The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-30
THE EDUCATIONAL EFFECTS OF
WAR


The social and educational effects of our
civil war were plainly perceptible in the
national life and character. In many ways
1t had a broadening influence. The bringing
of masses of men together from different
parts of the country, many of them from
farms or narrow spheres of life, familiariz-
ing them with new scenes. associations,
characters, motives and influences was dis
tinctly educational in it's tendency So were
the discipline and routine of military life,
the comradeship of the camp and march
and the thrilling experiences of the battle
field, all tending to develop character in
various directions, mostly elevating. 1t
would be impossible to estimate the aggre-
gate effect of these influences on the ma
tional life and character since the war.
They have affected our literature, our col
leges and schools, our social and business
life, our national holidays, and permeated
through and through the lives of individ-
uals. They have had a very marked effect
on legislation, national and state, are i'm
bedded in many public institutions, re-
vived at every soldiers reunion and re-
viewed at every campfire. They are the
cherished memories of many thousands of
veterans who, going back after the war
to the farms and the quiet lives they had
led before, have had abundant opportunity
since to dwell upon the memories of the
period when they were actors in drama
that opened a new world and brought them
experiences which have affected their lives
and characters even to the present time.
Most of all, these influences are felt on
Memorial day when the usual vocations
Of the people are partially suspended and
in every city, town and village of the land
special honor is paid to the memories of
those who died that the Nation might live.
All these experiences will be repeated in
the present war if it lasts a year or two,
and in a measurable degree if it is shorter.
The volunteers are at an impossible age,
susceptible to influences of any kind, and
will rapidly absorb the spirit of the war.
Many of them, like the volunteers in the
civil war; have gone from farms or narrow
spheres of action. and the new life will be a
revelation and education to them. The spirit
of patriotism and the consciousness that
they are enlisted in the cause of national
honor and human progress will give new
direction to their thoughts and make them
feel that they are factors in the plans of
Providence. In the intervals of military duty
they will discuss the oecadence of Spanish
power in America, the causes that have
led to it and the lesson taught in this clos
ing scene which is to end in the complete
expulsion of Spain from the Western hemi-
sphere. These things will leave a permanent
impress. Like the civil war, though perhaps
not in as great degree, this war will af-
feet our literature our legislation and our
social life Thirty or forty years hence the
veterans of the civil war will all have
passed away and the surviving volunteers
OF to-day, ageng and with slower steps,
some of them perhaps with artificial limbs
or armless sleeves, will be the veterans,
recalling memories of the war with Spain.
Spanish misrule in Cuba will be vague
Renaissance and that land either a pros
porous, Independent state or one of the
United States, and when the veterans read
of it's prosperity they will tell their children
or grandchildren ct helped to do it, Thus
for a long time to come the educational eff
fects of the present war. like those of the
civil war, will be felt in our national life
and in the lives and characters of individ-
nails.