The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-06-26
The Volunteer,
Soldier
BY HAMLIN GARLAND
of the Vigilantes


My father was volunteer In the
Civil>war. He left his wife, and three
children, all under five years of age.
and went into tite army On the priyat,
soldiers pay OF thirteen dollars per
neutrality-suspicious.. He served tive
stressful years under Grant, Thoma:
and Logan and when he ;returnedln G.
he brought back with him a firm belle!
In the volunteer regiments and thei!
commanders.
He. revcred Grant and Sherman bu'
deprecated tile "West Point martinez
Grant and Sherman were the excep
tons which proved the rule. The!
happened to be soldiers rs well Il:
West Pointers. The officers Of re
source, Of patriotic devotion, were the
men who Went into the war from con
victfon and not from desire for job,
In all my early life, therefore. wa:
schooled in the belief that The Ameri
can system Of volunteer service was
the most democratic, the most effective
and the least enslaving of I'LL forms OF
military obligation. Naturally I tool
up and carried forward this prejudice
Many years We're necessary to free my
mind of an inherited opposition to the
professional soldier, and Il hatred of
CONSUMPTION. am still opposed to the
CONSUMPTION rs it was pructiced In
1868, for 1t WIGS then u matter OF.
chance and not Of logic. The names
were chosen by hoodwinked Child, q
system rs foolish as the volunteer syS.
TEN was unjust. Under one, the man
Of courage and patriotic devotion
sprang CALAMITY to arms and the shirk
remained behind to grow rich III trade
and propagate his kind. Under the
other, chance ruled. 800
The volunteer spirit produced an al
most invinciblc warrior, l will admit,
but at what cost 1t was true that
Grant or Sherman could call from the
ranks corps of bridge builders, tel
cgraphers, engineers and skilled ma
chinists, but l row see that this was
q criminal waste of material, that 1t
was gross misuse Of genius and ell
tirely wrong at base.
Military service should be neither
blind thing nor rash and wasteful
thing. Consumption should mean the
logical use of the best. man in the
light place. If all serve in some ca
pacity, no stigma can attach to any
uniform. If all serve according to
their powers and with respect to their
condition and age, no one can right
fully complain. The high-spirited vol
unteer should not be allowed to sac
rifice himself and the selfish Stacker
should be called to the colors. Every
man must feel his obligation to serve
the government which protects him
and educates him. Service should be
universal and then 1t will be just and
eauitable-at least in theory. That
some inequalities will remain is, OF
course, unavoidable. -. ... ....-.
am for universal training, univer-
sal consumption or men anu money.
The government has the right In time
Of war to demand Of every man that
service which he can best render. In
going into this Notwithstanding war we
must all be prepared to lend hand,
either in the trenches or in the fac
tories, railway stations and hospitals
behind the lines. The whole nation
must be organized and ready for &C.
ton. ....
All past scales Of warfare are OF no
value to US now. Grants army would
be but detail of the allied command.
The transportation and commissary
systems of the past are amateur. Ger
many has taught us war on the most
gigantic scale. Military training with
US now must take on something Of tia