Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/540

516 markets for our commerce, without burdening itself with any political responsibilities in the regions concerned. And I sincerely believe, the vociferous clamor of the jingoes notwithstanding, that this is to-day the feeling of a large majority of the American people. I go further, and confidently predict that this popular feeling against such political entanglements by the proposed annexations will very much grow in intensity as the burdens which the imperialistic policy will put upon us become more apparent to the public mind.

Permit me to invite your attention to a feature of the case which may bring on grave political consequences. Garrison service in the “colonies” is decidedly unpopular with the volunteers as well as with the regulars. The papers report that the volunteers retained in the service are mostly very unwilling to go to the tropics, and that among the regulars destined for that duty desertions are frequent and new enlistments unusually scarce. (I enclose some newspaper clippings referring to this.) In other words, it becomes questionable whether you will have soldiers enough for the distant garrisons. And if it should turn out that you have not, and cannot get enough, the situation might become extremely humiliating and disastrous.

But if you still have volunteers enough to fill the gap, and they go to the distant garrisons unwillingly, almost every one of them will be among his relatives and friends an agitator, first against the Administration, and eventually against the annexation policy. This is going on now, and it will constantly spread as the volunteers are kept in the ranks against their wish, and as the sickly climate of the tropics tells upon them.

The investigation of the Army management which you have ordered cannot remedy this. It cannot silence the complaints of the returned soldiers. It cannot avert the