The times., 1899-05-24
Two Veterans.

| There are certain to be plenty of veterans
in town during the Peace Jubilee-veterans
of the Spanish war. and of the Union and
| things, not great many of the same men
can have served in both wars. Hence there
| is good-natured rivalry.
The veteran of the Civil War will rally
| the youngster on those diminutve hard
ships about which such a fuss has been
made, and tell grewsome stories about the
live hardtack and long-dead meat which
was served out to the unfortunate soldiers
of 81. The men who fought in Cuba will
| retort with tales of the Cuban climate, of
fever, of vultures. of crabs, and of yellow
fever. There they will have the advant-
age, for not even the most determined
| boaster who ever fought-or ran away-in
| the Civil War can pretend that crabs of
gigantic size went scuttling through the
bushes in Virginia and Georgia, or that the
troops were attacked with yellow fever
Confederate veteran, at least. cannot say
anything about the climate of the South
without abusing his own fatherland.
The Filipino veteran, when he arrives in
force, will have the advantage over both
parties, for nobody in the Civil War had TO
fight under the conditions of an Oriental
campaign, and to the average man the Fill
pino is still an unknown quantity. But it
is unlikely that this veteran will appear
for some time to come.
Naturally, compared with the gigantic
struggle which nearly rent the country in
| twain, the Spanish war seems but trihe.
To the man who remembers campaigns
which cost thousands of lives, the cam
paign which cost only a hundred seems
almost childs play The men who fought
one another in 81 had foes worthy of their
steel; the sharpshooters of that war were
trained hunters, and both armies were of
the great Saxon race. When Saxon meets
Saxon, as when in the old days Greek met
Greek, then comes the tug of war-not
when the Saxon meets the Latin. That is
the way in which the gray-haired veteran
| reasons, and in the main he is right.
But when he argues that abuses which
existed in this war are not worth minding
because he endured worse trials thirty
! years ago ne Is on the wrong track. mere
| were plenty of rascals who made dishon-
est money at the expense of the
country then, but that is no reason
why the same type of rascal should go an
punished now There were many poor fell
| lows in both the blue and the gray uniforms
who died, or went through life manned
and helpless, for want OF proper surgical
attention; but is that any reason why this
rich country should not provide surgeons,
nurses, hospital appliances in profusion.
and every possible comfort for the wounded
in Cuba or the Philippines? No brave man
complains when he is called upon to en-
dure necessary hardships, but every hon
| est man should see to it that needless suf-
fering is not added to these. There are
many patriotic and earnest men who did
not enlist for the Cuban war for every
man who did enlist. Those who stayed
at home had their reasons. But there is
no reason why they should not help to fer
ret out the scamps who made money out of
the sufferings of soldiers in the field. That
is surely their part of the fighting, and
it should be done as promptly and effect
lively as the American soldier did his part
| in the taking of Santiago.