The National tribune., 1907-01-03

some valued member of the community.
some leading man in the village affairs
or some youth full of promise of future
usefulness? Could there have been any
idea of pecuniary advantage when, in
the face of these reminders. fathers and
mothers sent their sons to take the
places of those who had fallen and in
every community recruiting the wasted
ranks rose to the hight of religion, and
it was held to be every young mans
duty to follow to the blazing front those
who had already fallen there? From
the homes. the farms, the shops and
the factories went constantly streams
of recruits that at the centers of popu-
lation sWelled into creeks and rivers OF
men. which united at last into a great
Mississippi River of strong men flowing
southwark to replace those who every
day fell under the shot and shell of the
enemy or were stricken down by dis
ease. In the stress and storm of that
mighty conflict mere thoughts of world
Iy wealth were burned out of mems
minds by its fierce fires. and there re-
mained only the exalted perception of
duty to ones country, no matter what
the personal sacrifice.
But what was not thought of then
we can with great propriety think of
now. Those men who left everything to
carry the salvation of the country upon
their bayonets' points, relinquishins
home and its comforts and the prob
abilities of securing a competence, the
men who endured everything that the
severest of wars could impose upon
them. are now old. They are now past
the time of life when they can COM
pete with other men in the sharp strug-
gle for a livelihood which now domi-
mates social life. The country has be-
come wealthy beyond any dream of
opulence, and 1t is directly due to what
these men did in self-sacriice in their
youth. Consequently it is the merest
justice that the people who have profit
ed so enormously by this sacrifice
should make some return to these men
as they are passing down the last de-
clivity of life. The generation of to-
day may not be able to understand the
exaltation of spirit which led these men
to such enormous sacrifices in behalf
of the country, but it may be made to
see some features of that sacrifice which
will aid in a just conception of what is
now due them. The army of the Union
was not made up, as mercenary armies
usually have been, of men who could
not make much of living outside of
the army. On the contrary, the very
best men in the country enlisted, the
men who had the highest capacity and
energy for making wealth. They were
the men who are every country's great
est riches-the thrifty, skilful and en-
ergetic young men of the farms. trades
| and professions. The muster rolls show
that fully 4S per cent of the men in
the Union army were farmers. That
| is, according to the custom of the times
these were men who either had farms
| of their own or were in the way OF
acquiring them and establishing homes
for themselves. A large proportion OF
| them were farmers sons, who at the
|
the Mississippi, and there did that Won
derful work in building new States oui
of the unbroken wilderness. There were
| "a per cent of the enlistments who were
skilled mechanics, men who had learn
ed trade and were in receipt of fail
| wages. Only 1G per cent were laborers
and five per cent were clerks and other.
in commercial pursuits, with three pei
cent professional men and four per cen
of miscellaneous vocations. All of these
men, with all of their varied skill ir
wealth production, dropt their chosen
vocations at the call of the country, and
accepted from 1t pay of s13 month
with rations and clothing. To thos'
men this was hardly regarded as pay
1t was too far below what they wer,
able to earn in peaceful life to b.
looked upon as really pay. AS the wal
continued the drain upon the men o
the country became more severe ant
wages rose. The disparity between wha
the Government was offering and wha
a man could make at home became
still more striking. When wheat wen
4 up to 81 or more a bushel, with corr
and pork in proportion, the profits o
farming were enormous, and any youni
man who had energy and strengtl
enough TO be a soldier could have lai,
a very solid foundation for his futur
! competence by two or three years o
successful raising of corn, wheat an,
! pork at the prices then paid. The sam
d. was true OF the mechanical pursuits
| Skilled workmen were in demand a
wages far higher than any ever befor
: paid, and a very large number of th
I manufactures that have now grown I
= greatness and figure among the trust
r were started during the prosperou
2 period of the war. OF course, there
r no measurement of these lost oppor
I tunities to the men who enlisted an
t put in two or three years of the bes
e years of their lives. We can only &c
: some conception of their sacrifices b
a study of some features. Taken 6
its full cash value. everything given b
the Government to a soldier during h
three years OF service amounted I
2. about $1,000 in round numbers. Th