The progress made in recent years in the fields of medicine and
surgery has been no less striking than in that of humanitarianism;
while the development of a new social consciousness (a concomitant, of
course, of the humanitarian movement) has resulted in throwing about
the soldier who wars for America in 1918 a set of safeguards, and in
providing him with a degree of comfort such as no other warriors in
the history of the world ever enjoyed. Against drunkenness and vice,
twin plagues of army life since the beginning of the world, he is at
least as well protected as is the civilian at home. Libraries and
clubhouses and games and lectures are provided with unstinted
generosity for his recreation and instruction. That his mind may be
free from incidental worry, a system of life insurance on a scale
hitherto undreamed of has been evolved; while the wife or other
dependents at home are insured by the largess of a parental government
against coming to actual want during his absence.