The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-17

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the average hired man gets in a farm
! ing region. For this he is called upon to
submit to strict and severe discipline, to
sacrifice his life and health when neces-
sary. and absolutely to subordinate his
| own will to that OF his superior officer. in
| a way that would be intolerable to the
| average hired man or dry goods clerk. All
| these things are necessary. That is what
! a soldier is for. In matters OF life ana
f., death the man who has the responsibility
! must also have the power of command and
| the certainty that those under him VIII
! obey. All the same the soldiers is not
exactly an attractive job to the average
| American. The one thing that saves it is
| the consciousness that it is a job which
| other people do not like or dare to take,
and that a man who is willing 10 risk his
| all for his country and small pay is en-
| titled to respect himself. The little mar
! gin Of liberty and self-reliance which is
| left this man certainly ought to remain
untouched by outsiders. They are not ac-
| countable for the character of the soldier,
nor are they conducting the war. 1t is
| the business of the army officers on whom
responsibility rests to say whether or not
the canteen is an injury to the service.
and anybody who has read half the testi-
| mony on the subject given by these men
| will see that they do not believe it is;
that on the contrary. they consider it
positive good. and an aid to discipline.
Army officers are accustomed to deal with
human nature as it is. not as small
minority of the human race think it ought
to be, and 1t is surely to their interest
to prevent drunkenness in the army.
We have at present crisis in which
the President finds it necessary to
recruit the army now fighting in
the Philippines. The life of the regu-
lar soldier, even in this country,
is not delightful The men who have
returned from the Philippines one and
all testify that it is even less de-
lightful there; In fact so far from being
sinecure at thirteen dollars month. 1t
is an existence which the average person
would not endure for a good many hun
dred dollars month. There is no glory
about It. as there was in our brief skirmish
with Spain, nor are there any of those
which were so abundant in the civil war
1t is war which is not agreeable to the
participants, and in the justice of which a
considerable part Of the American people
do not believe. The question is. where
is the President going to get his hundred
thousand men, now that the anti-canteen
legislation has removed the last chance
left TO the American soldier of getting
some little alternating comforts to make
life endurablee How much chance is there
that seventy thousand young Americans
will volunteer for a service in which they
are to be treated like prisoners, fed on
prisoners fare, and denied the satisfac-
ton of believing that their felow-country-
men consider them reasonable beings who
can be trusted to control their own appe-
tites with or without the aid of their su-
perior officers9
The two methods which may be adopted,
in case volunteers fail to crowd the re-
cruiting stations. are the bounty and the
draft. The bounty Will have to come out
of the pockets of the American people,
and that means more war taxes. More
seer, anyone old enough to remember the
civil war knows what class of soldier was
developed by the bounty business in that
war. That was a method which made
many men patriots for revenue only, and
it did not do the country, the men, or tine
army any particular good The draft. as
CONSUMPTION is called in this country. is
the only alternative. 1t may be viewed
with complacency by men like Sena. OF
hn RAJ E1,hz tVta fhat-
happen to be called on but how is it
likely to strike the mass of the people?
President Mckinley is thus, it is evil
dent. forced into most unpleasant posi-
ton. He himself be it said, is not re-
sponsible for the anti-canteen legislation
Personally he has shown that he is no
fanatic. He has declined TO Danish wine
from his table and thereby make himself
in the eyes of the Diplomatic
Corps. at the request of the ladies of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
and he has never taken any action
which indicated that he had other
than sensible views in regard to the lib |
erty of the soldier to drink moderate |
amount of beer. But he cannot do any
thing to annul the decision of Congress. |
He will simply have TO make the best of |
the situation. He must enlist those sew |
enty thousand men, somehow, out of the |
seventy-six millions Of people in this |
and send them to fight in an I'M |
popular war. in an unhealthy climate. for |
an indefinite length OF time, with the |
that they are to be treat |
ed as children or prisoners, receiving. in |
return for their difficult and dangerous |
service. their clothes. their limited army |
ration, and thirteen dollars a month |
which they are not considered capable OF |
spending wisely. This comes near being |
Imperialism. And the straw which seems |
likely to break the back of the patient |
United States regular has been contrib |
uted by the Woman's Christian Temper
ance Union. which is not fighting. or gov
erning, or even shutting up the places
which exist in nearly every American
town and village, in which poisonous
are sold under the name of
liquor.
Quite as we have been expecting, the |
Senate steering committee, has agreed to
switch the subsidy job back on the main
rack with the right of way, as soon as
he Army Reorganization bill is disposed |
IT, It is said that Senator Hanna believes
le has forty-nine Senators safe for his |
Measure, whenever he can force II to a |
vote There would be no intrinsic i'm
in such a claim, for reasons
|