The examiner. (Hartford, Conn.) 1881-188?, 1886-07-03


is nothing in this idea. Let them rea
= ancient history. Read Plurtarch's lives
Scylla, Marius, Scipio, Pompey, Julil
n Caesar, and hundreds of other milital
G heroes who never heard of West Poiu
a What soldiers they were. They were fs
superior to modern generals. Several {
D Napoleon's greatest marshals were oris
nally privates in the ranks. Napoleo
never could have gained his great victories
had it not been for the pride and ambitio
of his soldiers. Napoleon fostered and en-
couraged this pride by selecting his officer
from the ranks. Thousands of his soldier
went boldly and joyously to the battle field
hoping to become officers by their ow
manly qualities and personal courage.
that the case in our so-called republican
army? Do our private soldiers hope t
become officers? Are they proud, high
spirited ambitious men? Many of then
have no nobler ambition than TO becoIn
some officers servant. A soldier wh'
would do mental service for an office
should be drummed out of the ranks, ant
an officer who would employ soldier as
servant should have his straps ignomin
iOusly jerked off his shoulders. Let hiu
go to England or Russia. There should be
| no place for such an officer in the army OF
a free republic.
If the army was re-organiZed as we pro-
pose, thousands of the sons of mechanics
|
competition among wage-workers would be
somewhat modified. They would be will
ing TO become soldiers if they could get
moderately good pay, and had fair, hon
| est, republican chance to become officers
In our opinion, we should enlist our
soldiers for three years, give them moder-
ately good pay, and select all the officers
terms with honor and credit. We should
employ our soldiers in the military duties
about six hours day, and teach them two
hours day. dn the course of years, by
this plan, besides the regular army, we
would have scattered through the nation
hundreds of thousands of men ready,
almost at days notice, to become the
best of soldiers.
There is another idea worthy of item
ton. General Logan and other Senators
desire to increase the regular army. Our
capitalists and rich corporations no doubt
would like to see the regular army in
creased. They would like these soldiers to
be, as in aristocratic governments, mere
living machines, completely under the con-
troll Of their officers. They would like
these soldiers to be under such discipline
that, when ordered to do SO, they would
mercilessly shoot us, the people, down
For our part we do not want such an army
We want our soldiers to be of the people,
and from the people. We want them 10
fully understand that, though they are in
the army, they are still the free citizens Of
a free republic. We must let General Lo-
gan and the other Senators fully under
stand that we, the people, are able and
willing to do all the fighting that we want
done. We do not propose to consign to
hired men, who are the mere slaves of their
officers, the highest and noblest duty of
al tizAnS------
10 re-organize the army. We wish to
"a fio md n
mony with other republican institutions.
We wish TO get rid of the privileged class OF
men which West Point sends out every
wear. We wish to give all of our young
men a. fair and even chance to become
officers. We wish to give honorable en-
ployment to some thirty thousand sons OF
mechanics. We want our private soldiers
to be not tame, serVlle splrltless men, VIII
ing to black the boot and brush the clothes
and become lackeys of their officers, but
proud, high-spirited, ambitious young men
who can look forwa to becoming officers
themselves. An army composed OF such
Young men would be much more danger
GUS to foreign foe and much less danger
GUS to the republic than our present army.
We now ask attention to the fourth
clause of our platform. The United States
Senators shall be elected directly by the
citizens of each State and not by the legis-
lature. A wise king or ruler discharges
the most important duties of government
himself. He assigns the less impo. tant
duties to his agents. We, the people, are
the rulers of the State. The Legislature is
merely our agent. What more Important
duty are we called upon TO discharge than
the election of United States Senators
Ought we not to discharge this duty our
selves and not delegate it to our agents :?
What has been the result of this careless
ness upon our part The Legislatures of
several States have been bought up either
directly or indirectly by rich political
scoundrels. Every man Of ordinary intel
| Iigence and observation knows that this is
| the case These men are so smart and sa-
gacious that they cannot be convicted OF
rascality. Only ordinary scoundrels are
| found out and exposed. Extraordinary
scoundrels are never detected. We cannot
convict these men of bribery and corrup-
tion, still we know that they are guilty Of
these crimes. They cannot successfully
hide their tracks, still like so many pole
cats they leave nasty, sickening, disgust
ing smell behind them.
| The idea of electing Senators by the
Legislature was originally good one. 1t
| was then supposed, as a matter of course,
that the members of the Legislature would
be pure and honorable, and would faith
fully discharge their duty, and would elecl
to the United States Senate the best and
noblest citizens of each State. But this
alas, is no longer the case. We can nc
longer rely upon our members of the Legis
lature being pure and honorable men. Ii
these days of political corruption, the mor'
we do ourselves and the less we give to ou
agents to do, the better it will be for IL
and for the republic.
We will venture to make this assertion
: By the present plan of electing Senators
many men are sent to the United State
Senate whom we, the people, do not wan
, there; and, on the other hand, many mel
whom we would like to be sent to the Sen
+ ate stand little or no chance of being elect
1 ed. In other words, the Legislature doe
4 not, in this respect, act in accordance wit
9 the will of us, the sovereign people. LIE
: us illustrate this point by examples. Som
years ago the Legislature of Ohio wa
4 Democratic. Instead of electing Thurman
). Pendleton or some other distinqulshe
e Democrat to the United States Senate
g they elected man named Payne. VIII
y is this man Payne? Is he an orator! NJ
q Is he statesman? No. Is he we
t known politician? No. Who then Is he
!. He is a very rich man, and the father of
= still richer son, and has under his contrt
: the immense wealth and resources of til
+ Standard Oil Company. All of us kno
r that these are facts. Whether these fac
d had anything to do with the making NJ
e Payne an honorable Senator, we leave tt
II reader to judge for himself. Did the pc
, pie of Ohio want this man Payne to
IL thpir Sanatnr WOnld he now he Senatt