The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-01-22
SOLDIER OF TO-DAY
COMPARISON BETWEEN MILITARY LIFE
At HOME AND ABROAD.
The Soldier of Germany, France, England
and America-Some Sharp Contrasts-As
Usual, Our Own Country Leads-Rela-
tions Between Privates and Oficers.
TSpecial Correspopdeuce.J

| Especial Correspondence.
CHICAGO, Jan 15.-It has been said that
tie life of the modern soldier has lost its
| romance, and that even war has been de-
| prived of its attractive features in these
prosaic and cold matter of fact days Gen
orally speaking, this may be true of the
| regular barrack routine and the wars be-
| tween civilized nations. Different, how
| ever, is it with the life of the average
American soldier who passes most of his
existence in far distant posts. Different
| it also is with the Englishman who serves
| in India or the Frenchman who enters the
marines and finally with the sailor SOL
diers of any nation.
| The American Soldier.
| OF all the soldiers in the world the
American has superior advantages. 1t is
only duo to the mystery that enshrines his
existence, the deep rooted prejudice of a
democratic people against soldering as a
profession and the lack of knowledge that
| foreigners have of the real position of the
American soldier that the recruiting offices
| Of this country are not overrun with
| young men from all parts of the world
anxious to enlist
There are very likely, however, only few
people in the United States who, reading
| the newspapers, have not once in awhile
come across an article referring TO cruel
! ties committed by officers and noncommis-
stoned officers against soldiers in the Ger
man army. Great as that army may be
considered by many, the three or four
years the men have to serve in it are a
space of time in which each day forms a
link in chain of continued hardship.
The daily service extends TO from 10 TO 12
hours and as with regard to the food suf
flee it to say that no American soldier
would touch it. Not that it is unwhole-
some, but it is so coarse that only those
who have been used to the toughest kind
of life are able to conform to it. The
bread is as black as coal and indigestible,
the soups meager, the coffee mere chicory
water and roast forms the main luxury
of a holiday.
For pay the German soldier receives only
few cents a day, and with these he has TO
buy brushes, shoe backing and other
small articles necessary for the cleaning of
garments and arms. The relations be-
tween men and officers If such thing ex-
lists at all, are the same as those between
fairly just despot and his subject. As
for the overbearing arrogance and harsh
ness with which noncommissioned officers
treat their men, it will be remembered
that they have often given cause for dis
cusson in the German parliament. While
] admit that such treatment Is capable of
establishing an iron discipline, it must not
be forgotten that it also causes both bit
terneSS and contempt in the hearts of the
men.
The French Soldier.
In France, which day by day is becom-
ing a democratic country, the common
soldier is treated better. The army regu-
lations, of course, are enforced. but without
unnecessary severity, and while the food
is of superior quality the pay is as made
quate as in Germany. No doubt higher
pay would be given, but what European
country can afford to pay soldiers proper
tionately as long as standing armies of the
present size are maintained?
The greatest advantage perhaps which
the French soldier enjoys among his Euro
pean comrades is that, apart from his
claret, the government supplies him with
tobacco. The hours of duty are not too
long, since all unnecessary sentries have
been suppressed under the republic. The
relations between the men and the officers
are about the same as in this country
that is to say, while transgressions of au-
thority from the part of noncommissioned
officers are severely punished officers gen.
orally enjoy not only the esteem but often
the devotion and affection of their men.
In England the soldier receives about the
same treatment at the hands of his officer
as in Germany, with the exception, per-
haps, in the colonies, where men and Off
GERS are thrown closer together. The Eng