The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1883-06-11

Il CQu04 ~ ILL AiAA~1 s NAA-A>soe - ~
times, and pay them fixed salaries
| in gold and silver without any dis
tribution Of worthless medals and
empty honors, as il Germany and
England. The reward for special
excellence or extraordinary bravery
lis promotion. Ifafter the first FIVE
years service the soldier re-enlists
he will receive SIo6 PEI year. #
he is permanently disabled he will
| Be entitled to 90 per cent. of his
salary for life. II he receives an
honorable discharge he can, upon
actual settlement, be the owner of
| 100 acres Of the public land. He
can save S25o from his bountiful
allowance of clothes and rations,
and 5000 from his yearly pay,
making ain accumulation of $3.50,
which properly expended on his
| prairie home will start him on the
| road to independence, He may
become a non commissioned off
Ger. Should he aspire to commits
stoned rank there is nothing tItopian
| in his hope or fanciful in his dream.
| There is no rank he may not hold,
| if he can show conclusively, by
record and strength Of character,
| that he can perform its duties.
| Turn to the records and you will
see that hundreds Of brave men
have risen from the ranks to en-.
viable places. Not one-half Of our
| officers are graduates of our Mill
tary Academies, many ~of whose
graduates now occupy the highest
places in civil and military life No
School has turned out SO many bril-
| liant lights; no ms titution is more
admired or more freely supported
| than the Alma Mater that made
our Sherman, our Sheridan, our
Hancock and our Mcdowell; no
institution deserves more to prosper
than the one that educates, cul-
lures and refnes young men Of
talent to ofices in our armies. /
turn to history, that crowded chon7
icler of the past, and find that many
Of their. number are dead : Custer
and Jackson, Burnside and Lee,
Garret and a host of others calmly
sleep under the sod; silently wait
| ing the Judgment of God, while
their graves grow green under
heaven 8 dews and their. glory
brighter, nourished by the tears Of
a nation that can forget the malax-
olence Of yesterday the animosities
and heart burnings of the clouded
past, and, to-day, can weep for the
'Blue and the Gray" Others
I have left those who love the clash Of
arms ). the roar=of artillery to fight
battles for the "god mars, - the
enjoy the sunshine ofpeace and the
comforts of prosperity: Not 50
easily, however, does the private
soldier loose the cords that Bind
him. He will soon find that his
pay is not what it should be; that
his chances Of promotion are very.
few in these quiet times. I After
smarting under the unjust treat
ment of officers, he deserts, taking
with him his horse. accoutrements
|. and all the government : property
he can conceal. Thus it happens
that over 2 per cent. of tn { entire.
are deserters. They are not the
weak and. cowardly, but the able
| bodied, vigorous soldier; not the
men who faddle- with the jug, drain
the contents or indulge in midnight
revelry at gaming tables, for they
gain nothing by desertion but a
chance to work Or beg, privilege
little desired by them, but brave men
with brains to conceive and energy
to act. Army records tell US that
no army in the world exhibits.
greater subordination, greater hab-
itual temperance, greater absti-
nence from every species Of mill
tary crime, save the crime of de-
sertion. Let the remedy be ap-
Piled; there is value in Gilead.
Pay them better wages. WithEa
little economy in other places, the.
pay can be increased and the sol