What Makes Soldiers Desert

A private soldier writes from a far western post as follows: "The cause of so rnuck deserting from the artny is simply.this: Au eulisted man is treated in just the samo manner as if he were a dog. There is altogether too much manual labor with the piek and shovel, and Sunday labor, building barns on Sunday. There is notbing but work from one week's end to another. A soldier enlists to be a soldier and not to labor. When a man g,oes into a recruiting oflice to enlist, the sergeant reprosents to him that he will have a good time in the army, with nothiag to do but a soldier's duty. He enlists, goes to Jeüerson barracks, carries the hod, is sent out on the frontier and gets put in the ditch with a piek and shovel, and naturally he thinks that t-bis is not aoldiering, end he gets up and skips. A great reform is needed in the army, anti desertion will not cease until there is reform.