The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-09
Why the Yankees
Defeated the DoDs.
From the outlook.

teen thousand miles or sea ana Cdrrltu
her into action without the delay of
day for repairs; which has manoeuvered
fleets in perilous circumstances, in hostile
harbors along rocky coasts, without
single accident; which has never lost an
opportunity or missed the purpose of the
enemy; which has made every gun dead
ly, not only in accuracy of aim. but in
rapidity of discharge. Intelligence so
swift and sure has commanded the In
stant recognition of naval experts the
world over, and 1t is now freely conceded
that, ship for ship and gun for gun, the
American navy has no equal.
O.
This superiority is not due to better ar
NOR, heavier guns. and more thorough
equipment; it is due to the man behind
the gun. War still has its chances, but
1t has become mainly a contest of skill.
The men on the American ships are not
braver than the men on the Spanish; the
Spaniard is as ready to go to the bottom
as the American; he seems to be even
more Indifferent to death. But tho
American is a trained man and the Span
lard is not; the American has been edu-
Gated to do his work, not only courage
ously, but with the utmost effectiveness;
the Spaniard does his work no better
than he did 1t on the Armada. He knows
how to die. but he does not know how
to live; and so for four centuries men OF
EnSllSn DlOOQ nave OulSdlleu OulnndiOeu-
vered, and outdone him with shot ana
shell.
The man behind the gun made the vic
tories of Manila and Santiago. on sea and
land, possible; but what made the man?
Education made him. This is not war
of arms, but of training; it is knowledge
against ignorance, skill against incom-
petence. Behind the American is the
school; and the school has been the real
victor in these brilliant exploits. Behind
the American soldier and sailor stand
West Point and Annapolis-true nurseries
| of trained men. The perncous idea that
| one man is as good as another, no matter
what differences of training exist between
| them, has never received more crushing
blow than in the history OF this war.
| Match man against man, other things
| being equal, and the trained man holds
| success in the hollow of his hand.
o.
| Courage, character, health, readiness
| to work, are all essential to success; but
without specific skill in doing specific
| thing they leave man as ineffective as
| a locomotive which is derailed. The pluck
| of the men on our ships is magnificent
| but 1t was not pluck which destroyed the
| Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila and
| in that hot chase along the southern coast
| of Cuba: it was gunnery training at An
|
| seas American alertness and readiness
| are very effective qualities, but they can
| not rain balls with unerrins accuracy on
| the decks of a flying ship at distance
+, of a mile and a half. That deadly GER
| tainty of reach and force was gained by
| long, patient, wearisome drill; the dull
| drudgery of practice against the monot-
ony of which the American temperament
so often revolts. Reinforce American
| alertness with the skill of eye, hand and
| brain which comes from infinite patience
| in practice, and you secure the man CT
| skill trained to succeed under all condi-
| tions leave the American aertness un-
disciplined, and you produce the man who
| may succeed IL conditions are favorable.
The future belongs to the most thorough
| ly educated race; for education is the key
| to the wisest use of the ma aterials and
processes of nature and of life.
| o
1t will be said, however, that character
| rather than training is the key to success
on land and sea; but what is character
but the final result of educational pro-
| cesses? Back of the sailors and soldiers
in both armies and both navies are the
| people from whom they are drawn and
the differences between these peoples are
| largely differences of educational oppor-
tunity. In Spain, the Inquisition or the
spirit which it bequeathed; in America
| lut puDllC sCHOOl III Spun, ItpItSSlOIl VI
individual energy, suppression of indi-
vidual action, limitation of individual
knowledge; in America, steady encourag =
ment of individual effort, rich reward of
individual energy, the open door to every
kind of knowledge In Spain everything
is done to suppress individuality; in
| America everything is done to liberate it,
In Spain institutional life keeps men ig-
norant; in America institutional life is a
national eduCa ton.
The political character of the English
speaking peoples is the product, in large
measure, of the education of a free poll
tcal life. There may be race instinct
at the root of 1t, but it's development Is
the rich result of l. 800 years or constant
appeal to individual intelligence, energy
and effort. Such an education goes deer
because it is so largely unconscious; II
accumulates an immense capital of force
| The man born into such an educational
inheritance starts in life at an immense
| advantage; for he inherits the aptitudes
and opportunities which fit him for the
most effective use of special training
| Behind the man at the gun Is not only the
technical school which makes him an eX
pert in it's use; there is also that magnif
cent school of tradition, inheritance, po
litiCal order. and access to knowledge
which give him steadiness, alertness, a
/
responsive instrument of his mind. First
the man, fashioned by the deepest educa
tional influences; second, the gunner
trained to do his work with consummatt
skill-that is the moral of the war.
| O.
He who runs may read! The discipline
which fits a man to handle a gun will
such precision and agility that no shiI
can live long under his fire must be pardl
leled in every kind of work If the grea
resources of the American continent ar,
to be husbanded and the great forces o
American character made effective. Tn,
country needs more and better education
in the professions. in business, In agricul
ture, in manufacturing, in mining, II
finance. 1t cannot succeed In the tre
mendous competition for commercial su
premacy in the modern world, nor in tn
working out of its own destiny, by nativ
sagacity and alertness alone; 1t mus
command all the resources of science an,
of technical skill. 1t must have better
educated men in its public life; NOR
thoroughly trained men in its civil ser
vice; more adequately equipped repre-
sentatives abroad. IT costs as much L
build modern cruiser of the first clas
as to organize and endow a college; tn
cruiser goes the way Of all things mad
with hands; the college Is imperishabe
The country needs the cruiser for tn
present; but 1t needs stll more that edu
cation which makes the cruiser invincible
The brutalities of war cannot outlast III
| twentieth century; in the nobler rivalrie
of peace the school,, the college, and tn
university are to be the nurseries of thos
| higher skills and successes which enric