carry, including everything, is only 50 pounds, a good 12 pounds less than what is carried by the private of Germany.  The men of this regiment, in heavy marching order, carry an overcoat with a cape, a blanket, the half of a shelter tent, and one wooden tent pole in two sections.  The rifle could be used as a tent pole—­so say men I talk with on the subject.  On this expedition overcoats are a superfluity, and it is absurd that troops should be sent to the tropics in summer wearing exactly the same uniform they would be using throughout the winter on the frontiers of Canada.  This war will, no doubt, produce a change after English models.  At present the situation here is prevented from being painful because no marching has yet been attempted, and the commanding officers permit the most generous construction in the definition of what is a suitable uniform.

On the trip of this ship to Cuba, no officer or man has ever worn a tunic excepting at guard mounting inspection.  The 50 men who went ashore near Cabanas on May 12 and pitched into some 500 Spaniards left their coats behind and fought in their blue flannel shirts.  Of the officers, some wore a sword, some did not, though all carried a revolver.  No orders were issued on the subject—­it was left to individual taste, I have experienced hotter days at German maneuvers than on the coast of Cuba during the days we happened to be there, yet I have never noticed any disposition in the army of William II. to relax the severity of service even temporarily.  My German friends sincerely believe that the black stock and the hot tunic are what has made Prussia a strong nation, and to disturb that superstition would be a thankless task.

In the way of clothing the American private carries a complete change of under-drawers, under-shirt, socks, laced boots and uniform trousers.  My particular private was carrying a double allowance of socks, handkerchiefs, and underwear.  He had a toothbrush and comb.  That is the heavy marching order knapsack.  For light marching, which is the usual manner, the man begins by spreading on the ground his half-tent, which is about the size of a traveling rug.  On this he spreads his blanket, rolls it up tightly into a long narrow sausage, having first distributed along its length a pair of socks, a change of underwear, and the two sticks of his one tent pole.  Then he brings the ends of this canvas roll together, not closely, as in the German army, but more like the ends of a horse-shoe, held by a rope which at the same time stops the ends of the roll tightly.  When this horse shoe is slung over the man’s shoulder, it does not press uncomfortably upon his chest.  The total weight is distributed in the most convenient manner for marching.