The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-01-06


depended upon as a reflex of democratic
opinion as it is waited back
and forth freely over the broad plains
of this region. Its %utteranees come,
therefore, with an air of authority.
Hence the greater weight to be attached
to an editorial in its issue of Sunday
| last, entitled: 1.-THE army influence"
As the LEADER is the recognized army
paper of this region, we feel called upon
to reproduce this article, that our SOL
diers may see who are their enemies,
and If eumity is allied to party.
In printing the article in full We do
so feeling that a simple reading will
condemn It. There is no iced TO. enter
into a rebuttal of the NetrS' diatribe;
every soldier, whether of democratic or
republican ~antecedents will gauge it
properly and stamp it with his disgust.
We will simply record the LEADERS
utter disapproval of the same.
The Ne,cs says: 1.-THE fact is coming
out that the failure to drive the Utes
from our limits last fall is due wholly
to the head of the army. General Sher-
man stopped the war. His apologists
say it was because the army was not
equal to the emergency, and then fol-
lows the old imperial cry for more bat
talions and the repetition of the stale
charge that the democrats are to blame
for not increasing the military estab-
lishment. This pitiful excuse is weak
to the last degIee. The army is larger
now than before the war, and it has
much less to do than it had then. 1t
has twice as many officers Is the num-
Der Of its privates requires and every
one of them is trembling lest lie be
mustered out. To avoid this the en-.
tire ~aristocracy of blue-blooded West
Point pensioners are moving heaven
and earth to create q situation that will
compel the filling up of the skeleton
regiments and thus make them secure
in their positions. They are aided by
all their relations and friends in civil
life and by all that body OF superficial
people who have a weakness ~fortoadying
to gilded uniforms and glitter and
pomp. 1t is q powerful influence, and
as dangerous and pernicious as a grow
ing canker.
"All army movements must be inter-
preted from this point of view. Had
| Sherman ordered Merritt to move onthe
| Utes the war would now be over, and
the necessity of reducing instead OF in
| creasing the army would be agitating
the country. To expect this West
| Point oligarchy OF elegant gentlemen to
| destroy their vocation, when they can
| avoid it without ruin to their prestige,
is asking too much of human nature.
! The subordinates ut the front are thirs-
ty for fame and would gladly rush to
| battle If their chiefs would give the
word, but their individual opportuni-
ties for glory must be sacrificed to n
policy conceived in the interests of the
army as q separate institution. That
policy is to prolong the irritation and
maintain the sayages as u spectre to
scare the country into bearing the bur
dens of a costly army.
"'Our national vanity is not wound
ed by the fact that our army is weak
| when compared with that of nations
| where there is somebody to fight. 1t
has always been our glory that 1T was
weak. II we could get along without a
single regular soldier 1t would be the
proudest boast q great nation could
make. An army, no matter how small,
is always a menace to liberty. Our
small aristocracy. of West Pointers ac-
customs us to class distinctions. We
| educate them like lords while our own
| sons are toiling in the field and shop,
and then we clothe and feed and pay
them in royal style. Like lords and
dukes and earls they hold Office for life.
After we have thus exalted them over
us we bow down and worship their ell
| egant manners, brilliant uniforms and
| dashing bravery. We know they are
nothing but hirclings, lighting for pay,
yet human nature cannot resist hero
| worship. 1t lisa fatal weakness that
makes the people in all countries the
slaves of the idle military element.
"People of Colorado should watch the
movements of the army with a jealous
eye and be on the alert not to fall under
its influence. They should not permit
| it to use their situation to further its
ends. They should reply TO its con-
temptible and cowardly assertion that
it is too weak to cope with the Utes by
| wiping out the savages themselves. The
army has no sympathy with the frontier
settlers. 1t never had. Its interests
are directly opposite to them. The
more the Indians slaughter the settlers
the better the army is pleased. Work
for it to do and glory for it to gain are
created by keeping the Indians on the
war path. These are to it what the
fruitful soil is to the industrious farm