The Ravalli Republican., 1898-07-27
COL. BRYAN AND HIS FRIENDS.
It would be truly pitl'''I. { it We

It would be truly pititlI. il ii were
not SO amusing. to listen TO the ";;ii
Of numerous delHnrratic napn"G, be
cause Col Wm. j !'rvHu. whose rcn-
iment has just been orga,:Zad is no'
sent at once AD tn" tru.it where 1lnrt
may be had. and lheir wild assert iu"
that the reason why lie is not is be
cause the admfsi-tl rat ion i, afraid lie
will perform such brilliant rc;lt~ OF
arnls-i9nntHni as ne is yet OF the
first rudimcii1> Of soldering that
his fame would eclipse That Of Miles.
Shafter, Merritt. Wheeler, Brooke or
any other Of the trained and cXpcr-
fenced soldiers, and SO make him the
more formidable in the political field
in 1900 They do not hesitate to
charge that politics and political
manipulation is The reason why Col.
Bryan and Gen. Lee are not already
used, and all because they are demo-
Gratis. They almost rise to the posi-
tion Of genuine humorists in their
frantic efforts to make political capi-
tai out Of this. One would suppose.
from reading these soulful democratic
walls, that Col. Bryan was "tllc only
colonel in the camp. and that if
only this newly discovered Napoleon
from Nebraska were sent to he front
at once the Spaniards would realize
that at last the United States was
awakened to Il true realization Of the
stnpeui'ous task before il, and, real
ing that they could never withstand
the onslaught Of lie thunderbUl' OF
the west, the donS would at once lie
down and quit. When one comes to
remember thai there are some loo or
more colunelS now in commission
that 80 Or 81 Of these are regularly
scloolcd soldiers, and over 100 O!
the remainder had been sworn in
and put into training with their men
before Col. Eryan's commission was
made out by the governor Of Ncbru>-
IA, ,arni all are today much better
prepared for active duty, it is really
too bad that th9 war department has
so little sense that it does not look
over their heads and see the brilliant
and dazzling preparedness Of tho
democratic leader to put speedy
end to the war by the mere magnet
ism OF his presence at the trout.
Coming down to hard sense, Col
Bryan is no better, in the army of
of the United States, than the col
.i:el 0f:un Illinois regiment, Of Il New
York regiment, Of. q Montana regi-
ment. Of an Iowa regiment Or OF Il
North Carolina regiment. and. wore
nc to be given a precedence 0He,.
many of these officers hhO lave seen
war before Cot. BRYAN was out Of the
l'hDlIt SS'l1I1. WY u vi l'lGtN' ll1Cllu
might well be raised Col. Bryan'S
regiment is Yet Que Of the grccncst
and raWest IN the volunteer service.
b HAS U,t gonc into camp from its
nome. it would bC &C: il!lilal military
blundcr to send it unprcp&rcd and 1:,l-
trained into the thick Of the tight
ing. And thousands Of better trained
soldiers are still waiting 60. orders
for the front. rs Ior politics, does
anyone suppose that AIr. E.'yan would
be a colonel today lad l;s>not been a
political lcadcr:'
AS to Gen. Lee, il has all along
been understood that he is slated for
operations before l!ul;>!la, and hi:
time will come in due course. There
are other major generals bcsiGc him
who have not yet sn!clleG powder il
Uhis war, ana their friends are not
making any political howl about il