The herald., 1898-09-28
&!EYd3;lE1X!li f.
Private sanitarium. Report Of cas-

soft snap" to promise the soldier Tor his
support. Office holding is thus held to be a
money making privilege and not duty OF
the citizen to his country. The Repub-
ncan county convention put few grains OF
salt into this The old soldiers who came
before that body were ruthlessly slaught-
cred in the house Of their assertive and
promising political friends
Another recent instance OF military poI-
it.cs was the voting Of the soldiers at Camp
Barrett in the Alameda primaries. This
was a Republican affair, IN which the
soldiers were used to defeat the renomina-
taon of Hilborn, the present Republican
congressman, who voted against the rail-
road funding bill. Omnibusses were sent
to the camp and took the soldiers in uni
form and, it is sad. in some cases even
with side arms to the polls. Hilborn was
defeated
| Perhaps as striking an example or MILL
tary politics and its unreason Is the set OF
resolutions adopted by the annual meeting
| Of the Grand Army Of the Republic that has
just adjourned. The precedents and prac-
tice of this large order were in these reso-
lutions overthrown.
The first Of these was an endorsement OF
the civil war record Of General Alger and
| fuls ONE praise Of his administration OF
the war department l am informed that
no official war record has ever before been
endorsed by the order. In this case the en-
dorsement Of Alger Is a condemnation OF
| Generals Merritt and Custer. who made the
charges against him, and Of General Sher-
idan, who approved them AS to the Sec
ond part of the resolution praislng Alger q
war record, one would think that the Grand
Army would have at least as much regard
| for the suffering and death among our Sol
diers, due to incompetency and military
politics, as It would have to bolster UP
Alger's reputation. 1t was particularly
| !ndel.cate act. because the board to In
| vestigate the war management OF Alger' &
| department was about to convene and one
| Of its members to sit as judge on Alger
was the then presiding commander of the
Grand Army. This officer Is Colonel Sex
| ton, and he has. on Sept. 18th, given to the
press his deliberate statement that he be-
| lieves the charges against Alger have nc
| foundation. This IS surely an unusual act
en- the part of judge. To announce his
| decision before he has tried the case is a
| type of military politics and again sug-
gests the Dreyfus methods.
The second part Of the Grand Army res
olutions violently condemns the Repub-
Ncan commissioner Of pensions. Mr.
Evans. ard also condemns the president OF
the United States, William Mckinley, for
| keeping Evans in office. The trouble with
Evans is stated to be that he Is too care.
full to prevent fraud in the pensions and .s
trying too hard to keep the pension roll
clean and a roll of honor.
| When the Grand Army officially endorses
| Ayers war record, past and present, and
condemns the president of the United
States, the Republicans can see how far
military politics can m.slead good men
Error comes to us in disguise. Abuses
commence in small ways and never appear
without plausible excuse. Eternal vigil.
ance is the price Of liberty. Citizens may
| rest assured that violations Of law and
justice are never safe to permit, ever
| though the grounds for such wrongs are
| cleverly shown to be for some personal OF
class interest. No person and no class
should be above the law in this republic.