The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-29

| and that men are sick from this dis
| ease. That is correct. 1t is a disease.
and have seen men die from
it in the Civil war. We were
camped at Helena, zA1.,., IL, eee ees snnne
weeks, and it was discouraging to the
men. I doubt If Santiago was a worse
fever-infested place than Helena when
my regiment was there. Many OF the
men died from fever, and some became
| thoroughly discouraged and homesick,
| and nothing could save them, Letters
from home did the men more good than
any medicine, and I have no doubt that
if the men at Santiago could have
heard from home more frequently they
would have stood the fatigue Of the
campaign and the influence OF the de-
bilitating climate better.
WAITING FOR RELEASE.
But the war Is over and we are now
in the midst of the most trying period,
when we are In danger Of forgetting
| the glorious victories of a nation while
! dwelling upon our individual griev-
ances The soldiers have done their
| fighting and are waiting for their re-
lease. They naturally chafe under the
restraint and delay, and they want to
return to the good things Of home life.
! No one can blame them, but they
would go through this trying expert
ence better If their friends at home
were more philosophical and hopeful.
| Their friends are more anxious than
they are, and more unreasonable. They
want their boys home right away, and
they would upset all discipline and all
the military machinery Of the govern
ment in order to get the boys out Of
camp and home. In their impatience
and anxiety they contribute to the i'm
patience and discoura cement of the
soldiers.
There is no way Of remedying this,
for it Is human nature. But after we
| have had our complaints aired, and
| have done the kicking, and after the
soldiers are mustered out and return to
| their homes, there will soon be another
change. The glories Of the war will
return. and the people. the soldiers and
their friends. will all remember only
the victories and the wonderful
achievements Of the United States
army and navy. They will forget or
laugh at the trials of the present, the
trials that always come to an army
after the fighting Is over and the full
restoration to a peace footing has been
accomplished. The American people
are not going to forget the glories of
the war and dwell long upon the trials
| of waiting for the army to be muster
ed out.
1.-THE war has done many good things,
| not the least Of which has been the
uniting of OUT people. Much comment
| has been made on the reunion Of the
| North and the South, and that Is
| glorious thing, but there has been an
other I'D as great benefit. That Is the
bringing together Of all the people. The
soldiers have wiped out many inagin-
| ary lines Of distinction. The army is
made UP Of dudes, mechanics, CONNER
cial and professional men, and farmers.
There has been growing up in the
country prejudices between these men,
and they have been in danger of divis-
ion into classes The army checked
| that.
NATION is UNITED.
1.-The men all fought together, and
the dudes, as were termed the sons of
rich men who had no occupations,
fought as well as any other men. The
quality of fighting always lifts a man
in the estimation Of his fellows, and
this has been a war for the dudes. How
they have distinguished themselves
since the war began! They have fought
| like those men from London fought
| under Wellington at Waterloo. You
remember that the flower Of the Brit
ish army was in America and elsewhere
at that time, and Wellington was sup
piled with a lot Of freshly enlisted
men from London. They were clerks
and professional men-men like our
volunteers-and the old duke was very
wroth ait the government at sending
him an army Of puppies as he called
them. But at the battle of Waterloo,
as he watched these men go into the
| fight and never waver in the face Of
shot and shell, Wellington uttered the
exclamation, Great God, how the pup
pies fight! Many people In America
were in the same condition Of mind
regarding some of our dude soldiers.
But the dudes and the farmer boys
and the mechanics and the regular
soldiers all learned that there Is no
particular fighting class In American
citizenship. All are patriots and all
can fight when fighting is necessary
We all belong to the same class, and
the war has taught this as one Of it's
best lessons
"Go where you will in the West to-
day and the people are talking about
the war and the army, not about free
silver and the classes. They ell belong
to the masses now. Two years ago In
st. Paul any man could draw crowd
by stopping on the street corner and
beginning to declaim on the money
question. Now no one will pay any at
tention to such talk. The people don't
care about It, They are thinking Of
other things They are thinking Of
the war and it's victories, and the glo-
rlous future that has been opened by
| the war;
mo, can't talk about that future,
or the peace commission or the Philip
pines. That subject Is tabooed."
TRANSPORT FROM TAMPA.