
loop and the scoop until we hit tin
us passed—were sworn in—and wer<
in uniform. Within two days latei
every one of the Anchorage boys wer<
in uniform—not one turned own
Those in the medical corps beside my
self are A. B. Magnuson, Harrj
Scherrer and George Cicovich.
latter is happy and contended, tx ait
a cook at West Garrison, Angel island.
Magnuson is still on the island as iu
as I know, and Scherrer and myself
are at the Presidio at the address giv
j en above. C. H. Patten was trans
ferred to Colonel Hears’ regiment last
\ Monday—April 22. Frank , Tolley,
I Chet Merry, Walt Blanton, Albert
Dolmnann and the others of the avia
tion section left for Texas last Tues
day. Karl Kunz, Earl Fay, Kokoni and
Harold Jorgensen are in the infantry
and are also at the Presidio. Harry
Ober and Lee Rice were successful in
making the navy, but the others who
couldn’t get in were mostly taken into
the engineers. I believe George
Fletcher also made the navy, although
! he was held up for a few days on ac
count of his having been a deserter
from the service some three*years ago.
1 am of the impression that they will
let him get in because he voluntarily
came forward with the information re
garding his previous record. The
army discourages lying in any form.
Bob Sharts was among those who
went to Texas. Henry Dohrmann and
Emmett Murphy went into the quar
termaster’s corps.
With Kitchen Police.
Perhaps you have heard of that old
and honorable army institution known
as the Order of K. P. This is kitchen
police, and is not so majestic as it
; sounds. It merely means being: a
flunkey for the time being, which in
cludes waiting on table and washing
dishes and mopping floors and peeling
j spuds and packing coal and about
; three and a half milllion other things.
It is alright when it comes one day at
a time, but when you get several days
consec.—well the least said about it
the better. You are in no mood to
be joshed about it. Frank Polle*y be
came known among us as the king—
because of his consistent neat appear
ance and winning habits. To see poor
old Frank slinging hash had to be wit
nessed to be appreciated. As the fel
low said in the Saturday Evening Post
—“When I get out of the army, I’ll
make a line wife for some nice girl.”
Hut K. I*, is like everything else, even
the Huns, it can’t last for ever. I only
had a week straight of it, and since
then I have had none whatever and I
hope I’ll never see the inside of a
kitchen again.
i he uniform makes a tremendous
di(Terence to a man. Some of them
look like they were born in a uniform,
while others look as though they had
lost their breakfast and found a nail
in their shoe. Naturally, a recruit is
exceptionally fortunate if he gets
clothes that come anywhere near fit
ting him. Later on when he gets as
signed to a permanent company or
post, he gets fresh stuff issued to him
and he gets an opportunity of pro
curing a good fit. And there is always
the company tailor.
To France in August.
From present indications, my de
tachment will be sent to France about
the latter part of August. Hurry the
day. The only arm we carry is an au
tomatic revolver, and we are trained
to shoot from every conceivable posi
tion, so we can kill a Hun even when
we have both hands full and a wound
ed man under each arm. If anybody
j imagines that the medical corps do
not get on the firing line they have an
other guess coming. We are expected
to bring in the wounded or administer
to them as soon as possible after they
i receive their injuries. This means fol
lowing up closely the line of advance.
So do not imagine that a man in the
medical corps is immune from danger.
San Francisco is just chuck-a-block
with soldiers and sailors. You cannot
go any place without running into
them. I am indeed proud to be wear
, i ing the uniform and wouldn’t change
places with anybody out of the service.
I saw Tom Barry in town, and he
, wishes to be remembered to all his An
chorage friends. He is working at the
, Union Iron Works,
i I want all my friends to be patient
; with me if they do not hear from me
direct. As soon as the opportunity
; affords, I will write to one and all. But
; just at present 1 am fully occupied
■' with my studies. I am expected to at
! teffd at least two lectures ■ or classes
, | every afternoon, and at the same time
j absorb the contents of several weighty
■ text books. I am due to acquire a con
SlU^rUUiU SAlllUUliU UL ivm/vv iu.15^ uwvti
medicine, and particularly . pharmacy.
As it happens, I have been picked out
to take anything there is to take, sc
1 1 imagine they figure I can stand it,
Just so long as the eats continue to be
good, I do not mind learning the whole
works off by heart. And, mind you
the study of law in comparison is
about in the same ratio as is a piece
of wet bread to a chunk of granite.
