It would be no more absurd to give an
idiot a tambourine and call him a musician--he would be an idiot all
the same. So with the clerk, the laborer, the hod-carrier, the
teacher; he remains the same in spite of all the polished arms,
resplendent uniforms, and pompous titles bestowed upon him. He remains
just what he was before, until he learns his new trade and becomes a
soldier by the acquisition of the necessary knowledge and experience
to practice his new calling.
It is one of the duties of trained officers to tell these homely
truths to the people who have not made a study of the matter, in order
that they who foot the bills may understand what they pay for and why
they do it. And it is equally the duty of the citizen who has no
knowledge of the subject to give a fair hearing to such statements,
and, if he finds them correct after due investigation, to translate
the information thus imparted into such laws as will in future supply
an army composed of soldiers who can fight, instead of a herd of
ignorant incompetents who die like rotten sheep within half an hour's
ride by rail of their own homes.
These remarks can be illustrated by observations in Cuba.
For example, the 34th Michigan pitched its camp on the hill at Fort
Roosevelt on the 2d of August.
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