Morning journal and courier., 1893-04-13
Songs for Soldiers,

From the London Saturday Reyiewl
 A controversy which has lately been car
 ried on in the German military papers will
 surprise many who are unscquainted with
 the emotional side of the Teutonic charsc-
 ter. The sll-couquering legions of the
 young Kaiser are usually credited with an
 intense industry, 6 stern sense of duty,
 and complete thoroughness which does
 not allow even the most minute detail of
 drill or training to be overlooked. Their
 successes in the past have been with jus
 tice attributed to skilful organization and
 practical regard to what the necessities of
 war always demand. Yet was there An-
 other powerful factor in the matter which
 went perhaps further in developing and
 preserving discipline, in encouraging self
 sacrifice and self-denisl, In making soldiers
 out of peasants, than the most carefully
 elaborated mobilization schemes or manu-
 als of field exercises could have brought
 about.
 Every means to appeal to the patriotism
 and self-respeet of the men was made the
 most of, and the value of the moral force,
 without which the most exactly drilled men with muskets will be found lacking In
 the moment of extremity, was recognized even as their physical and technical needs were held in view. Round the camp fires in France and Bohemia the swelling cho- ruses that had been sung during the great wars of deliverance, as they are termed, at the commencement, were joined in by the descendants or the early heroes The railway carriages packed with men for the front resounded, too, not with vain-glori- ous chants, or the popular snstches of the hour, but with the fine verses, deeply tipged with religious fervor, that educated men can still delight in as pure poetry. The song-books which contained these songs, together with hymns for Sunday use, were, and still are, articles of every mans field equipment, and were served out to every reservist on mobilization, just as were his rife and ammunition The first paragraph of the little book contains the following address: This book Is given to you, the men who form the nR- tionsl army, 70 that your faith may be strengthened by studying the songs and prayers which it contains, both privately and in public. So that in times of health or of sickness, In peace or in war, you may become filled with the spirit of hu- milIty and selfcontrol, with self denial and fidelity, with patience, with hope, and with regard for your fellow-men. It is in- tended to provide you with 8 spiritual equipment. Bind 1t to you tighter and tighter still. It will give strength in bat tie and honor in victory"
 Such an appeal touches the very best in stincts of soldiers, and an indignant chap lain in the German service asks whether his men can dispense with it now any more than formerly. For some imaginative scoffer has discovered that the weight of this same article of equipment Is exactly one hundred grsmnes, and Is of opinion, publicly announced, that food for the stomach is of mere consequence to men campaigning than that for the mind The paper bullets of the brain never won vio- tories, and should make way for those of lead. Our forefathers, he says, who con quered the tyrant Napoleon in the end, were ss religiously minded as are we, and were able to sing "Nun danket ale Gott" after victorious battle without reference to a book.
 Now here 1t is to be noted tha. the critic
 has given himself away, for the upholder
 of the cong book has instituted inquiries,
 and has established on unimpeachsble su-
 rank and file of the Prussian army were
 provided with a collection of songs and hymns, and moreover, that when the little book was not taken with them into the field, the need for 1t was So greatly felt that & selection from 1t was ordered to be printed on & sheet of paper for each man. ''We have, in fact, clear proof that the want of such & book was actually felt, and that steps were taken during the progress of the fighting to make 1t good"