AFTERWARDS
"When old John Burns, a practical man,
Shouldered his rifle, unbent his brows,
And then went back to his bees and cows."
BRET HARTE.
The war is important to us in this country for what it accomplished
directly: namely, it crushed the brutal military power of Germany, which
threatened our ideal of civilization. We are, however, primarily
civilians, not soldiers, and we are now going back to our "jobs,"
whatever they may be. For this reason I consider more important and more
far-reaching than the military victory the lessons that it taught us and
the effects it had on our citizens who participated. We must profit by
these lessons and preserve the impulses that have been given to our
people. If we do this the war will not simply be history, a past issue,
a good job well finished; it will be a force that will be felt in this
country through the generations to come for righteousness and a truer
Americanism.
The first and most evident lesson taught us was the effect of being
ill-prepared. We permitted in the past a policy which substituted fine
words for fine deeds, the pen and the voice for action. We, in the past,
contented ourselves with sounding platitudes; we allowed our sloth to
approve them under the misnomer of idealism. We allowed ourselves to be
switched from the hard realities by glittering phrases. We sowed the
wind and we reaped the whirlwind. As a result hundreds of millions have
been spent to no purpose and blood has been shed unnecessarily. Those
who were in this country saw daily the evidences of inefficiency and the
coincident waste of the public moneys. Those who went to Europe saw
blood shed unnecessarily through lack of supplies, inefficient
organization, and untrained leadership. At no times did our equipment
compare favorably with that of either of our major Allies. At all times
in Europe we were to a greater or less extent equipped by them.
Much as we are to blame for permitting these conditions to arise in the
past, we will be doubly so if in the future we let half-baked theorists
and sinister demagogues lead us again into a like neglect. We will be
guilty of bringing down upon the heads of our children the same
punishments that we have suffered. Indeed, we will probably bring down
more upon them, as we by pure good fortune escaped the maximum penalties
that were due us.
It was our good fortune that we were permitted, under the sheltering
forces of the Allies, slowly to prepare ourselves after we had declared
war, until, after about a year, we were in a condition which enabled us
to join in the conflict. Next time in all probability there will be
neither England nor France standing between us and the enemy armies and
giving us nearly a year leeway before we have to fight. I am proud to be
an American, I am proud of the actions of the citizens of the country,
I am proud to be a citizen of a country which has fought a war, not with
the aid of, but in spite of, its national administration. My pride in
the actions of the rank and file of the country is offset only by my
shame at being represented in the world by the present administration.
As is usually the case, those who are responsible in a large measure for
conditions have suffered least. The average American man or woman has
borne the brunt and paid the price. Those nearest and dearest to the men
mostly responsible have been, like the Kaiser's sons, too valuable to
risk near the battle. A prominent Socialist deputy of France who had
advocated disarmament went with the first troops. He was wounded, and
when dying said he was thankful it had been permitted him to atone with
his life for his errors in the past. I admire a man of that type of
honesty and courage.
Honor where honor is due. Honor to the people of the United States for
their actions after the beginning of this war.
Blame where blame is due. Blame to the citizens of the United States for
their easy indolence which permitted them to support for their high
offices men who neither thought straight nor were manly enough to share
in the penalties for their mistakes.
We had the lesson of unpreparedness illustrated so that we all can
understand it. We must not now content ourselves with admitting we were
wrong. That does not get us any further forward. We must adopt measures
to see that it does not occur again. The policy that I believe is
necessary to this end is compulsory training. This is not, to my mind,
simply a military question. It is an educational question, educational
in the broadest sense of the term. The question of most vital importance
to a democracy, and for which we always work, is to create equal
opportunity for every man and woman; to raise in every way possible the
type of the average citizen. It is from this point of view that I
believe most strongly in universal training.
We have adopted in this war the policy of compulsory military service.
We have used it as a military war-time measure. To get the peace-time
economic value we should have its complement, compulsory training in
time of peace. One of the obstacles to this, in the mind of the average
citizen, is the creation of a military caste. This is no doubt a danger,
and a real danger, but it is not an insurmountable danger. In France and
in Switzerland it has been surmounted. There is no military caste in
either country. There is no desire for war among the citizens of these
countries. No one can say that France by her aggressive action drove
Germany to the war. No one can say that on account of military training
Switzerland plunged into the war. The first country saved herself from
the domination of the German military caste by compulsory training. The
second country by the same means saved herself entirely from war, for
unquestionably Germany chose Belgium to rape on account of her
defenselessness. Both France and Switzerland are democracies, real
democracies in deed and thought.
This danger of fostering a military caste, in my opinion, can be met by
a proper handling of the scheme. The whole matter of training should be
directly under the control of a general staff. This general staff should
not be composed, as in Germany, simply of military men. Military
training, to my mind, is only a part of the training necessary. On the
general staff the military should be simply an element. In addition to
them there should be prominent educators, representatives of labor,
prominent employers of labor, representatives of the farming interests,
and members of our legislative bodies, the House and Senate. Such a
staff would prohibit once and for all the question of a military caste.
