The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-10-18

degenerate can never make soldier
Who will say that Uncle Sam has not
an army of fighters?
There is more crime among civil
| ians than in the army. Statistics
show 1t and facts do not lie Can it
| be possibly that the man who loves his
| flag to the extent that he would give
his hearts blood in its defense is a.
ruff1an or daily associates himself
| with an organization whose members
are for the most part murderers, de-
bauchers, thieves, degenerates-in a
| nutshell, vagabonds? / admit that
courage and villiany are oftentimes in
separable companions. But the truly
| patriotic man must be truly good,
since love of country is akin to love of
| God. If God were to judge civilians
| by the same standard as civilians pass
| Judgment upon the man in olive
| drab' what hope for mercy could they
have from the eternal tribunal?
1.-THE enlisted man, as you know.
| has a questionable reputation among
civilians. He is person non grata"
In good society. In the public thor
| oughfare he is frowned down upon
Women lift their skirt lest it brush
against the cloth oftentimes stained
| with human blood begotten that these
self same women's breath of freedom
| might be preserved In the street car
the whispered remark of contempt is
passed between men who would trem-
Bile at the smell of gunpowder or roar
of cannon. In the shop he is treated
| with Indifference to the point of Of
Tense. The courtesy of common polite
ress is denied him.
Some one will say: Where there is
smoke, there must be fire. There must
be some reason for this repulsive at
titude on the part of civilians toward
the soldier" l admit the force of such
logic, but that the effect is proportion
ate to the cause I deny. Why is the
soldier distasteful to the civilian? Be
cause the civilian is ignorant of the
average enlisted man, of his daily life,
his ambitions, his true worth Be
| cause the civilian is ignorant he is
ungrateful. This lack of appreciation
he shows in contempt or at least in
difference. He forms his conclusions
from hearsay and from having viewed
the enlisted man in the wrong light.
For example, around pay day in the
vicinity of a regimental post of we
say, $50 men, he sees fifteen intoxi-
Gated men, not in group, but here
and there, on the street car, ornament
ing a saloon, on the highway, some
times in restricted localities. Perhaps
hD
his attention not been attracted by the
uniform. What does the civilian con-
clude? Usually that the army is set
Of drunkards. Why? Because he has
seen less than ? per cent of one regi-
ment intoxicated. Proportionately
speaking, less than / ,443 men out of
1900 enlisted men. Take a commun-
ity of 800 men. If more than fifteen
drunkards Can not be found then l, a
priest of twelve years study of the
human heart, do not know what l am
talking about.
What have said about the excessive
use of liquor holds good from point
of statistics in the case OF other vice.
Some vices may find more patrons
than others; but in every case the pro-
portion of offenders to the number of
men is so small as to admit of no
force in the argument against the NOR
atty of the army. l speak from obser-
walton. My life Is spent in daily con-
tact with soldiers. The chaplain finds
entrance to the enlisted mans heart
where others dare not enter. He
knows the men, their good and bad
side. the lights and shadows of their
existence; hence he is competent to
judge Of their moral worth.
AS nothing human can be perfect,
the army has it's faults as we'll as other
organizations. But these faults though
small compared with civic organiza-
lions, would still be smaller If it were
untrammeled by a certainwell meaning
but overzealous civilian society.
speak of the w. c. T. U.-Woman's
Christian Temperance Union-through
whose efforts the anti-canteen law was
promulgated.
The Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, in order to promote the virtue
Of temperance in the army, sought to
remove, as they thought, the occasion
for intemperance instead of the cause
of occasional intemperance
Through their efforts they effected
congressional legislation abolishing
the "canteen." The results have been
disastrous and far from the expecta-
tons of those good women.
When the army had the canteen
only the best of beer was sold. No
man was sold more than he could
reasonably contain. If through acct
dent he became Intoxicated there were
friends to look after him. The money
paid came back in periodical dividends
to the companies. There was not the
strong attraction to leave the post
and miss calls as there is at present
with the anti-canteen law in operation.
The guardhouse had few occupants
when the "canteen" was flourishing
and the town grog shops few soldier
habitues. The sooner the "canteen''
is given back to the soldier the less
| cause the civilian will have to turn
| up his nose at the enlisted man.
The soldier is we'll aware of the dis
taste the average civilian has for him.