'Cbe Conservative *
THE AKlttY
The army bill , as it passed the house ,
is unsatisfactory , since it does not an
swer the demand of the people for plac
ing the army in suitable hands. It is n
compromise measure , under which , if it
becomes n law , the government probably
will be able to supply itself with suffi
cient soldiers for a year or two to cope
with all possible difficulties in the West
Indies or the Orient. If this measure
really stands for the best that can bo
hoped for in the near future , then wo
may despair of any genuine army re
form. The trouble with the regular
army , as tested by the Cuban campaign ,
ivax not ! > i its rank and Jile. It was in
its staff , which was practically a military
machine worked at will by the secre
tary of war for political purposes. The
infusion of utterly worthless political
appointments from civil life into the
staff of the army was the chief cause of
all the complaint concerning the admin
istration of the quartermaster , commis
sariat and medical departments.
Not only does the army bill fail to
reform this evil , but it increases the op
portunity for its growth. This evil
could have been corrected by providing
that no person appointed to the army
from civil life should bo commissioned
until ho had been examined as to his
military attainments and qualifications
before a board composed of the most ac
complished officers of the army , men of
long service and proved professional
ability. To examine a candidate as to
mental , moral and physical fitness for
military life is not siifficient. No man
should bo admitted to the regular army
who is not o man of military attainments.
It is not necessary perhaps that ho
should always be a graduate of a - military
tary college of high repute , but he must
be able to show that by military service
and stiuly he has become familiar with
the duties of a soldier and understands
( lie business methods of a staff officer's
icork in a campaign.
The weak point of the army is its staff ,
and this bill leaves it just as weak as it
found it. If wo have any serious war
for the next three years in the "West In
dies and the Orient , wo shall have , un
der a complaisant president and a polit
ical truck-and-dicker secretary of war ,
a repetition of all the maladministration
of the past year. Just so long as the
army staff is made a political house of
refuge for decayed politicians or the
worthless proteges and pensioners of
congressmen , just so long will our army
be without radical reorganization neces
sary to real reform. The notable thing
in the whole house debate over the army
bill is the fact that the opposition to the
measure was upon the demagogue cry
that the great corporate interests of the
United States are demanding this large
standing army ; that in the hands of a
president dominated by suoh interests
this increased standing army would bo
used ' 'to invade popular liberty , suppress
freedom of speech and desecrate the
ballot-box. "
No attempt was made to make the bill
a measure of radical army staff reform
and reorganization. Oummiugs of Now
York offered an amendment to prevent
the army being used to suppress riots
except upon application by the gover
nors therefor. This was rightly voted
down.
It would have been an attempt to rob
the president by act of congress of his
clear constitutional powers , the very
powers exercised by President Cleve
land iu 1894 , when he ordered General
Miles at Chicago to repress disorder , to
protect the mails and interstate com
merce , by carrying out the decrees of
the federal court. Of course no sane ,
intelligent man believes that an army of
100,000 men scattered over the United
States , in the "West Indies and the Phil
ippines , "would iu time of peace boa
menace to liberty of the citizens of the
United States , " as some pretended in
the discussion of this bill.
An army of 100,000 men , scattered
among 75,000,000 of people , is a source of
anxiety to nobody save those persons
who expect to become rioters and do not
wish to be interrupted as they were at
Chicago in 1894. Opposition to the pas
sage of the bill on the utterly puerile
plea that an increased army is a danger
to popular liberty was contemptible.
The true ground of opposition to the
bill was that it gave no promise of staff
reorganization and reform. The
chances of the bill in the senate are very
slim , for the populists alone are able by
mere talk to prevent any increase of the
army at this session , and the populists
are even more hostile to "militarism"
than are the democrats. Even Senator
Teller , although an expansionist , stands
with all the other free silverites in
the senate in opposition to increase
of the army beyond 50,000 men. It is
more than likely that no army bill will
be enacted -by this congress , although
some temporary measure may be passed
under which the president can secure
men enough for an emergency until
congress meets in December next.
Portland Oregouian.
THE LOAD OKOAVS.
speech made by
Colonel Bryan , August 29 , 1890 , in
which he so truthfully and eloquently
said , "the load of the American farmer
grows every year , " when taken out of
the can cold and immediately served
with warm facts has a very peculiar
flavor. Among farmers living near Ne
braska City the "loads" grown iu 1898
have been gigantic and burdensome.
The number of bucolic brothers over
whelmed with "loads" grown in the last
twelve mouths can hardly be counted.
THE CONSERVATIVE names however :
Geo. Prather , who has twelve thousand ;
Talbot Mead , who has eighteen thous
and ; H. W. Frakes , who has nine thous
and , and Miller M. Payne , who has lifty
thousand bushels of corn to sell. That
proves it. Their "loads" grow every
year. At thirty cents a bushel fifty
bushels shelled corn to the "load" each
load is a burden of fifteen dollars.
Worse than all the dollars is gold or
its equivalent.
It has been recalled that there was a
negro director on the board that built a
North Carolina institute for the blind ,
and that his name appears on the corner
stone. Both branches of the North Car
olina legislature have voted to have the
stone removed. An examination of at
tempts at lithological immortality on tlio
high school building at Omaha will
show the nigger a plagiarist.
EIGHTY YEAKS KEfOHE JENNEK.
To the Editor of THE CONSERVATIVE :
Something like eighty years before
Jenner discovered vaccination , which
prevents and modifies the virulence of
smallpox , Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
introduced inoculation into England.
In a letter from Adrianople dated April 1 ,
O. S. 1717 , she describes the process of
inyruftintj smallpox into the health of
human system as practised .by "a set of
old women" in that country , who made
it their special business to perform the
operation "every autumn , iu the month
of September , when the heat is abated. "
I quote from her letter as follows :
"Apropos of distempers , I am going
to tell a thing that will make you wish
yourself here. The smallpox , so fatal
amongst us ( in England ) , is entirely
harmless by the invention of inyraftiny. "
Lady Montagu goes on to tell how people
ple "send to ouo another to know if any
of their family have a mind to have the
smallpox , and ask what veins you wish
to have opened. " The operation is to
put "the best sort of smallpox" into sev
eral viens of the arm or leg , not more
than can "lie on the point of a needle. "
The children or young patients play to
gether all the rest of the day , and are
in perfect health to the eighth. Then
the fever begins to seize them , and they
keep their beds two days , seldom three.
They very rarely have but twenty or
thirty spots in their faces , which never
mark , and in eight days time they are as
well as before their illness. * * *
Every year thousands undergo this op
eration , and the French ambassador
says pleasantly that they take smallpox
here by way of diversion , as they take
the waters in other countries. There is
no example of any one who has died
with it , and you may believe I am well
satisfied of the safety of this experiment ,
since I intend to try it on my dear little
son. " This is the inoculation of our
time. GEORGE L. MILLER.
Deerfiold , February 10 , 1899.