Such a staff would obtain the correct balance between the purely
military and the obviously more important educational side. The
complicated adjustments of interests would be safeguarded. The economic
question would be properly handled.
Some of the benefits are obvious. First, when the country is called upon
to defend itself, competent, trained men will step forward into the
ranks. Over and above them will be a mechanism conserving the
sacrifices, making possible the just reward in victory of gallantry and
self-sacrifice. Your boy will go out and you will feel that what can be
done will be done. You go yourself and you know you will get a show for
your white alley. You don't mind sitting into a game where there is an
even break, but you hate to be forced to draw cards when you know they
are stacked against you.
[Illustration: THREE THEODORE ROOSEVELTS
Copyright, Walter S. Shinn]
Second, the physical welfare of our young men would be immeasurably
helped. Let us face the cold facts. In this war nearly half of the men
of military age were refused admission to the service for physical
defects. They were below par from the standpoint of the physician.
Compulsory training should be organized in such a way as to pay
particular attention to just this feature. No man would be exempt from
compulsory training on account of physical defects. Special
organizations should be created to handle men of this kind. Specialists
should be put in charge. These specialists year after year would devote
their entire time to working with men of just this kind and would add
enormously to the country economically by this work.
Third. The knowledge of sanitation and simple hygienic rules, to be
concrete, the care of teeth, the feet, the digestion, and a thousand and
one things of this nature, should be taught to the many men who up to
this time would have had no opportunity to learn. For the person who
lives where every modern convenience surrounds him it is difficult to
believe the conditions which exist in sections of the country. Let him
go to the poor sections of any great city, let him go to the mountain
districts of Tennessee or of North Carolina. He will see at once that
the men from these districts will be infinitely benefited by this
education.
Fourth. The democratization would be very beneficial to all alike. All
would receive the same treatment, and all classes, all grades in
society, would be mixed. The educational value from this alone would be
very great. Everyone would get new ideas, a broader outlook on life, and
a more complete understanding of this country. Our public schools do not
embrace all classes and do not cover the situation as generally as they
should. It is a rare thing for the sons of the wealthy to go to the
public schools. Compulsory training would be a very real benefit to
them.
To sum up, from an economic standpoint alone, compulsory training would
be of untold benefit. The economic unit of the community is the
individual. By training and developing the individual you develop the
economic assets. The small loss in time from a money-earning aspect
would be ten times compensated by the increased efficiency after
training. From a moral standpoint the individual would be broadened by
contact, trained in fundamentals and self-discipline, and have one of
the surest foundations of clean thought and clean action, a healthy
body. So much for the lesson of unpreparedness and what I believe we
should do to remedy it.
One of the first effects on the men who served was democratization. By
the draft call all classes and grades of society were drawn into the
service. After reaching the service, in so far as possible they were
advanced into positions of responsibility without fear or favor. The
effort was directed toward finding the men most suited for the
individual job. The result was, in most instances, as close a
reproduction of a real democracy as is possible.
In my regiment there were many instances of this fact. One of my
lieutenants, a gallant young fellow, was a waiter in civilian life, a
captain was a chauffeur. On the other hand, many men serving in the
ranks came from professions ranking high in the scale in civilian life.
A lieutenant once spoke to me after an action saying that when he was
leading his platoon back from the battle one of his privates asked him a
question. The question was so intelligent and so well thought out that
the lieutenant said to him: "What were you before the war?" The reply
was, "City editor of the Cleveland _Plain Dealer_."
Another private, serving as a runner in one of the company headquarters,
was an ex-state senator from the State of Washington. These are isolated
instances of what was taking place the army over--the waiter and
chauffeur as officers and the lawyer and newspaper editor as privates.
Ability to take responsibility in the present, not previous conditions,
was what they were judged by. Surely associations of this sort will
breed sympathy and understanding for the future. Surely these will aid
the country to approach its problems without class bias.
Another effect was the idea of service to the country. To most of us, up
to the time of the war, the country was a rather indefinite affair which
had done something for us and which we expected to do more for us in the
future. We had given but little thought to what we should do for the
country. During the war every man in the service did something for his
country. He now is in the position of a man who has bought a share of
stock in a company. He is interested in seeing the country run right and
is willing to give more service. The idea that we must endeavor to
approach in the United States is to create a condition where as close to
our entire population as possible has a vested interest in the country.
In a certain way this has been supplied to the service men by what they
have done for the country.
The most important effect, to my mind, was the Americanization. Those
who served became straight Americans, one hundred per cent. Americans
and nothing else.
The regiment was composed of as good a cross section of the United
States as you could get. The men came from all sections of the country
and from all walks of life.
Selected at random from men who one time or another served at my
headquarters are the following: Sergeants Braun, Schultz, Cramer, and
Corporal Schwarz were born and educated in Germany, and no gallanter or
better Americans fought in our army. Sergeant Braun was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross. Corporal Schwarz gave his life.
Sergeant Samari and Privates Belacca, Kalava, and Rano were born in
Italy. Samari particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry,
although all were gallant.
The Sergeants Murphy, mainstays of their particular organizations;
Hennessy, of gallant memory; Leonard, Magee, and O'Rourke were, I
believe, born in Ireland. All of the men reflected credit on this, their
country.
