Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1898 — Mr. Bryan as a Soldier. [ARTICLE]

Mr. Bryan as a Soldier.

From the correspondence between the secretary of war and Gov. Holcomb of Nebraska it is probable that Mr. Bryan will soon be com missioned as a colonel in the volunteer army of the United States. It may be doubted if Mr. Bryaii as a candidate for a colonel’s commission has been less talked about than he was when an aspirant for the presidency. From the timer WSciFft v.aas first mentioned that he designed to raise a regiment In Nebraska his motives have been called in question, and of all the thousands who have tendered their services to the government Mr. Bryan almost alone has been singled out for unfavorable remark and ridicule. No one has the right to impugn the motives of any honorable man in offering himself for dangerous service to the government, and certainly Mr. Bryan may be credited with the ordinary sentiments of patriotism that he has shown, in common with thousands of other men who have received the warmest Commendations for their offers to serve their country. Mr. Bryan is entitled to the same treatment that any other private citizen has received for a similar act and no more.

But now there is a prospect that i he will be commissioned as colonel ■of one of the Nebraska regiments. I It is urged against him that he has never,had any military experience 'which is true. But it is alsolrue i that possibly half of the colonels i who will lead regiments to the i field are liable to the same i criticism. Roosevelt has no military experience, but no 'one uiged that as any reason why he should not lead his “rough riders” to Cuba. The major-gen-eral commanding the armies is not a West Pointer, and when he, a ■ Boston merchant, went to wmr, he j did not practically know a Gatling ' gun from a cotton gin. but be had ■ courage, patriotism, ambition and brains. Few of the officers in the revolutionary war, that of 1812 or the Mexican, had a military!training when they became soldiers. ' Technical education is an imporj tant thing for a soldier, as it is for I one in any other vocation, but many a West Pointer turned out a ■dismal failure in the last war. Mr. Bryan stand# on his own j merits as an American citizen, and ! he is entitled to no less praise and no more criticism than any other citizen who has done what he has in tendering his services to the government in time of war.

The Chicago Tribune, in a recent editorial, speaks the sentiments of a vast number of its readers. It said: as it means to the North to see a Lee and a Grant serving side by side under the same banner, it means still more to the South. It means the covering up and the forgetting of a sad and regrettable past. It means the renewal and cementing of a long interrupted brotherhood. For the first time in a generation it reopens to the gallant and naturally martial Southerns a chance to hold high positions in the army and to win glory on the battle field. Technically most disabilities had melted away before the the present year, but nothing had occurred to show the fact in practical form. It needed the Spanish war to finish the gocxl work and give the signal that the hopes of thirty years have bee realized.” > It will be the one chance in your life time to get anything in the buggy, harness or wagon line real cheap. Tuesday, June 14,1898, at Goodland Indiana, is the time and j dace. The First Special Sale Day of Judy & The Leif Buggy Co. is the event. It will be the introduction to their future business and the object will be to secure an immese trade at once with no attention paid to profit. Will trade in old buggies also. " Come and see our immense stock of goods whether you want to buy or not.