Man, oh, man, but the way of the
rookie is tough.
Grub Is Good.
Speaking of grub—it’s great. Yes
terday, Sunday, we had the finest Tur
key dinner one could possibly wish
for. Probably I have reason to be for
tunate in the fact that our detach
ment has only thirty men at present,
j And that may account for the fact
that the cook can give a little more
time to our epicurean discriminations.
However, taken as a whole, the army
grub is fit for even a newspaper man
to eat—and that’s going some, eh.
what!
As my address as given above will
j probably hold good for some little
i time, I will not kick a little bit if
some kind friend drops me a line, or
some other good Samaritan sends one
of the home town papers. Every lit
I tie bits helps, and a crowded city is an
I awfully lonesome place when you
,j know' nobody. If there is any infor
1 mation required regarding the army,
I will do all in my power to furnish it.
Bv the way, I met Tommy Mc
Laughlin on Angel island last Mon
day, April 22. He was in civilian
clothes, but by this time is undoubted
ly in uniform. I do not know what
branch of the service he enlisted in,
but he mentioned something about
shoemakers, so I suppose it is the
quartermasters.
I think this is about all the junk
I can dig up just now, except that 1
do not like the climate of San Fran
cisco so much as Anchorage. And I
might say that San Francisco is very
much interested in Alaska, and it will
be well for Anchorage to do all in rea
; son to connect up with the city of the
Golden Gate.
By the way, we are all expected tc
write to ten of our friends and ask
them to purchase Liberty bonds. 1
herewith ask about two thousand of
my friends to do so. . '
Yours for the cause,
HARRY FLETCHER,
Post Hospital, Presidio of San Fran
cisco, California.
LITTLE CHANCE FOR
SPIES GETTING INTO
THE AMERICAN ARMY
—
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY
IN FRANCE, May 10.—Spies who ma;,
endeavor to get into the ranks ot
; the American Expeditionary Forces
are likely to find such a manoeuvei
extremely difficult and dangerous, sc
complete are arrangements to prevent
! such things happening. Of course if
I is not advisable to disclose just what
the arrangements are, but every ruse
tried by enemy agents during this wai
in various armies, and some that have
not been tried have been provided for.
It came to light recently that or
ders had been issued in certain quar
ters to the general effect that officers
receiving drafts into combat divisions
from replacement divisions were to
make sure that each member of the
draft actually was the man he was
supposed to be and that no other man
was included in the group. Just what
caused this order is not disclosed, but
it contains an inference that is
obvious.
The order was issued just a few
days before one of our telephone wires
had been found tapped in a trench
the tap wire running out across No
Man’s land. There was some talk at
that time among the men in the line
of hunting for a spy; but there has
been no further development. It is not
> impossible, howrever, that a German
| patrol taking advantage of the op
! portune moment hooked their tap wire
| on the line in the trench and then re
tired quickly.
GOSH!
“It worries me,” said Mr. Hupp,
“It often causes me to frown,
How food keps right on going up,
When all we do is put is down.”
n
M'lAHLANU
WRITES FROM
“OVER THERE
Newsy Letter Received by Jack Chovin
From a Former Anchorage Resident
Now With American Forces in
France.
Sunsets on Cook Inlet are the most
beautiful in the world and far surpass
the famed Mediterranean ones writes
Captain E. R. McFarland, former
superintendent of the telegraph and
telephone department in a letter to
Jack Chovin. Captain McFarland left
Anchorage last August to enlist in the
signal corps service of the United
States army and was shortly after his
enlistment sent to France as a mem
ber of the American Expeditionary
Forces under command of General J.
J. Pershing.
Captain McFarland’s letter follows:
FRANCE, April 4, 1918.—My dear
Jack:
A letter from a jolly old cuss like
you is always welcome; when it comes
from the old home town, gives news
of the boys and mentions sourdough
; hot-cakes, its more than welcome. It
made me forget that I am nearly 10,
000 miles from home; forget that
there are two mal du mer oceans sep
arating me from the only perpetual
summer and winter resort in the
i world. I have prowled around a lot
of these tuberculous unwholesome
looking ruins and castles, and have
rubbered at the sunsets of southern
France, but the sight of even a post
mark from Alaska brings on a fit of
mal du pays. Just go down to the foot
of Fourth avenue in Anchorage some
evening, sit on a stump there and
watch a sunset over Cook Inlet. You
will see a brand of magnificence which
cannot be matched anywhere in the
world. A Mediterranean sunset is as
insipid in contrast as cold-storage beef
is to choice moose. The army surgeons
have prophylactic treatment for ev
erything but aurora borealis in the
blood; there’s no prophylaxis for that.
