The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-18
Unique Contrasts
Shown by The War.
Rochester Post-Express.

| IN BgERVERS Of the American peo-
III III pie during the past six months
ii must have been struck by the con-
W. trast between their conduct and
that of other people under similar
conditions So marked was this con-
| tast that they must have thought
| often that the inhabitants of he
United States belong, not to many
races but to a single peculiar race. III
| they did not think that, they must have
come to the conclusion that AnSlo-SaNon
institutions as developed among them
had produced remarkable effects. Ger
| tainly. as the Qualities manifested dur
| ing the war are passed in review, they
stand out distinct and individual
O.
Other wars have been undertaken with
purposes said to be unsolfish. The apol-
ogy made in behalf of all the religions
| wars of the world has been the rescue of
| the unbeievers from an appalling fate
| the everlasting displeasure OF the AL
| mighty. 1t has sometimes happened that
| the instigators of wars have pretended TO
desire the deliverance of some people
from oppression. But we believe that the
| history of civilization will be searched in
vain for a perfect parallel with the Span
ish war. Never before did people. SER
| ious. hard-headed, almost devoid of what
| Is called sentiment, rise and demand as
with one voice the cessation or the at
| rocites that had | cen for years going On
in Cuba. The spectacle was an exhibition
of a romantic idea Of duty that enc would
only expect in an age of chivalry from
highly sentimental people. To assure the
world that the war for humanity had not
been undertaken, as so many other wars
under the same banner, TO give play TO
barbarous instincts, a self-denying ordin-
| ance against spoliation was proclaimed
and 1t has been observed.
o
| Hardly less remarkable have been the
unrivaled energy and skill of the Ameri-
can people after they had once decided
upon a struggle for the liberation of
Cuba. Heretofore the rapldity and eff
| fectiveness of the Germans in the war
with Austria, and still later in the war
with France, have occupied the foremost
place in the recclds of military achieve
| ment These movements were, indeed,
| amost miraculous. They were worthy of
| the admiration bestowed upon them. But
| it should be remembered that Prussia
had been making preparations for them
| ever since the close of the Napoleonic
wars. She had become almost a nation
| of soldiers, trained TO quick and concert
| cd movement. When the bugle call tc
| arms sounded they were ready to throw
| themselves at once upon Austria and
| France and crush them. Such however,
was not the case with the people OF the
| United States. Since the close OF che
| Civil war, they have given their thought
| and energy TO the pursuits of peace. 1t
had come to be a belief with most of
| them that they would never have occa-
| sion again to appeal to the arbitrament
| of arms. But hardly had the declaration
| of war been issued before there sprang
| into existence "A navy that was pro-
| Eounced by experts to be hardly less for
| midable than most of the great navies of
Europe. In the same period there were
| under colors a quarter of a million men
| ready to go to any part of the world to
| fight and die for the cause that had ap-
| pealed so irresistbly to their sense of
| justice and humanity. 1T seemed as If
| the wand of some enchantress had been
| at work. Within a few weeks, peacs-
full and industrious patton had been
turned into military camp.
There was much sneering at first at
| these brave troopers in buckram." Mill
tary critics in the Old World could hard
ly contain themselves. The idea that
such soldiers could overwhelm in few
months even a decrepid power like Spain,
with her trained army and navy, was too
Comical for serious discussion. While
they might and in all probability, would,
overwhelm the Spanish forces in the end,
the task would not be of the nature of
holiday parade. Aside from the contempt
that military men are prone TO feel for
an Industrial people, the source of the
| error vitiating these views Is to be found
in the failure to appreciate the military
value of industrial life. Too often is 1t
thought even in the United States that
the best soldiers are the men that have
| given their whole lives to the training OF
| soldiers. They alone have the courage,
| the tenacity the steadiness that win bat
ties. But where have soldiers exhibited
| greater courage, greater tenacity, greater
| steadiness than the citizen soldiers that
| fought in the battles around Santiago?
| Where have sailors made for themselves
a greater name than those that fought
under Dewey and Sampson? The achieve
ments of these men have astonished and
| COMPOUNDED their critics They have dem
| onstra ted, as did the achievements of the
Dutch during their struggle with SPAIN
| that the power of initiative and self-reli-
ance that an industrial life under free
institutions tends to develop in the high
est degree. does more to make the best
| soldiers than all the subordination and
stern discipline of prolonged military
drill, which destroy the spirit and elias
ticity of men and convert them into mere
| machines.
But the finest trait of the American
, | people that the war has brought into
light is their fidelity to principle and
| generosity as conquerors. 1t seemed at
one time as If the wave of military en-
thusiasm that swept over the country
would make them forget their pledge to
the world and that they would claim un-
der specious pleas far more than the
emancipation of Cuba from oppression
and the retirement of Spain from the
= western hemisphere. But as the war
) comes to an end, the sober second thought
has gained the ascendancy in their minds
, | and hearts, and the man whom they
placed at the head of their government
10 lead them in battle as well as in peace
has hardly done more than to ask the
fulfillment of the terms of the ultimatum
framed before a gun was fired. There
will be no pillaging of Spain. There will
be no heavy indemnity that will plunge
the Spanish people into deeper depths of
misery. Deplore, as many of them doubt
less will the loss of the last remnant of
their immense empire in the new world a
remnant doubly dear to them because OF
the memories of past greatness it re-
, called, we believe that the day will soon
come when deliverance from responsible
ity for rebellicus colonies will be regarded
as a piece of great good fortune and the
beginning of better days. Instead OF
cursing us, they will bless us.