The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-29

Mig ana fEGd6EEcK tDUs duO Oilt
or two others. write tnelr fascinating
stories of the life of the men Of the from.
tier posts Blu to most of Us the nation:
q, 900 fighting men are little known. Our
many years Of peaceful national life have
| brought few OF US into contact with ouI
| soldiers. Many of US almost forget. and
SINE of US wholly ignore, the fact Of their
existence. When war comes. with its call
| for volunteers, our life and our thoughts
are so flied with the consideration OF
these who go out from among Us, our
| friends. our acquaintance. the members
! Of our own families, that there is no room
| left for the professional soldier We go
| even further than that. During either
| peace or war, We give fIim but little
| chance TO rise from the ranks, and, If he
| be an officer, qualified for command by
virtue of his West Point education, or
through the devotion of his life to the
| military profession, we often shut him out
in time of war from that promotion which
is justly due to mis- merit and his. ability,
and 20 give our posts OF honor and emo
lument 20 those VINO have political pull.
During the present war there has been
many a military appointment from civil
life to which no possible exception could
be aiken There are civilian appointees
who ara wholly worthy and wholly capa-
BILE. Some are veterans of che civil war,
Cwho distinguished themselves during
that period. and who have added 10 their
honors since that time No one can OBJ
ject 70 the appointment OF eneral Joe"
Wheeler or General H. V. Boynton, and
others who might be mentioned though
their positions might well have been filled
by officers from our regular army, 10
whom, in a way. those positions may be
said TO belong of right.
But there have been many appoint
ments which are no credit to the country
gross injustice TO worthier men VINO are
kept from what should be theirs. Yet
these men do not complain. I have raised
the question with many man to whom
a change of straps would be no trifing
matter, but have heard few words that
could be construed into a grumble.
They do the work assigned to them, do it
faithfully. and there the matter rests
l have sometimes thought that the slow
ness Of promotion and the limited posi-
bilities presented for it, have resulted, in
many cases, in a kind of apathy on the
subject though it may be only a soldiers
philosophical acceptance of the conditions
in which he is placed. That is a soldiers
trait 1t manifests itself in the ranks as
it does in the line. The volunteer gets
columns in the newspapers. His life in
camp and his deeds in the field are re-
counted, and are read with interests. |
The regular gets a few lines stating that |
his regiment was also engaged" Yet he !
is proud Of his regiment. and is proud to |
see it mentioned with i1onors. His life in |
camp Is seldom touched upon unless he |
runs a little wild and gets into a row. |
Then he is roasted" individually and |
for his ruffianIy tendencies.
Volunteer soldiers may behave as they
have at Tampa, at Chickamauga, and al
Washington, nd, except for the mention
mde in the letters of camp correspondents,
little attention is paid to the matter. 1t
is the "exuberance of youth" the tenn
porary throwing off of the restraints OF
the camp" If regular gets drunk and
hOurishes his pistol, he gets almost as
much public attention as his regiment
does if 1t wins a battle. But it is very
rare case 10 hear any man Of theregular
army, officer or private, express a Criti-
eism after the manner of my wounded
rooper. Except in rare instances, the
army man accepts conditions whether he
likes them or not. and says nothing.
1t is not my desire or my purpose to
iecry our volunteer army. It is one of the
best armies in the world, and it will prac-
ically equal our regular army after
line of training and experience. Both are
If the same material, the same timber,
,nly the one is seasoned and the other is
lot 1 only wish that our regular army
nay receive its just and due measure of
ecognition for its deeds and its SER
ices. When the present row is over, we
hall have to discuss the question of a
marked increase in the strength Of our
landing army. 1t will be well for us,
therefore,, to keep a closer watch, and to
make more careful study of the doings
( our present force. What our present |
rmy does during the present war, what
shows of skill, of courage, of daring, |
nd of endurance, will be the measure of
he effectiveness of a larger number of |
len of the same stamp. If they put up
good fight at Santiago or anywhere
lse, let us know Of it. ct US know what
hey did and now they did it. 1t need not {
t all modify the credit due to the volun-
aer troops or in any way diminish the
Istre of the achievements of the volun-
GERS. If we possess. as we certainly do,
regular army which is worthy of our
ride and our esteem as a nation. let us
-atch their movements. their successes
nd their failures, If they have any, with
reater interest, and in every case give
hem the full measure of credit for their
eeds. They may be hired to do their 1
-ork. So are our policemen, our fire de- 7
lrtment and our sailors. So, too, are
ur volunteers. and the one is just as good I
patriot and just as good an American as
lie other. A. G. r.