Wouldn’t take it if they had.
Well Jack, there could be some in
teersting tales told of what’s doing
over here, but there is a censor on the
job with a pair of shears in one hand,
| a swab of indelible ink in the other
and a roll of court-martial charges al
ready to fill in with “at or near, or on
about” stuck in his boot. He wont
care though if I tell you what is the
finest exhibit to be seen in France;
and that is to see a body of husky red
necked American boys go swinging
down the road. I have seen troops
here from all over the world, including
1 the Roches, and we apologize to none
of them as far as appearances go. Per
haps by the time you get this we will
| know if they can light. There is a
feeling among our allies that la Am
ericane is an honorable fighter. We
know he is an honorable fighter until
he is hit below the belt; otherwise he
is plumb mean. The Huns seem to
have been in the habit of fouling, so I
wouldn’t be surprised if someone
would get hurt when our boys go over
the top. The British have just made a
record for plain killin’, so guess we
will have to pull off some other stunt.
There is another mighty attractive
exhibit, but of course old rascals like
you and me are not interested to speak
of. You have heard there are beau
tiful women in France? It’s 100 per
cent truth. There is sometimes con
siderable camouflage but they know
how to put it on. A francs worth of
clothes would probably keep ’em out
of jail here, for they certainly know
how to hang their garments. Some of
the petite m’selles have a way of
twinkling their ankles at our young
! fellows across the street that makes it
j necessary to hog-tie the boys. Its
! safer to see such things across the
street. Com prendre ?
From what we can make out over
here the home folks have begun to
realize that there is a war on. We
know it here, but you probably know
as much or more abouts its progress
than we do. We realize that there are
some mighty big doin’s and that the
average American business man is go
ing to think in bigger terms after
still bigger. We haven’t bitten off
more than we can chew and will chew
but its going to be hard on us that tho
bite had to be so big. Of course there
will be mistakes and much chaos foi
we haven’t the advantage of an old or
ganization of such magnitude; there
is still some of the old feudalists un
businesslike military stuff; but if the
home-folks will be game and keep
their feet wrarm they will some day
read history which will tell them why
it was necessary for us to mix up in
this affair.
Regards to the boys, and write again.
e. r. McFarland.
m
GREAT FIRMNESS
General Semenoff, the Leader Whi
Opposes the Bolsheviki Govemmenl
in Western Siberia, Employs Dras
tic Measures.
HARBIN, Manchuria, May 11.—The
name of General Semenoff, the Cos
sack leader, who opposed the rule oi
the Bolshevik government in Siberia
was feared and respected throughout
that country until his forces recently
was driven into Manchuria. He ruler
with a stern hand, according to the
many stories that are circulating
through Siberia.
Boistrous and disorderly Bolshevil
parties returning from the front tc
their homes in Siberia became sudden
ly quiet when their trains entered tht
sector of the trans-Siberian railway
line controlled by General Seinenoff.
Accrding to these stories, Semen
off’s methods were not gentle. Aboul
a month ago, the Bolshevik authori
ties in Irkutsk sent a delegation tc
Semenoff offering him a large sum oi
money and a high position in theii
ranks if he would cease fighting
! against them, and join their ranks
They requested a written reply.
General Semenoff is said to have
ordered his Cossacks to strip the del
egates and give them twenty-five lash
es with the knout. When this hae
been done he told the delegates tc
return to Irkutsk and show his reply,
at the same time threatening to serve
all Bolsheviki who fell into his
hands in the same manner.
| On another occasion a train loac
of reservists going to their honn
through Semenoff’s section were al
i shouting what they would do to the
' officers when they got to their homes
When Semenoff and- two of his mer
: boarded the train. The Cossack gen
eral made himself known, whereupor
the reservists sprang to attention am
saluted, and begged to serve undei
him. Semenoff ordered them to stan<
at the salute until he ordered them tc
i
j do otherwise. When he left the trair
they gave him three ringing cheers,
i About the middle of January, the
Bolshevik government at Petrograe
despatched the acting minister of ma
i rine to Vladivostok to purchase cer
| tain supplies. This acting ministei
had been a sailor on one of the wai
vessels. According to stories whicl
came from Siberia, he and his stafl
insulted passengers, fired revolvers
through the windows and demandei
that telegrams should be sent ahead
for all troop trains to be sidetrackec
so as to allow his train a clear road.
