The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-19
Haste a National Characteristic.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
American life is too intense. We are all
the time in too much of hurry. 1t has
become a national characteristic. The
great number of paralytics, insane and sui
cides attest with fearful accuracy the truth
of the statement. In this particular there
is no nation like ours. This American trait
stands out so prominently that the ordinary
visitor from other lands at once notices it
and comments upon it. 1t might have been
excused when we were younger and in a
hurry to plant civilization in the wilderness,
but we are old enough to know better and
do better now. We ought to have passed
the impetuosity and rashness of youth and
reached by this time the calmness and
thoughtful dignity of mature manhood. But
it is very apparent that we have not done
so. The sickness and death in the army,
about which SO much has been said, and
which has excited so much sympathy
and sorrow of the whole Nation, is
but the sad result of giving loose
rein to this bad American habit.
At the very beginning of the with
Spain the strife among the States was not
diers and have their regiments best
equipped for the war, but they should have
them in camp first Tq do this sufficient n
who could endure the hard and eXacting
duties of a soldier. Too much haste was
lad in selecting officers to command them
and care for them in camp or on the field
of battle, and any doctor would do to care
for them and bind up their wounds if he
was ready to go at once The surgeons
who had the least 10 do at home, and too
often the least qualified, were the first to
respond and were chosen to meet the hasty
demand. The number of camps that have
been abandoned show the undue haste in
their selection. The penalty we pay now,
and will pay for years, is the lives of the
no frin mar IJyhn
rificed and the thousands more whose
health has been so impaired that they will
be pensioners on the Nations bounty the
balance of the time of suffering allotted
them. War is too serious an affair to be
ENTERED on in haste or carried on in a hurry.
Undue haste will bring loss and disaster in
the ordinary affairs of life In much
greater degree calamities must come in the
extraordinary conditions attendant on the
come, as they have in the conflict with
Spain, the American people, with the same
thoughtless haste and lack of calmer re-
Election and investigation, determine the
cause and fix the responsibility as often on
the innocent as on the guilty.
In the present case the whole American
people is the guilty party. We are all
rarticeps crim;nis. The wicked headlines of
the sensational newspapers have done the
business. In the war with Spain there was
not the slightest necessity for haste They
could send no armies 10 our shores. At the
very beginning Commodore Dewey DESTROYED
their best fleet, which endangered out West
ern cities. and Sampson and Schley had
their other fleet on our Eastern side bottled
up and Theoretically sealed in the harbor of
Santiago. There was no danger on our
Eastern coast line. We can see now that
Santiago could easily have been taken with
out the exposure of Skaters army We
could have seen it then had it not been for
the clamor of the American people of ION
to Cuba And now that we are arranging
for settlement with Spain, let us hope that
the wiser and calmer heads who have been
chosen by the President will make haste
slowly" so that we may not again be on
done. WILL CCMBACK
Greensburg, Ind, Sept. II.