Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-12
ONE S~oLDIER-oR THREE.

WHICH IS the DelCcr type or the AneIlca1i
SOLDIER IN the war, the unknown man who was bur
led at Arlington. and who has been idealized jim the
address of President Harding and in thousands Of
written and spoken tributes, or the group of three
soldiers" in the novel whose caustic comment is Just
now attracting wide attention?
Either President Harding and all of those vino
have spoken in eulogy Of the unknown deal are
wrong, or Three Soldiers is a libel.
At home and abroad We had under arms four
million men. Halt of them went across the seas.
these men represented, every phase of lie and
every type Of character to be found in the country.
That there were among them the indolent, The sell
fish. and the criminal goes without saying. We have
these elements in our population, and the ARM was
recruited impartiaIly from the population. Some Of
these undesirables wore privates' uniforms and
some, unfortunately, became officers. Ali this was
inevitable: And it was inevitable that in the work
ing out OF things some of the privates should shirk
and grow morose and ugly, and some Of the officers
should abuse their authority and commit uc.s IF
brutality.
The question is not whether or not there we're
in the army, whether as privates, or as officers, nm
worthy individuals. not whether or not their u,1-
worthiness exhibited itself in characteristic: wava.--
for these things are indisputable-but whether .r
not the spirit Of our army was that of brutality AMI
bumptiousness OH the part of the officers and slack
ing and shrinking and complaint on the par: O. th.
privates.
If "Three Soldiers" is to be taken as descriptive
Of typical conditions in the army, there were nc If
hcefs and no pr1vates in that army who lid nor dis
grace the uniforms which they wore. Ike author
brings into his story many officers, but not a decent
one in the lot. Of the three privates around whom
his story is woven, two are stolid blocks. and the
third, the hero Of the tale, is a reutastheuic certist
who grows to hate the army because !: in1crfe.cs
with his artistic self-expression. ~.
President Harding said Of the unknown sol.!ier
at whose grave he was called ,on to express the
gratitude Of a nation:
AS a typical soldier of this representative
democracy. he fought and died, believing in
the indisputable justice of his c%ountry'5
cause. Conscious OF the worlds upheava'.
appraising the magnitude of a war the like
of which had never Mortified humanity be.
lore, perhaps, he believed this to be a ser.
vice destined to change the tide of human
affairs. =
IT the narrow, sordid view Of the army is the
correct one. if the service from top to bottom. was
permeated with selfshness, and greed, and AFRO
gance, and malingering and hypocrisy and querul-
Gus complaint. then God help the nation from whose
population that army was drawn, for, whether coed
or evil, that army was fairly representative Of the
manhood Of America.
OF the identify of that common soldier at whose
funeral the might and majesty of the nation march
ed in solemn reverence, we know nothing. But lie
is accepted as a type Of a great group. And, he
cause we know something Of the group, because is
members are our own neighbors and friends. We
must accept President Harding's estimate as tho
TRUE one unless we are willing to admit that .ou:
country is lost beyond redemption.