p. 8 | "HIGH MORAL CHARACTER" IN THE ARMY

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 24, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 17.

"HIGH MORAL CHARACTER" IN THE ARMY.

By One Who Has Been There; G.

By One Who Has Been There.

THERE is no doubt that the armies of so-called Christian nations, even from a merely "civilized" standpoint, have a damaging effect upon the morals of the heathen wherever the soldiers have been stationed in heathen countries. It is true that the United States soldiers in China have been accorded credit for good behavior as compared with those of Europe and Japan; but the standard of comparison is too low for the credit to be of much value. In Manila, where there has been nothing worse with which to compare conditions, the moral reputation of the American soldier is far below par in reports from every unbiased source.

There is now a call for many thousands of new recruits for the army in the Philippines. In view of past experiences and past scandalous reports, the government calls for men of "high moral standing." But from those very experiences it must be confessed that the inducement for men of "high moral standing" to enter the army is not very flattering. This fact can be attested by the testimony of every soldier who is not in some way personally interested in a more favorable report.

It should not be forgotten that the men who were sent out there two or more years ago were rated as the flower of their respective States and communities. They were feted by "society" when they left home, and as they nearly all spent some time in and about San Francisco before embarking, the people vied with one another in showing them polite attentions. The ladies were especially forward in bestowing marks of esteem, and in strewing advance laurels in anticipation of the honors that would certainly prove the due of such a promising class of young men. (Of course there were individual exceptions to the generally accredited high grade of manhood that was sent away with such manifestations of pride and appreciation.) The press, too, was especially prolific of high encomiums for "our boys;" and many of them were literally boys in their teens and the minor twenties.

But when these same specimens of the flower of the country began to return, after a year or more in the Philippine service, there was soon a reversal of sentiment. The first two or three arrivals of returned regiments were received with open arms; but their conduct, after a few days of encampment on home soil, showed such a marked change for the worse, that later arrivals failed to call out any general enthusiasm. The mere curiosity seekers gathered to see them land, but public and society functions were limited to noted officials or personal acquaintances. One of the daily papers, which had been most profuse in its laudations when the "brave boys" went out, and called for their return home after a brief service that they might be congratulated by grateful admirers, was constrained to suggest that returned soldiers be limited in their privileges to go away from camp until they were discharged from the service. The once noble specimens of manhood were now a menace to the peace and good order of the communities adjacent to their camps.

This is simple history but a few months old, and unmistakably points to the results of inducing young men of "high moral standing" to enter upon life in the army. At the best, the business of killing, wounding, and destroying has a demoralizing effect upon the human heart and conscience. The entire surroundings, from beginning to end, have a tendency to vitiate rather than to maintain a high degree of morality; and even the heights of success that may loom up in prospect are only attainable thru the downfall and suffering of others. Verily the "high moral standing" of any young man who seeks honor and fame, or even a mediocrity of success, thru military methods, has a precarious foundation. It rarely withstands the temptations and allurements that beset it upon every side. And any young man who has any ambition or any expectation of gaining a place in the heavenly kingdom, would better keep out of the army. It is a position in which he will find no help in that direction, but a continual hindrance. Better let the vicious have such positions; they are already prepared for the debasing duties.