El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-09-12
The American Soldier.
London Daily Mail.

London Daily Mail.
The American army is not an orna-
mental institution. The rank and d e
would not fetch fancy prices as works
of art. You may see hundreds of them
walking about on the wooden platform
sidewalks of Key West. They wear
brown laced leggings, like their Of
ficers: rough blue serge trousers, gen.
orally the worse for wear: loose serge
shirts OF a shade darker blue, and
soft belt, bro d-brimmed, sgrny SLOUGH
hats, with a narrow, piuched-up fore
and aft dent in the crown.
They remind you of the men who do
the rough work in a circus-hard-
faced men, with square jaws and prowl-
ing eyes. They smoke necessarily;
there Is reason to suspect that they
chew a good deal; in conversation they
necessarily invoke a holy name, and
every time they invite it they spit. But
their average height is 5 feet 8 inches
or five feet 9 inches, and every man
looks an Athlete. Afoot they go with
great swinging strides; mounted they
sit in their saddles as if they had been
born there. Physically, they are as
ine soldiers as one could wish to see;
every man a picture of health and
strength.
And what of their discipline? These
RTchs, DlR, hIulcIiC OAlCCI5' yo0 soy w
yourself, and these great, big athletes
Of the rank and file, are all very we'll
acknowledgements fellows-but
what of them collectively? Isn't their
discipline rather lax? Each man you
notice seems to wear his hat at an
angle which suits his fancy. or fits in
with his comfort. AS they go
about town each man seems to walk
with the stride which suits his habit
a,l ha anonrn I'D a. tim nf his nwp
legs. The drill sergeant does not s em
to have accomplished his customary
uniformity. Each man-snd to the
European eye it seems so strange as to
be almost ludicrous-each man seems
actually to retain something of his
own individuality. Every man seems
to retain, as we'll as his individuality,
his own Intelligence. That, to the
European view, seems almost horrible.
How, you wonder. can an officer ex-
ercise complete command over an ag-
gregation of separate individuslities?
l questioned my lieutenant upon
this point. why, my boy" said he,
that's just it-intelligence. The Am
erican soldier has more intelligence
than any soldier in the world, just be- |
cause he is expected to be intelligent,
because he needs Intelligence in his
business, and he's taught to be daisy |
shot and a daisy horseman, and if
you ii give me an entrenched position |
and regiment of cur boys, I'll hold |
out for q showdown against any in
fsntry you Gao bring against me-"
In the vitality important evolution of
saluting an officer the American soldier
a. L have seen n dozen times day with
my own eyes, is very far from perfect
Sometimes in the street, when an Off
Ger passes him, the huge slouch-hatted
fellow will take no notice at all.
This morning 1 saw six feet of muscle
stretched out on the grass " der a tree.
1t had a cigarette in its mouth, its hat
brim down over its eyes, and one knee
bent TO make q rest for the other leg.
An officer came by, and l looked up TO
see what the soldier would do. He
but he saluted without troub-
ling to get up. He just lay there on
the flat of his back and saluted. l
pointed out this grave shortcoming to
my grizzled lieutenant. l regret to
say, that he failed entirely to see the
point
"why should he salute any more
than he does?" he asked; whats the
good of it, anyway? That fellow will
go through - and back again il l tell
him TO. He's done it before yesterday,
and he'll do it again after tomorrow,
and so long as he'll do that l don't give
a rap to have him hitting himself on
the eyebrow every time 1 go by"
No: they are not ornamental, these
American soldiers, neither officers
nor men. But as an example OF fine,
frank, straight, honest, kindly, loveable
strong and brave and up-l
right, the American officer commands
my enthusiastic respect, and as to the
men-well, If you searched creation
over for a collection of hsrd-muscled
giants with battle fire glittering in
their eyes you couldn't beat them.