The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-12
THE LESSON OF THE RECRUITING
STATION.

The yellow newspaper which declared,
last August, while 1T was publishing it's
lying sensations regarding the neglect and
ill-treatment of volunteers, that men would
no longer enlist, had no conception Of the
desires and motives of the mass of young
men in this country. Last August and Sep
TENDER. when the depleted regiments came
back from Cuba, when tales Of the horrors
of military service in the tropics filled the
newspapers and Disguised volunteers in
every camp in the South clamored for dis
charge, the regular regiments were filled up
as fast as recruits could be examined for
service in the Philippines and in Cuba.
Since the volunteer regiments which were
so anxious to get out of the service were
mustered out, many of the men comprising
them, after a brief stay at home, enlisted
In the regular regiments that were sure to
be ordered to far away Manila. 1t is re-
ported that the same thing is going on
now that the President has wisely decided
TO fill the fortytwo regiments of the regular
army TO the war maximum. Notice had
scarcely been given of the Presidents pur-
pose when recruiting offices were filled with
AAASh dhA4Ouo " JUN TIC It5lLltHlS
were TO see service in the tropics. The
5000 men necessary TO make up the 60 900
will be obtained in a brief period. The
larger part of these recruits were in the
volunteer regiments which clamored to be
mustered out few months ago because
they were weary of the dull monotony of
camp life. which held promise of active
service, even in the tropics.
This spectacle of the enlistment of young
men by hundreds and thousands, eager for
service in the Philippines, must surprise
those persons who have been telling US
that American youths must be conscripted
for the reluctant task of enslaving the free
born Filipinos. They will deplore the war
like craze which the Spanish war has
brought to the country, and that degeneracy
which leads the young men of the Nation
TO seek the aimless, and, as they would have
US believe, useless life of the soldier. They
may remind us that ii was difficult to keep
the regular army up to 5000 men before the
country was involved with the affairs of
Cuba. but now, under the Indictment of the
military spirit, thousands are clamoring for
are mistaken: if it were proposed 20 keep
the regiments at home doing military duty
with no end in view. young men would not
enlist now more readily than they did two
years ago. They enlist because there is
prospect of active service in a foreign land.
Those who are unhappy over the turn
of events the past year will urge that it is
the Spirit of adventure and NOT patriotfsrn
which leads men TO enlist for service in the
Philippines. Admit that the force which
impels enlistment for such service is not the
highest type of patriotism which is dis
played when native land is threatened, still,
as these men would not enlist under any
other flag professional soldiers, it has be-
hind it the sentiment of nationality. 1t is
n vastly better quality of patriotism than
that resentful hostility TO the Presidents
policy which led n distinguished man to ex-
press the wish that Aguinaldo might van
quish any American army sent to take
Luzon. The spirit of adventure which
seems to so shock a limited number of ex-
cellent people has been the impulse of every
vital people on the globe that has taken
part in the worlds civilization. 1t was
largely this spirit of adventure and this i'm
pulse to extend that has seized a continent
for the American Nation. 1t was the in
herent impulse of the race that caused it to
push through the gateway of the Allie
ghenies and up the tortuous rivers to seize
and occupy the wilderness which is now
the seat of the civilization of the central
West. The people which have not that
spirit, or which have lost It, fall into decay.