Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-20
WAR HEROES IN
POLITICAL LIFE
Those Who Have Reached the Pres
y idency Typified Great Demo-
cratic Movements - Not
Much Soldier Worship

NIH IHlLE we, as passive citizens, are watch-
w fully waiting for the future of the Mexican
situation, we may harmlessly concern ourselves
with political speculations not unconnected
with military operations the frontier. For
maybe the country will discover a military
hero in the next few months and give him
some kind of political preferment. 1t has hap.
pened before. The SpanlshAmerican war was
the last time. Even 7. r. himself cannot deny
that the Rough Riders and San Juan Hill
contributed something to his political for
tunes. We cannot say that they made him
President but they certainly did give him a
lift on the road to the White House. Nor can
we promise anything about the heroes to come.
Who they'll be or what their military prestige
will lead to in political life. If it leads any.
where, we really don't know.
In looking over the list OF Presidents we dis.
cover that two of them were professional sol
diers at the time of election. These were Tay-
lor and Grant William Henry Harrison
a farmer when elected but he had been a SOL
dier in earlier life Jackson's achievements as
a soldier made him a national figure. A mum.
ber of other Presidents saw military service
Garfield and Mckinley for instance-but 1t
hardly had the political effect of Tippecanoe
or of the battle of New Orleans and the seiz-
ure of Florida. Soldiers. merely as such, sci.
taristic country.
First in war was Washington. but he was
also first in peace and first in the hearts Of
his countrymen. Our debt to Washington as
It was the debt of his contemporaries. is Hrt
to be measured wholly by his leadership OF
armies. Bancroft, writing of Washingtons
Inauguration, exclaims But for him the coun-
try could not have achieved its independence;
but for him it could not have formed its
Union; and now but for him 1t could not set
the government in successful operation"
Jackson and the Presidency
In 1928 Andrew Jackson was elected Presi-
dent. A man with less training in stateman-
ship 1t would have been hard to find, He him
self. when his friends proposed his candidacy
in 1924 said: do they suppose that I am
such damned fool as to think myself fit for
President of the United States? No, sir. I
know what I am fit for. I can command
body of men in a rough way, but am not fit
TO be President" But he represented average
humanity. He was the embodiment of the de.
mocracy of the Southwest as Lincoln, little
later. was the embodiment OF the democracy
of the Northwest, and on top OF that he was
the great military hero OF the day. He came
to the Presidency in 1928 as naturally as Tay-
Ior and Grant. Or as wellington came to the
premiership Of England.
It was in the early campaigns against the
Creek Indians that Jackson displayed his Won
derful talent as a leader of men. The COM
missary service under wilderness conditions.
was naturally i'll managed. and part of the
time the men were mutinous with hunger.
1t is said that Jackson sometimes had to use
half his army to keep the other half from dis
banding. There were difficulties, too in the
character of his men-bold frontiersmen to
whom military subordination was both irE-
some and incomp ,ehensible, But the strong
hand of Jackson won him loyalty. Sometimes
rough and quarrelsome, he was nevertheless
considerate of his interiors His indomitable
energy and tremendous pluck were qualities
that they respected and admired. In the first
Creek war Jackson was suffering from illness
such as would have kept an ordinary man
groaning in bed and his left arm he carried In
a sling. After victory he never relaxed his
efforts, but followed up every success with
furious energy and persistence. His victory
over the Creeks at Tohopeka marked the
downfall of Indian power in the Southwest II
robbed the British OF military advantages on
which they placed great dependence and Il
made possible the victory at New Orleans.
The event that elinehed Jackssn's title as a
presidential possibility was the invasion OF
Florida in 1918. 1t brought the longeontinued
negotiations for the purchase OF Florida to a
head. Moreover, the manner In which Jack
son went about his task appealed to popular
Imagination. The invasion caused eomplica.
tions with England and with Spain. ana an
attempt was made in Congress to discredit
jackson. The upshot was that Jackson gained
in public esteem. Circumstances were pecu-
liar and it Is certain that similar train OF
events-even II they could oceur--would not
now produce equal consequences. Further
more. jackson was not war-made President
IN an unqualified meaning OF the term The
election of 1873 sas significant enc II Amer
lean political History. There wers spsclae i