Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1887 — SOLDIER SENTIMENT. [ARTICLE]

SOLDIER SENTIMENT.

It ia Not Against the South, but Against the Present Disloyal Democratic Atlministrration Whtch Has Taken Pams to Wantonly Insult and Degrade Union Soldiers. Chisago tu Ur Qcssn. . A good many very excellent people are concerning themselves about the drift of what they please to cAll the soldier sentiment of the country. The fear is expressed that the ex-soldiers of tne Union army are feeling more bitterly now against the South than they did fifteen years ago, and that the tendency^ 1 of those who belong to the Grand Army of the Republic is toward a lower level of bitternsss and hostility that ia likely to engender a war feeling. -’Attention is called to the fact that soldiers, when gathered at reunions and encampments, speak more freely and more excitedly on political topics’than they did ten and fifteen years ago, and the conclusion is that the meddling of politicians has developed an unpatriotic sentiment' of hatred toward the Southern people, and tnat, while the South is feeling less bitterly toward the South every day, the soldiers of the North are feeling more bitteriy toward the South as ths years go by.

There could not be a greater misconception of soldier character, or a more misleading interpretation of soldier sentiment. Soldiers are speaking more resentfully, it may be, than when the National administration was in th® hands of the Republicans, but he is deaf and blind who fancies this sentiment is against the South. We venture to say that of a hundred resentful speeches made be soldiers not halfa dozen exhibit any feeling toward the South. The resentment whether justified or not, is against a Democratic administration . that has taken pains to wantonly insult and to degrade or humiliate or embarrass the ex soldiers of the Union army. The Southern people not the ex-Confederates are responsible for this growing resentment. They are not the objects of it, and they are only concerned in its manifestation so far as it aids their own cause. The use that they are making of it leaves open the inference that they are taking advantage of it simply as a political engine or force. They do not even resent its manifestation, but speak of it gleefully and exultingly with intent to turn the tables on the men who fought against them. They understand that this new hostily of the soldieris toward a President elected by the aid of mugwump votes, and it is very plain that they enjoy the situation and are disposed to make the most of it.

The question of responsibility for this, growing hostility of the soldier element towards the Democratic administration can easily be fixed. It has been fixed, and the question at issue is not between the Northern and Southern people, not between the Union -soldiers and exConfederates, but between a Northern man elected by aid of Southern votes to the Presidency and the soldiers and their friends. The issue is between the soldiers who fought the battles of the Union and the administration that is endeavoring to turn back the wheels of progress and to undo the work of the Union armies. The issue will be fought out without engendering any war feeling and without exciting any new hostility toward the Southern people. As to the main point or as to the fear expressed by these gentlemen that the; soldier organizations are cultivating a war feeling it may be said thst the very opposite iff true. The men who bore their full part in the fiercest battles of the war or who went through the long and tedious campaigns are the men to desire or encourageanother war They know something of the disappointments and the trials and the privations of army life, and they are disinclined to tolerate anything that would precipitate another war. This is so patent a fact that it can not escape the observation of any one inclined, to investigation. Instead of there being -a growing hostility among the Northern soldiers to tne ex-Confederates, the very opposite is true. Wherever opportunity offers the ex-soldiers of the Union army and the men against whom they fought come together in a spirit akin to Wherever exConfederate soldiers are located in the North they have the fullest measure of respect. They express themselves free ly, they keep up their organizations, they establish close business relations with ex Union soldiers, and they never experiencffinconvenience, hostility, or ostracism in the North. They are making their way here in Chicago, in Nebraska, in Kansas withot any one questioning their record as ex-Confederates and withouranyone attempting to supervise their political action. When exConfederates find Unionists come together in reunions, or in incidental gatherings, or on Decoration Day they certainly act toward each other with the profoundest respect, manifesting soldierly sytnpa'hv that must be touching to even the«most cynical. This feeling is growing, and it will continue to grow. There is less disposition on the part t>f Southern pipers to,speak contemptuously of the veterans of the Union army than there is on the part cf the Copperhead or-Bi-rurbon shee 3 in the North, and it must be remembered all the time that the growing hostility of the Northern soldiers is toward the

Damocratic intriguers and meddlers who haVe tried drive them Into the support of thb administration. There never wag in poUtica a more. idiqtiiic~~ scheme than this, and that it has been rebuked both North and South is evi-Jk-n/je of the common sense and patriotism of the ; people.