Blue Shirt and Khaki: A Comparison

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James F. J. Archibald. Blue Shirt and Khaki: A Comparison

Blue Shirt and Khaki: A Comparison

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. The New Soldier and his Equipment

CHAPTER II. British and American Recruits

CHAPTER III. The Common Soldier in the Field

CHAPTER IV. The Officers

CHAPTER V. American and British Tactics

CHAPTER VI. Feeding the Two Armies

CHAPTER VII. The Railroad in Modern War

CHAPTER VIII. Transportation of Troops by Sea

CHAPTER IX. The Last Days of the Boer Capital

CHAPTER X. The British in Pretoria

Отрывок из книги

James F. J. Archibald

Published by Good Press, 2021

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On the contrary, when an American officer wishes to buy anything for the government, he is obliged to have its value decided upon by a board, and then the payment is made through the tortuous channels of the paymaster’s department. Innumerable vouchers, receipts, affidavits, and money orders pass back and forth before the party who is selling receives the amount due him.

The right system is a mean between these two extremes; for the English method is as much too loose as ours is too stringent. The British government pays for its method every month thousands of pounds more than necessary. I watched a remount officer buy horses in Pretoria, and the prices he paid were staggering. The animals had been seized by the government troops, but payment was made to any one who came to the public square and laid claim to a horse. The officer in charge of the work happened to be an exceedingly good-natured and agreeable fellow, who said the people undoubtedly needed the money. He asked each person presenting a claim what he thought his animal worth, and almost invariably paid the full sum demanded, without a word of protest. He paid as high as £60 for animals not worth a third of that amount. It can well be imagined that the stock left in any of the towns by the burghers when they evacuated was not of a very high order, as they all went away mounted in the best possible style, and in many cases leading an extra horse. Every man in the Boer army is mounted, and well mounted, on native stock, that does not need to be fed with grain to be kept in good condition, as the veldt grass on which these horses live and thrive is similar to our prairie grass.

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