Arizona republican., 1900-08-31
CONCERNING ARMIES
Political Issues Which Must Soon Fall Flat-Patriotism and Progress Are Interchangeable terms According to An Army Officer of High Rank. Before the War Thoughts" Are Buried and Moss Covered.

Washington, Aug. 30.-'I expect to be ordered to the far east for duty" said an army officer of high rank as he de- scended the steps of the War. State and Navy building this morning. and it is with feelings or pleasure that respond to the call of my country to uphold and fight for its flag wherever unfurled.
 About to enter active service in the field, can but contrast the difference in the status of the army and naval officer of today and of five years ago. and during the preceding thirty years down to the close of our civil war. While always ready to respond to any emergency, his life was of necessity the monotonous one of the army post or idle cruising and detached duty in Washington. Today it is one of the greatest activity and movement
 Events have shaped themselves with such startling and exciting continuity that We are confronted with conditions one day which become old and expired the next. l do not think the people themselves have fully grasped the run- ming of time and the juxtapositiOn of new conditions but incompletely. and certainly the democratic leaders not at all.
 The supposedly strongest issues of the democracy have all but passed now. As party it appears utterly to fail to grasp and to see the present situation. which will in turn fit by, pushed along
 by the rapidly multiplying complica-
 tions of the future. leaving the party bewildered. helplessly and namely grasping at its dilapidated skirts by the roadside as the affairs of the nation
 rush by guided by it's sure-handed
 pilots in the center of the path of Da-
 tional honor and with courageous de-
 termination to uphold the American flag and American prestige.
 'These are stirring times. and old is sues and before the war thoughts and customs are forever buried beyond the hope of resurrection save in sentiment.
 The nation must be prepared to meet
 its new responsibilities. and the demo-
 cratic old man of the sea cannot be permitted to strangle it's progress. to stifie it's honor. to smother its newborn 1 greatness and to halt its onward move ment.
 T do not believe that the people of this country desire too large a standing army in the time of profound and actu- | al peace, but I do believe that they,
 aside from the leaders of the democ- racy, are agreed that moss-grown.
 quarter-of-a-ce ideas cannot
 be allowed to continue; at this momen- tous Juncture, and that an adequate , army must and shall be formed We have fought and won one war { since then, and we may be called upon i at any moment to fight-and to win i another. It would seem to me that the | very thought of scuttling, of skulking
 and crawfishing; of steps retraced and | words and sentiments eaten, would
 bring the actual blush of shame to the 1 faces of the democratic leaders | Tt is un-American. it is unpatriotic, i it is so utterly and distinctively antago- 1 nistic to the American character. to the American nation, to American his | tory and to the glory of American arms 1 on land and American prowess at sea 1 that it ought, and I believe 1t will,
 nauseate the very people before whcm | it is preached"