Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1908 — PASSING OF THE MARTIAL DRUM. [ARTICLE]

PASSING OF THE MARTIAL DRUM.

War Supposed to Have Sealed the Fate* The war between, japan and Russia is regarded by some authorities as naving sealed the fate of the drum. Tne victorious Japanese armies moved from first to last silently, save, for the occasional sound of a bugle. The drum was absolutely absent. Already it had been abolished from some European armies; but no great war has before been fought without it. Military men have been' as a rule great partisans of the “spitit stirring drum.” Marshal Saxe, one of the greatest Generals of the eighteenth century, the conqueror of Fontenoy, declared that thS measured sound made by the drum and fife was indispensable to make men march well. As an illustration of the effect of music in sustained physical movements, he said; 7 “Almost everyone has seen people dance all night, leaping and swinging continually. But let anyone try to dance for two hours without music, and see how miserably he will fail. It is thus with marching. It makes no difference what air is played, provided It is in double or treble time, so that the drums and fifes can take it well. But some such air is necessary.” Another great General, Wellington, contended that without the strains of music it was impossible for troops to make successful charges. Wanting music, the men would come up ragged apd open against the enemy. Napoleon was an ardent defender of the drum. As long ago as his time it was urged by some military .men that it was a barbaric instrument, which dulled the most sensitive ear by its monotonous sounds, and that it had not proper place in modern warfare. “The drum,” answered the Corsican “imitates the cannon. It is the best musical instrument in the world; for it never gets out of tune.” It is a mistake to assume that the drum is unmusical. All musical authorities have agreed that when used in the proper way it is thoroughly musical. The common snare or side drum is freely used in musical composition. A large number of drummers perforing simultaneously out of doors produce good music. Berlioz the composer said that a sound which was insignificant when heard singly, such as the clink of one or two musKets at shoulder arms, or the thyd .as the butt end came to the ground at ground arms, became brilliant and attractive if performed by a thousand men simultaneously.—A Scrap Book.