The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-14
NOT TIN SOLDIERS.
The National Guard Does Not Exist
for Ornament Only.
New York Tribune.

New York Tribune.
1t is theory held by some people who
ought 10 know better that the National
Guard in the United States is body of
men enlisted, uniformed and equipped for
Fourth of July parades. That at least
is the only Interpretation to be put. upon
their attitude towards guardsmen who, in
the exercise of military duty, interfere
with anybody's plans or pleasures An
organized mob wrecked a jail and MUIR
dered a prisoner confined there the other
day at Urbana, o., and the militia cap
tain intrusted with the duty of repelling
the attack is now in hiding because he for
got that he was a tin soldier and played
his part in earnest. In the same State not
long ago the commander of a regiment
was tried for murder because a man got
Killed In trying 10 prolong riot which
the militia had been called out to sup
press. Nor is this peculiar state of af-
fairs confined to Ohio. Attempts were
made to indict an officer of one of the
Brooklyn regiments at the time of the last
car strike. A riOter attempted to XIII SOL
diers marching through a street by drop
ping bricks ON their heads, and received a
Yoiley in reply; and all sorts of Mysteries
We're INDUCED over the outrage of guards
men daring to use their weapons effectively
against citizen who at most, should
nave been locked Up over night for disor-
derby conduct.
1t is about time that the functions of
the National Guard as a serious instru-
ment of government were more clearly UNI
derstood If democracy means anything
more than loose jointed machine for
mlnlster1ng to common wants until ten or
wneels; If 1t is to be force capable of
action against a thousand law-breakers as
well as against one then the authority in
trusted with the conduct of public affairs
must nave force to make itself obeyed and
those who defy it must do so at their peril.
The American delight in civil liberty has
led to strong, not to say extreme safe
guards against military despotism. Citizens
may live for years so long as they live
peaceably without having personal contact
with soldier. Nevertheless. the soldier
exists not to furnish gold lace and titles
to staff officers, nor to furnish athletic ex-
erc1se and club facilities to select bodies
OF young men. He exists to defend his
country and fight its enemies. That duty
does not consist simply of repelling foreign
invaders. nor of keeping rebels from taking
Washington, nor of stopping the activity
of Anarchist bomb-throwers. In consists OF
supporting the constituted authority,
whether in a school district or a State, in
the lawful discharge of its duty against
all forcibie interference, either by the first
citizens or by a drunken rabble And it
is the soldiers business to support that au-
thority at no matter what cost. If people
do not want to be hurt or killed they should
not go rioting.
This seems a hard doctrine to some SEN
timental people and to some civil officers
dependent for reelection upon the votes
of citizens who are likely to get hurt If
order is enforced with such rigOr. But re-
ally it need be feared by no man who is
even moderately DESTROYS of orderly exist
ence. Nobody need ever be hurt by a Ma
tional GuardSman unless he deliberately
and after full waiting in a time OF noto-
rious public danger persists in violent law
breaking. The militia is never called out
until the ordinary instruments of law fail.
Then there is a crisis which forbids tolera-
ton of disorder, and every citizen knows
it. He knows that violence at that time is
not simply disorderly conduct, but an act
of war against the State. If he continues
in mob he makes himself public enemy,
and he has no reason to complain if he is
treated as a public enemy. The man who
takes the oath and puts on militia uni
form assumes the obligation of a soldier
to defend the State against the attacks
even Of his own household. The dispatches
tell of the Urbana guardsmen hesitating
and even refusing to fire on the mob be-
cause it was composed of their friends
and perhaps; also because they thought the
negro not worth fighting for. If this Is
true some courts-martial are in order Ii
the young men who enlist in the militia
are not prepared to do their simple duty
as soldiers and engage in real earnest bat
tie for the law of town and county as well
as for the law of the Nation, they have
no business to occupy the States armories
or wear its uniform. These military or
PLANTATIONS are not maintained for fun,
but for work. They are expected to main
tain the supremacy of law against all enc
mics whether the bone of contention is a.
wrteched negro or the spoils of city. 1t
is time for guardsmen and rioters and civil
courts alike 10 understand that the militia
Is an arm of the government, strong TO
enforce law, potent to punish disorder. We
have had enough of the timidity and de-
fance and indictments that tit tin SOL