Sergeant Hansrodoc, born in Greece, was promoted from private and served
from beginning to end.
Sergeants Masonis, Crapahousky, and Zablimisky were born in Poland.
Sergeant Mosleson and Privates Brenner and Drabkin were of Jewish
extraction. One of them is dead; each of the others has been twice
wounded.
Sergeants Major Lamb and Sneaton and Corporals Brown and Glover were of
straight English extraction. Corporal Le Boeuf is of French-Canadian
extraction. These are only some of the names that occur to me. In the
regiment at large the range was greater.
All of these men were straight Americans and nothing else. All of these
men thought of themselves as Americans. Once I heard one of the men in
conversation outside my headquarters. He had been born in a foreign
country. He didn't like the way that country was doing in the war. He
alluded to the citizens of that country, the country of his birth, as
"them cold-footed rascals." It never even occurred to him that there was
anything funny in this. He thought of himself as an American, the men to
whom he was talking thought of him as an American.
An excellent soldier born in Germany was brought back to me one day as
we were advancing into the lines. The officer in charge reported that
the man had been caught talking to German prisoners, which was something
strictly forbidden. He appeared before me. I knew him to be a good sort
and said to him, "What is the matter, how did this come about?" He said,
"Well, sir, I know I should not have done it and I won't do it again,
but I suddenly saw in that batch of prisoners someone from the town
where I was born." This man was killed in action shortly afterward
fighting for this country.
I have been told of a leave train sent to Italy with American soldiers
born in Italy on it in order that they might see their people. Doubt was
expressed in the minds of the higher command as to whether it was an
advisable move, inasmuch as it was thought probable that many of the men
would overstay their leave or possibly try to desert and stay there. Not
one man out of the 1200 did either. An officer who talked with these men
on their return said that conversations ran much like this: "Cipiloni,
have a fine time on your leave?" "Yes, sir." "See your family?" "Yes,
sir." "Get back in time all right?" "Yes, sir, got back to the train
fourteen hours before it left, sir. I was afraid, sir, if I missed this
train, I might get left behind when the division started for home."
When replacements came to us, some of them could not even speak
English. After they had been with the troops two or three months the
same men would not only be speaking English, but would speak it by
preference. I have seen two Italians, born in the same district in
Italy, laboriously conversing with one another in English rather than
use the tongue to which they were born, with which they were naturally
much more familiar.
From these and many other reasons, the army is the least of this
country's fears as far as Bolshevism and its kindred anarchies are
concerned. All over the country you will find the service men keen to
put down demonstrations of this sort. They are keen of their own accord,
not prompted by anyone. The other day I was in a city where a Bolshevist
meeting had been broken up by some service men. I knew one of the men
who was concerned in this. I asked him how it occurred. He said. "Why,
sir, it was this way. I was talking to some of the fellows down at the
W. C. C. S. and a guy says to us, 'They've got a red-flag meeting on
for to-night.' I said to some of the men, 'That ain't the flag we know
anything about, or fought for. Let's go down and bust them birds up.'"
The service man feels that this is his country. His first and foremost
concern is for the United States. He wants the institutions of this
country to stand. He has given himself, and where one has given of one's
self the interest is deepest. He has bought a share of stock of the
United States. As a stockholder he intends to do what he can to see that
the concern is run properly.
In order to keep alive and active this spirit of sturdy loyalty, a
vested interest of some type obtained by his own labor should be aimed
at for every one of as many citizens as possible. This country will have
to move forward with a program of sane, constructive, carefully
thought-out liberalism.
It may be necessary in doing this to modify or change certain things in
this community in the future, but the service man, I believe, intends,
as far as he is able, to see that those changes and modifications are
carried out in such a way as will not destroy or injure the national
fabric and institutions.
Again, first, last, and always, the service man is an American!
THE END
_A Selection from the Catalogue of_
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"Wade in, Sanitary!"
The Story of a Division Surgeon in France
By
Richard Derby
Lt.-Col. M. C., U. S. A., Division Surgeon, Second Division
This is a surgeon's story of the war--of that life and death humanly
dramatic portion of the war in which the doctors in khaki played their
great part.
The book is far more than a mere account of war experiences. It is the
first complete and authoritative picture of the struggle from the
surgeon's side. Though non-technical in style and thoroughly popular, it
points out many of the lessons of the war from the medical standpoint of
interest to every physician and every thinking citizen.
To after the war literature the book is a highly valuable addition of
absorbing interest.
The Yankee in the British Zone
By
Captain Ewen C. MacVeagh
and
Lieutenant Lee D. Brown
How did Tommy Atkins and the Yank get on? How did they impress each
other? What did they learn about each other?
That is what this book answers. It is not a war book; it is rather a
study in the psychology of the average man, British and American; and it
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Written by two trained observers it sets forth a wealth of anecdotes,
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"I WAS THERE"
WITH THE YANKS IN FRANCE
By
C. Le Roy Baldridge
300 sketches made on the spot while the author was a camion driver with
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_12º, 13 Illustrations_
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