Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-05-27
IN REGULAR ARMY !.

The Difference Between Profes-
sional Soldiers and Volunteers.
AS SEEN In THE CAMP AT TAMPA.
How Volunteers Compare With Regulars.
Social Questions and Distinctions In the
Army - Tie Regulars Not Represents
tive of Our Rural Masses-S0cial Ambi-
tions of American Women Cut q Figure
: In Increasing the Army. - :.
There is nothing that the regular ar
my officers talk about SO much as the
regular army, says the Tampa CORE
spondent Of the. New York Post. I do
not mean that they exalt it on all occa-
sions. Army officers are for the most.
part men Of modesty as we'll as courte-
sy. But they often speak in d more or
less impatient way Of the prejudices
chat prevail against a regular army
and of the unkind and suspicious things
that are said about it, and they like to
tell you how much better and more ef-
fectively and mercifully this war might
have been fought if we had had reg
ular army of $4,000 men at the out
break of hostilities instead Of one Of
%, 1000. I am not going to repeat any Of
their arguments, but I have seen some
things in Tampa lately which have
been, it seems to me, instructive on the
main point-whether we are to de-
pend in great crises on regulars or on
volunteers.
just now we have something more
than 1000 volunteers encamped in
neighborhood where some $1,000 or
II, 900 regulars are encamped. In many
ways these volunteers are ridiculous in
comparison with the regulars. They
are younger, smaller, paler, weaker:
They are undisciplined. Though they
are mostly Of a very good class Of peo-
pie morally, they furnished more cases
Of drunkenness in day than all the
regulars had furnished in a week. That
was not because they were as individ-
ual men more inclined to drunkenness,
but because they were undisciplined
youths suddenly turned out of their
homes into camp and felt themselves
bound to do something rough and SOL
dierlike. As soldiers they are simply
not, man for man, one-haf what the
regulars are.
But there is one point in which they
are worth something more. Socially the
regular private soldier is nowhere at
all. If he enters the big hotel where the
headquarters of the army are and
which is constantly full Of officers he
enters it only as a messenger for an off,
Ger and must enter it hat in hand and
go by an inconspicuous way around to
the desk and present his message and
when he has had his answer he must 60
out in the same way. The private SOL
der or noncommissioned officer cannot
eat at the same public table with Old
GERS or drink at the same bar. This
social distinction is not founded, it
should be said, on the assertion Of any
difference Of class, but on the necessity
Of discipline. An additional circum-
stance Of some interest is that the girls
Of Tampa are ashamed to be seen in
the company Of a regular private SOL
der. 49,
Now, we who had been in Tampa for
couple Of weeks and had grown accus-
toned to this state of things saw some
thing Of quite a different sort when the
Florida volunteers arrived. Volunteer
privates of Florida are seen at the tables
Of the Tampa Bay hotel at dinner Wis
avis with generals and colonies of the
regular army. There was chop at
the hotel the other evening. The dan
GERS were made up almost entirely Of off,
GERS of the army and Of resident young
women. In the midst Of all the shout
der straps I>Tsaw a young soldier who
had no shoulder straps. His uniform
was not unlike that Of private Of the
regular army, but it was easy to see
that he belonged to the Florida militia.
He was private.> But presently q
young lady who was talking with an
officer rushed up to him and shook his
hand cordially. Then she presented him
to the officer: Captain --, this is
Mr.. -" The officer shook his hand
and began talking in cordial fashion
with the young man. They met as So
cial equals. 1885,.
If you mention this matter to regular
officers and point out the fact that they
are thus meeting private soldiers on a
plane Of social equality, they say: "Oh,
that doesn't make any difference. They
are volunteers - They are not response
BILE for the discipline Of the Florida
militia. They suffer no loss of military
caste on account of social intercourse
with it's privates Their position is con-
sistent enough. = regular army could
not be made and kept good for much if
the officers and soldiers were likely to
meet anywhere on the same social plane
But in this fact there lies a question Of
considerable public consequence It is q
fact that is likely to keep the ranks Of
the regular army filled with men Of a
certain sort and almost no other and
prevent it from being really representa-
tive Of the American people. = q. #
d In view Of the claim that the regular
IN