North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-06-30
Democratic Co. Convention.

VIII DE nelG AT LlkaueF Oh wednesday
July 18th, 1869, at one o'clock, pm, fol-
the purpose of selecting delegates to
attend the Democratic State Conven-
ton. which will meet at Des Moines,
July IA, 1869, to putin nomination can
didates for the following state officers,
to be filed at the general elections in
Oct. next, tC-vit:
One candidate for the office Of Governor.
LIEUT.. :"
1" =" Z" Judge of the Supreme Court
" /" Superintendent of Public Instruction
Each township will be entitled to
one delegate in said County Conven-
ton, and one additional delegate foI
every % votes, or fractional vote over
IL, cast at the last Decentralization
for Horatio Seymour.
BY order of the Dem. Co. Cen. Com.
JOHN H. ANDRICK, Chairman.
West Point.
Our taste for governmental education oil
any kind has never been immense. The
system smacks too much of the royalty Of
patron-isn, of assumption by po,eer, and
Of dependence on the part of the masses
We are not West Pointer, either by
education or admiration. TO the writer OF
this it forever looked like waste of money
on the simple sons of those who were
wealthy enough to control member OF
Congress. 1t is beautiful in it's military
n,artinet-ism and its social pomp; but the
aristocracic pretension it engenders, fosters
and develops, was always hateful to US.
and never more so than now. Years ago
we moved DR.. Fitch, the predecessor OF
Mr. Colfax in Congress, to use his influence
in setting aside this fungus. The Doc.
didn't make an effort to oblige us or to
make himself immortal. Frank Pierce,
a celebrated gentleman of New Hampshire,
once Governor Of that State, and afterward
President Of all the States of the Ameri-
can Union, .nade speech in Congress,
years ago, denouncing an extravagant
appropriation item to this hot bed ofmilita-
ryism, and we ike him Tor the eloquent
truths he uttered. Like many others, he
went "back" on Common Sense and
succumbed to epaulettes and the prospect
OF place. We never liked him since
Cannot the wealthy educate their child en-
without governmental aid? The bare
footed ones require help, not the millions
ares or the thousand-aiys. For great
public benefits, why not establish Schools
of General Religion, based on Charity,
Love, Friendship, instead of on a basis OF
WAR? But the subject is too large for
anything except three column article.
Give us government pistol galleries, prize
fightin. Kinks, baseball schools as appen-
dayes to West Point! Cultivate the legal,
war,like style Of killing, and secure to our
country precious corps of cadets quail
fed, at public expense, to command post
thousands of miles from an enemy ; FEED
them on rations the one tenth of which
they never have occasion to eat; give then
servants and horses" which are known
only in your Infamous military appropra
ton bills; give them power through coart
martial authority to cut fantastic tricks
before high heaven, and angels as well al
palmer specimens of Gods make vii
weep.
These remarks are forced from JUS by
reading the following in that valued ex-
change, the Utica Obsorer, N. Y.
The bare West Point education never
yet made soldier. 1t is, as Sherman
says. an insidous and dangerous mistake
to believe that an officer may, by the aid
of modern science, sit ut ease in his cusll-
toned Office chair, with little blocks oil
wood to represent men, or with figures and
algebraic signs, and master the great
game uf war. 1t cannot be done. The
officer must know the tools he has to work
with as well rs understand the scientific
rules for using them. lie rust come into
absolute contact with soldiers. partake OF
their fool and labors, share their vicssi-
tudes and endeavor to impress them that
he not only possesses more book knowl
edge than they, bat that he equals if he
does not surpass them, in all the gualit e.
of manhood, riding, swimming, idurance
on the march, woodcrafh and so on.
These accomplishments must supplement
:. those attained in the West Point co arse
before the graduated cadet can be properly
classed as soldier.
Recognizing this, America possesses
immeasuralie advantages over the warlike
countries Of Europe for the proper train
ing of embryo heroes. The best officers
Of England are those whom experience in
Hindostan has fitted for the practice OF
war, and the best of NapoIeon's officers
were been trained in Algcrs; but neither
of those fields for training is the equal oil
that before the young West Pointer in the
boundless West, where there is every
stimulus to develope tn. manly strength
and courage so essential to success in the
profession of arms without the disadvan-
tage of the enervating climate on Southern
Asia and Northera Africa. Gen. Sher-
man, with grim humor, pictures our ad-
want & thus:
''The whole seacoaSt and Northern lakes
invite you to outdoor exercise in boating
and fishing. The waters Of Florida and
Texas swarm with fish, and their woods
and fields abound in deer and wild game
The great Plains are lireiy sciM The Sioug
The CHeyennes and 1rapuhoes, and vast
herds Of buffalo, of which you have heard
so much. The Rocky Mountains still af
ford an endless range to the mountain
sheep, the black tailed-deer, the elk and
antelope and the far-of mountains Of
California, Oregon and Idaho will nuturt
enough grizzly and cinnamon bears Il
dare to the encounter the boldcst rider ant
hunter"
These are the schools for the young mer
Il, f.l. 4
other nation can rival them SO long as thu
great Plains are kent lively hv the rod