The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-20
VETERANS AND DEMAGOGUES.
All Soldiers Do Not Deserve the Name
Veteran.

Washington Post.
What is a veteran? Noah Webster an
swers that question thus: "One who has
been long exercised in any service or art.
particularly in war: one who has had
much experience. or has grown old or de-
crepit in service" 1t follows. therefore,
that there are not and never can be any
veterans of our short, sharp and decisive
war of 1898. 1t is true that large army
was recruited in few weeks. The young
men of the country volunteered with
prompt, patriotic alacrity. The fact that
but few OF them saw service in the face of
the enemy does not detract in any degree
from the credit due them. They enlisted
for war and were ready to do a soldiers
duty. The exhibition Of this Republics
capacity for war furnished by the almost
instantaneous raising, organizing AMI
equipping of a great army was as really
n factor in producing the early and COM
Pete triumph of our arms as II every man
had been sent into the field and met the
forces of Spain in actual battle.
Nevertheless, there was not that length
of service which creates veterans The
same may be said of many thousands %
the men who took part in our only great
war Soldiers who saw but three months
a hundred days service-and especially
those of them who served remote from
udnSef--WeTc not veterans any Aloic lHdh
are the men who spent a few months IN
camp in 1898. Due respect for the real
veterans demands that distinction De
made. Only the short-term soldier who Is
killed or wounded in action deserves to DC
hOnOred as a veteran. There were some
such in our war for the Union. Men fresh
from the farm. the factory or the school
went into action and fell They were not
veterans. for fate denied them the chance
for long service, but no veteran questions
their equal title with his own TO the honor
and gratitude of the Nation.
Divers demagOgues in the Illinois Legisla-
ture are trying to make political and per-
sonal capital and al the same time 10 de-
measure which provides that veterans of
the Spanish war shall be allowed the same
privileges in examinations as veterans of
the civil war" The Post agrees with the
Chicago Record Herald that this sugges-
ton is essentially vicious and should be
condemned as such by the very persons
who would be its beneficiaries. Our con-
temporary submits that the veterans Of
the civil war are veterans in age as we'll
in military service. and when the law
was passed they might have been placed
at a disadvantage If they had not been
given a special recognition. II says that
some OF them had been continued in the
public employ for years; that they had
performed their work satisfactorily, but
were unequal 10 the competition OF young
men at examinations and Ill prepared to
begin life anew In the broader competition
of business And the Record-Herald, there
fore concludes that when We consider
these facts and the fact that the prolonged
and fearful struggle for the preservati
of the Union gave them an absolutely
unique claim upon the affections OF the peo-
pie the desire to make an exception in
their favor is both easily understood and
easily justified"
The bill has gone TO a second reading I'm
the House OF Representatives and It will