The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-10
AS VIEWED by SAILORS.
The Army and Navy journal Sums Up
the Situation.

The Army and Navy journal Sums Up
the Situation.
NEW YORK, April 9.-The Army and
Navy Journal which may be taken as the
spokesman of the service, says editorially:
There is a feeling abroad in the navy,
and to hardly less extent in the army,
which must be reckoned with. 1t grows out
of the doubt whether there are any ties
of human sympathy that vibrate in COM
mon between the men behind the guns and
the men of civilian sympathies and alien
interests, whose orders they must obey.
The heart of every man who has the in
stinct of the soldier has been stirred to it's
profoundest depth by the loss of the Maine.
Such men are not content to see this
accident accepted as of d matter of minor
Importance in our controversy with Spain
and treated as though the men who are
every hour putting their lives in jeopardy
for the honor of the flag are of no conse-
quence. The tears they shed are for their
dead comrades, buried in alien graveyards.
and they believe that the one important
question before the country is to determine
who should be held responsible for their
deaths.
1T is in the power of the President to
accept or reject the verdict of the court Of
inquiry in the case of the Maine. II he ac-
cepts it something more is logically re-
quired of him than mild suggestion that
he leaves the question involved to the good
policy of Spain. Rather should he declare
in the language of General Grant: If
Spain cannot redress these outrages we
will -
In another article the Journal recites in
cdents of the campaign made by Spain
against the Peruvians in 1864 in which Chile
helped Peru to show the bad craftsmanship
of Spanish gunners, and continues:
This chapter from Spanish history will
serve to give some indication of what we
may expec. if the opportunity should favor
Spain. There is this essential difference
however: The Chileans were obliged to con-
tent themselves with driving off the Span
iards, and had no redress for the injuries
they suffered; with us every dollar of dam
age would be ehalked up against Spain and
could be collected, and would be if the spirit
OF those who consider the Maine incident of
trifing Importance hid not rule the country.
Spain has shared in the movement of
navai progress. and is faT mora formidable
in ships and guns than she was in 1864, but
not relatively. We have no reason to sup
pose that her sailors are better, though it
may be that the use of range-fnders may
improve their gunnery. Still the personal
of the American.
Concentration and bold and rapid move
ments are the essentials of success. If the
navy is Obliged to listen TO every wall that
comes from our long and exposed Atlantic
seacoast and divide itself in the attempt
to cover too much territory, its strength
may be fatally weakened. Whether our sea-
coast defenses are adequate or not, we
must trust to them, leaving the navy free
for its mission of bold action at sea- Who
loses pays, ana the bill of damage. however
great will have to be Iquidated in some
way by the defeated party
Continuing, the article says: but what
preparation are we making to meet the
Spaniards on land? We may say that they
can never reach our shores in transports
with the navy defending them, but there
is only one certain thing in war and that
is uncertainty. We cannot expect that in
the chapter of a thousand accidents that
characterize war we will all draw the
prizes and our enemies the Blanks. The
Spaniards have not less than $1,000 men in
Cuba. They are not the best of soldiers,
but there are better in Spain, and trans
ports carrying troops are reported to be
Fastening to Havana.
The channel between Cuba and our coast
is not wide one, and it is not best to be
too confident of unvarying success at sea.
What has Congress done thus far to pro-
vide us with additional military force?
Nothing. Our regular army is still throttled
with the restriction ON enlistment, and the
single battalion organization and the mil
itia are controlled by a system Of laws as
antiquated as the spontoon with which they
are still supposed to be armed.
Who is responsible for this folly? Are
our authorities at Washington so ill-fn-
formed as not TO know that war comes
without declaration-that there is no sharp
dividing line between the time when peace
refgns and we have no need of men at arms
and the time when the enemy are at our
throats? Even to Spain we are not yet pre-
pared"