Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1885 — SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. [ARTICLE]

SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS.

A Contribution that Was Rejected. Somebody sent the Chicago Herald a newspaper containing a marked article wherein the election of Gen. Logan is urged and a failure to do so is considered as a sure sign that the republic is in its decline. To this the Herald aptly replies, that whether Logan, Morrison, or some other man not yet named shall be elected to the United States Senate will not make the slightest difference with the duration of the American republic. Union soldiers have been defeated in this country through political considerations a great many times. Andrew Jackson was once defeated for the Presidency by a civilian, as were Gens. Winfield Scott and George B. McClellan. Gen. Hancock was beaten for the Presidency ’Tby a man who never saw half the fighting that he did. Gen. Ewing was overwhelmed as a Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio by a man who was selling calico while the war was in progress. Gen. Beaver was beaten for Governor of Pennsylvania by a young man who was in school when Gettysburg was fought. Gen. Wadsworth was defeated as a candidate for Governor of New York by a civilian, though he left the field to make the canvass and on returning to it met his death. Incidents of a like nature might be multiplied, but these are su.iicient for the purpose. Men who enter armies are compelled to abide by the fortunes of war. Soldiers who become politicians must bow before the fortunes of politics. What the people think of their defenders is shown by the pension roll and the fact that thousands of thm have enjoyed and are now enjoying public honor. No rule can be made, however, that a soldier who enters politics shall always be successful or that when he becomes a grocer or dry goods merchant or a lawyer that he will invariably make money. Moreover, there are hundreds of thousands of Democratic soldiers in this country whom the party to which Logan and the Washington organ belong has never worried itself about and whose failure to secure public office when any Republican civilian wanted it has been marked. If it has not disrupted the Republic to keep them in private life it certainly will not to give Gen. Logan a vacation after twenty years of constant service.