The herald., 1898-09-30
MILITARY POLITICS ;
BY ABBOT KINNEY


inmates and habitually declaim on their
One politician recently publicly advocated
the hanging of the governor of the home
because he had sought to enforce reason
able regulation. The attempted assa ssina-
tion of the governor is the logical outcome
of such action. Nor is that unfortunate
affair the only defiance Of law that has
come o4l this military politics.
The most uniform sequence Of military
politics Is the injury and decentralization
of the rank and file Of the army affected.
In South America politics is more domi-
nant than elsewhere and there Is where the
army is the poorest disciplined. the worst
fed and most indifferently clothed.
Recently the record of the navy, which
is not run on political lines, and in the
record of the army under Alger. which has
been run on political lines. are in striking
contrast.
The navy has had Its yards and stations
at home and In new places. as at Key West,
just as the army has. The navy has oc-
cupied the same sickly ports that the army
has In Cuba, Porto Rico and Manila. What
a difference In the record! Hardly a case
OF sickness in the navy. Discipline, COM
plete supplies, regular, appropriate and
ample. The medical STAFF, depots and
all are and have been conducted without
complaint. No politics has run the navy,
except only the jumping of Captain Samp
son. the well-known political favorite, over
other captains like Clark of the Oregon
and over commodores like Schley Watson
and Dewey. This piece OF navy politics
merely brings this one mistake into prom
inence. SIMPSONS bombardments and re-
suits we're nil. His blockade was always
open on the southwest coast Of Cuba to
Mexican aid expeditions. and his report Of
the Santiago fight is the only instance In
the navy where a commanding officer ie-
nored In his report the officer who really
made the successful fight. Sampson may
be fine officer, but his political prefer
ment over distinguished officers was not
justified by results. Hardly any one can
say that this political preferment of Somp-
son over such distinguished and competent
officers as Dewey. Schley and Watson was
either good for tho countrys cause or for
the navy.
When we contrast the general war record
of the navy at home and abroad with the
war record Of the army under politician,
and run on the lines of military politics
we can see that neither ths nation nor the
soldier is a gamer by such methods. In
fact the soldier suffers most. Suffering,
disease and death have been the results.
Contracts. supplies. camp locations. ap-
pointments in fact all the war department
work has been on political lines.
So, in the Soldiers homo politics is dis
tinct injury. The inmates have nothing
to gain by county politics and something
to lose. The politicians make themselves
most numerous among the weaker men,
bers. The soldiers have absolutely no
interest in our local affairs or IN the cam
didate seeking to control their votes, and
they are therefore unusually open to ad-
ventitious reasons. Drink is one that is
offered. The result Is that a comparative
ly small element In the home is often
drunk in uniform on the cars and about
the streets and roads Of neighboring quar-
ters This has injured the standing of
the entire institution amongst O rc@pecta-
BILE and law-abiding people The home
does not deserve the reputation 1t Is get
ting For its waning prestige 1t can blame
military politics.
So can the sick soldires and bereaved
families of soldiers blame the military
politician Alger
No true American wants to be or seeks
to be In a privileged class above and differ
ent from his fellows. The American pe"-
pie are not favorable to privileged class,
and least OF all to a military caste. The
American is ready to pay and honor the
soldier, but no sensible American will set
the soldier into a privileged political class
above the law. In such class !: s III"
rank and file Of the soldiers that suffer
most from the abuse. They are only use
as our Soldiers home Is by self-seeking
politicians. Neither soldiers ror home get
anything out OF politics except few
drinks.
NV action Is not brought to disfranchise
the inmates of the Soldiers home. The
constitution specifically protects them
against such an act. Nor does the word
"pauper" anywhere occur in the action.
This epithet is applied by the soldiers
self-styied friends. The action is brought
to put the inmates Of the horne according
to law in the same position as the presi-
dent Of the United States IN Washington,
who goes home to Canton to vote. in the
same position as the Kansas regiment in
San Francisco, which hos received the bal
in the same position as the large Soldiers
home In Washington city. The inmates
of that home have no vote In Maryland or
In the District of Columbia They, like
the president and government employees,
must go home to vote. II II Is deemed an
outrage that the two thousand men of
the Santa Monica home outside of county
control, exempt from county debts or
taxes and under separate law and gov
ernment from the community should not
participate In local politics. why Is 1t not
an equal outrage, blamabe on the Re-
publican administratio that the Wash
ington Soldiers home inmates cannot vote
In local Washington affairs or participate
IN the politics of Maryland?
II 1t is illegal for the Washington SOL
diers' home In It's beautiful park to be used
and demoralized by politicians, 1t must be
equally illegal for the Soldiers home here
to be thus used. If | am TO lie denounced
by the military politicians for enforcing
the constitution and the law here they
must also denounc. the Republican ad-
ministration for enforcing the constitution.
and the law there
The constitution and the laws governin :
the franchise are framed to secure gov-
ernment by the consent of the governed.
The intention is to surround the franchise
with safeguards and secure its exercise
by those subject to It's results The in
mates of the Soldiers home are designated
by the constitution as being In n situa-
ton that cannot be justly allowed to con-