Willmar tribune., 1900-10-20

admitted that ''first-right'' was bad
thing inside the tribe. Then we had
to 60 to school some more before we
admitted that it was bad form to fay
captives alive, or serve them up barbe-
cue fashion at the ratification meeting
ter the victory. Then the instinct
; -eloped that it was hase to kill
linen and children since these could
defend themselves. Soon we saw
: at this principle logically also for.
b,'de Us to kill any honorable ad-
versary after this adversary give. up
fighting. The sum of these slow ele-
vations of the thought and action OF
mankind we call the ethical stand ard :,
culture, civilization. 1t ia the only
invaluable achievement of humanity
Hence. it is the ore inestimable herit-
age that we should leave intact and
increased to our descendants. But let
US remember that
War is tho Enemy Of Civilization.
A few short weeks of war are suffi.
cient to debase cultured American t.,
the ethical standard of the savage.
Refinement. chivalry, aid human kind
ness vanish before the experiences OF
army life az do flower, fruit and foil
age before the frost of autumn. II
must he so. The very essence Of war
makes it inevitable Hence the soldier
of history and fiction has on the aver.
age been very low in the scale of
moral development. Dumas Athoa.
Por,hos, and Aramis are sea- cely
saints. And Kipliug's famous Sold
iers Three"! How the author loves
them! And still, what brutes they are!
We find them funny, to be sure; but
none of us would wish a son nf ours
to become a Mulvaney. We find it
entertaining, perhaps, to watch the
antics OF that erotesque]y defcrmed
mental and moral cripple. the soldier;
but when all is said and done, is it
not a sickening business, this. which
makes moral wrecks of it's devotee.?
No, it cannot be helped. The dis
ease is central. The main business of
War is Msn-ktIiing,
and man-killiny is essentially base
and wicked. In vain do parsons pray
for him and tailors sew for him and
girls sigh for bin; the warrior has q
brutal occupation that neither uni
forms nor titles nor parades nor silly
"patriotism" nor false oratory nor
empty poetry can make into any thing
else than what it is-the most horrible
occupation tolerated among men. It
is inevitable that the soldiers occu.
patton should constantly tend to drag
him into the slime.
Now 1 am not unmindful of the debt
of gratitude we owe the volunteer. All
honor to him who for love "f liberty
and native land has faced death on
the battlefield and corruption in the
camp. He did more than risk his life
for his nation; he risked his soul.
It must also be remembered that~no
soldiery IN the world have suffered so
little morally from the brutalizing in.
fiuences of war as the volunteer. The
true volunteer, he who enlists from
his devotion to his cause and not
from idle curiosity or a love Of :ad-
true volunteer has a pal
ladlum of protection in the high
motive for which he enlisted. <All
houor to the volunteer who enlisted
for freedom and native land.
But what shall we say OF the regular
soldier? Stripped of all glosses, is
not this sum the sum total of soldier
ing in the United States? For thirteen
dollars a month the soldier is to risk
his life and kill anybody for any or no
cause, just as he happens to be COM
manded by the government. However
unjust he may know his own cause to
be, and however righteous he may feel
his adversary's position to be, the
soldier must not reason why, but just
go right ahead aud kill the just and
the unjust with diabolical impartiality.
Hence we must conclude that the es-
sential nature of the soldiers business
is such as to tend with an almost OYER
force to corrupt, degrade
and brutaliza him. T:-, =
Nor is this all. I never yet heard
a champion of militarism who had
brass enough to claim that camp life
in war was morally ennobling and up
lifting. There is more swearing than
praying in camp. We have high au-
thority for that statement. Army Off
GERS admit that. hundreds of prostitutes
came to Manila on account of the SOL
diers, and they excuse the lax discip-
line which tolerates the presence of
these women, by saying that if the
bestiality of the soldiers were not thus
satisfied, the native women would suf-
fer. Comment is Unnecessary! How
high above actual .hell-level shall we
compute the morality line of the army?
Have you read the charges made by
20 III =