Show I The Common Soldier One noticeable thing about the Decoration day exercises is that the private soldier amounts to as much when under the ground as the commissioned officer and his grave makes just as much show and the mourners feel just as badly over his loss as anybody does over the loss of an officer The grave is the only place where the prh ate soldier ranks with the officer and heaven is the only place where lie does not have to salute a superior It is true that the private did all the shooting in the army and if the country was saved he saved it and yet he is ignored as completely by the government he saved in the way of emo umeut from office as though he never existed The officer of-ficer may get to be postmaster but the private is in luck if he gets to be janitor of the building A reunion of the late war union of any army i is all officers and few of them can tell where ten piivates of their regiment reg-iment are located In the army an officer who was supposed to know everything would commit an offense of-fense and be placed in arrest and allowed to go where he pleased and if reprimanded It would be done easily in order not to hurt his feelings but if a private committed the same offense he would be put in the guard house or tied up by the thumbs An officer defrauded the government that has made him rich respected and honored and he is allowed togo to-go and sin no more A private of the same regiment defrauds the government that made him a cripple and a pauper and he goes to a state prison Let there be a change of seatiment and give the private a chance There are twenty privates to one officer of tbe late war somewhere some-where but no one ever hears of one in the paper or on the lips of the people while the papers are full of the movements of officers When one thinks of it it is laughable that privates who did all the shooting should cut no figure at all If the soldier elempnt is to be recog nized by a political party an officer is sought for as though there never was a private that knew e ough to perform the duties of a public office At he next election the Sun is going to hunt up a private soldier and run him for office and see if the parties will acknowledge that such a thing as a private ever existed Pccs Sun |