The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-01
Spirit of Democracy Triumphs in Warfare
 As Well As In Peace

"Oh, we will bum our way in.'' This was the reply given by Gen. Shafter when asked how he was going to get his army over the mountains of Santiago, at the beginning of the American campaign in Cuba in 1898. The Spaniards chort1ed in glee at the spectacle of Shafter's little army attempting the conquest of Cuba. To the Spanish officer, who believed in strict discipline and considered the private soldier only cog in the wheel of a machine, the Yankee army bore the appearance of a disorganized mob. The invaders didn't have a chance of getting anywhere, i'm the opinion of European military experts. Certainly the Americans were confronted by many obstacles. There was not a road worthy of the name along that portion of Cuba's hilly coast, and it didn't seem possible that Shafter would be able to move a supply wag- on or field piece.
 What seemed worst of all to the European dril1nasters was the go-as- you-pIease, rough-and- Humble aspect of the soldiers. A German officer would have despafred of doing any thing with the men without a year or two of training. Shafter knew his crowd, however, and he was supreme ID confident that they would 'tbum their way in.''
 On July 1, 1898, just seventeen years ago today, the American 'fbunas'' were given a chance to prove whether they were equal to the job. On that day Gen. Lawton took Fl Caney, near the first division of the Fifth Army Corps took San Juan Hill after heavy fighting.
 The mac1ine-1ike precision which is the delight of the drillmaster was ut terly lacking in that wild charge up San Juan H1ll. Every man was on This own'' and animated by but one desire-to get through the barbed wire obstacles and underbrush and up to the summit of the hill, from which the Spaniards were pouring a deadly fire. Capt. Kennon of the Sixth In fantry. among the first to gain the summit, found after the battle was over that he had troops belonging to seven different commands in his com pany. Nearly all the other companies were 'a1I bal1ed up,'' in a way that would have aroused the iTnpotent fury of a. stickler for organization-bu the fact remained that the American had intrenchments.
 It is inevitable that the army of a democracy be made up of democrats, and, while they have the intelligence to know that they must follow the orders of their superiors, it is inpos-
 
 automatons. They refuse to be con- sidered as cogs in a machine, and in- sist upon maintaining their indiVid- ua1ity. Military unpreparedness is always an accompaniment of demo- cratic government, and probably all ways will be, but in the end the spirit of democracy, as manifested in sol diers who are original, independent, individpalistic and audacious, usually triumphs. A free people, suddenly confronted with the necessity for talk ing part in a war, usually make a pretty thorough mudd1e of it, and this was the case in many Of the phases of the Spanish-American war; but they ''bum their way' through.
 As Thomas A. Edison recently pointed out, a great and finished nili- tary machine can be developed only under an autocratic government. But the spirit of democracy, although it reaches the full flower of perfection in developing the arts of peace and in serving the cause of human progress, is also equal to the grim of waging 8 successful war.