The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-12

many, and some of them are quite as
striking as the similartties. The sin
gle fact that the old civilization was
based upon slavery shows the chasm
! that separates the two. Let me point
out one further and very significant
difference in the development of the
two civilizations, a difference so OBJ
vious that it is astonishing that it has
not been dWelt upon by men of let
tiers.
One of the p9sMe dangers of civiliza-
ton has always been its tendency to
cause the loss of the virile fighting
virtues, of the fighting edge. When
men get too comfortable and lead too
luxurious lives there is always danger
lest the SoftnesS eat like an acid into
the manliness of fibre. The barbarian,
because of the very conditions OF his
life, is forced to keep and develop
certain hardy qualities which the man
of civilization tends to lose, whether
he be clerk, factory hand or merchant,
or even a certain type of farmer. Now
1 will not assert that in modern civ
iliZed society these tendencies have
been wholly overcome; but there mas
been a much more successful effort
to overcome them than was the case
in the early civilizations. This is cur
iousIy shown by the military history
of the last four or five centuries here
in Europe and among nations of Euro
pean descent. In the GrecIan and
Roman military history the change was
army of mercenaries. In the DAYS or
the early greatness of Athens. Thebes
and Sparta, in the days when the
Roman republic conquered what world
it knew, the armies were filled with
citizen soldiers. But gradually the cit
liens refused to serve in the armies,
or became unable to render good ser
vice. The Greek states described by
Polybius: but with few exceptions,
hired others to do their fighting for
them. The Romans of the days of
Augustus had utterly ceased to fur
nish any cavalry, and were rapidly
ceasing to furnish any infantry, to the
legions and cohorts. When the civ
longer citizens in the ranks of the SOL
diers- The change from the citizen
army to the army of mercenaries had
been completed.
Disappearance of Mercenary Soldiers.
Now, the exact reverse has been the
case with us in modern times A
few centuries ago the mercenary SOL
dier was the principal figure in most
armies, and in great numbers of cases
the mercenary soldier was an alien
In the wars of religion in France, in
the Thirty Years war in Germany. in
the wars that Immediately thereafter
| marked the beginning of the break
up of the great Polish kingdom, the
regiments and brigades of foreign SOL
diers formed a striking and leading
feature in every army. Too often the
men of the country in which the fight
took place. played merely the ignoble
part of victims. the burghers and
peasants appearing in but limited num-
bers in the nercenary armies by which
they were plundered. Gradually this
has all changed, until now practically
| every army is a citizen army, and the
mercenary has almost disappeared,
while the army exists on a vaster scale
| than ever before in history. This is
| so among the military monarchies of
Europe In our own Civil war of the
United States the same thing occurred,
peaceful people as we are. At that
time more than two generations had
! passed since the War of independence.
| During the whole of that period the
people had been engaged in no life
and death struggle; and yet. when the
Civil war broke out, and after some
costly and bitter lessons at the be-
| ginning. the fighting spirit of the peo-
| pie was shown to better advantage
than ever before. The war was Pc
| culiarly a war for a principle, war
waged by each side for an ideal, and
| while faults and shortcomings were
| plentiful among the combatants, there
was comparatively little sordfdness of
| motive or conduct. In such a giant
| struggle where across the warp of so
many interests is shot the wool of so
many purposes, dark strands and
| bright strands somber and brilliant,
are always intertwined; inevitably
4 there was corruption mere ana there
/ in the Civil war; but all the leaders
on both sides, and the great majority
| of the enormous masses of fighting
men. wholly disregarded, and were
wholly uninf1uenced by, pecuniary con-
! SiderationS. There were, of course,
| foreigners who came over to serve as
soldiers of fortune for money or for
| love of adventure: but the foreign
| born citizen served in much the same
proportion as, and from the same mo-
1 No ~ i've horn q
whole, it was, even more than the
| Revolutionary war. q true citizens
| fight, and the armies of Grant and
I Lee were as emphatically citizen ar
armies in the great age of Greece,
| or as a Ror7n army in the days of
the republic.
| A Striking Contrast
Another striking contrast in the
| course of modern civilization as COM
pared with the later stages of the
| Graeco-Roman or classic civilization
| wealth and politics. In classic times,
as the civilization advanced toward
| its zenith. politics became a recognized
means of accommodating great wealth.
| Caesar was again and again on the
verge of bankruptcy; he spent an enor-
| nous fortune; and he recouped him
| self by the money which he made out
| of his politfcal-military career. Au-
/ gustus established imperial Rome on
! firm foundations by the use he made
| of the huge fortune he had acquired
! plumber. What a contrast is offer
| ed by the careers of Washington and
| Lfncolni There were few exceptions
| in ancient days; but the immense ma
! jority of the Greeks and Romans, as
their civilization eliminated, accepted
| money making on large scale as one
| of the incidents of a successful pub
| lie career. Now all of this is in sharp
| contrast to what has happened with
| in the last two or three centuries
During this time there has been a
steady growth away from the theory
that money making is permissible
/ in an honorable public career. In this
respect the standard has been con-
stantly elevated, and things which