The train was stopped at Douria
station, the minister and his stafl
were ordered to go on the platform
where Semenoff questioned him and
then ordered him before a drum-head
court-martial. The court pronounced
him a traitor to his country, and Sem
enoff, in pronouncing the death sen
tence, stated that? all traitors who fell
into his hands would be treated the
same way. The execution took pla«e
on the station platform, one of Sem
onoff’s officers shooting the ministei
though the heart.
The troops under Semenoff are un
der strict discipline.
FOOEY.
Our elevator man is gay,
He laughs and sings the livelong day:
He’s funny as a pack of clowns,
Al Vough he has his ups and downs.
IftVHtHI
SITUATION
United States Food Administrator
Hoover Sends Message About Mat
ter to Alaska Food Administrator.
JUNEAU, May 11.—United States
Food Administrator Herbert Hoover
-sent the following telegram to the
federal food administrator this morn
ing at Juneau:
“The food administration is ex
tremely desirous of securing economy
in the consumption of all kinds of
meats without reinstallation of meat
less days for the present. Seasonal
decline in volume cf animals coming
to market is now in progress and its
volume will undoubtedly further de
crease during the next few months, as
is usual, but probable amount of such
decrease is yet obscure. The necessi
ties for shipping abroad to our army
and allies are very large and amount
to roughly 75,000,000 pounds meat and
meat products of all kinds per week
against pre-war normal of less than
j 15,000,000 pounds. Even with these
'large shipments the allies have found
! it necessary to reduce consumption of
| all kinds of meat and poultry to an
j average of about one and one-quarter
! pounds per week, per person, in order
' that no further draft should be made
! upon shipping that is now required
! for the transport of our soldiers. Our
| consumption of meats is about three
j and one-quarter pounds, per week,
| per person, and if we are to make
: both ends balance during short mar
j keting season we must have further
! economy. If the public will continue
j in rigorous elimination of waste and
i will further economize by reducing
i quantities prepared for each meal of
all kinds of meat and poultry, more
| particularly beef, and will restrict
j their purchases accordingly, the food
| administration hopes that the neces
i sary balance can be maintained; a
j general observance of these recom
| mendations will avoid the inconveni
| ences which arise in many directions
j from meatless days and will cause
J less interference in daily preparation
| of food. There is now a seasonable
| abundance of milk products which can
well be substituted in various forms.
Shortage of fish during past several
i months due to necessity of naval re
quisitioning of trawlers and enlist
ment of fishermen for navy should
soon be considerably realized by the
expansion which has been arranged in
other forms of fishing.”
Pursuant to the above warning and
recommendations of the United States
food administration, the federal food
administrator for Alaska asks all
households, hotels, public eating pla
ces and all consumers of meat to ob
: serve the strictest economy in the use
of meats. If this is not done, meat
less days and meals may again be re
stored. The meat supply must be
maintained during this war.
A
A
NEW COPPER PROPERTY
GIVES PROMISE OF
BECOMING A SHIPPER
I
| VALDEZ.—A new shipper to enter
i the copper field, which bids fair to
i equal, if not exceed, in tonnage and
! value of its shipments even the wolrd
famous Kennecott mines (which to
this time have no parallel in the cop- ^
per industry, having paid in one year
the enormous sum of $23,000,000) is
! the Alaska Copper Corporation. This
! company has now several thousand
sacks of high grade ore ready for
shipment at the mine and at Strelna,
and promises, as the season advances,
to increase the shipments to regular
carload lots. The ore is of high grade
| bornite, running from 25 to 45 per cent
copper, with considerable ore running
even higher than these figures, and it
is confidently expected that the output
from the mine this season will ap
proximate one million dollars.
OH, JOY!
Just keep ’em on a while, et, men,
If you’d avoid a ough; *
The time is fast approaching when
We all can take ’em. of.'!