The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-21
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! come tired OF trying to maintain a posi-
tion on their salaries. and enter the ser
| vice simply TO get something TO do. The
author is of the opinion that the gentle
! man ranker, when he is a good soldier
! is particularly well qualified for com
! mission. by experience and knowledge o.
/ his men, and that among other things. he
I will make the better officer for knowing
( how 10 manage his "non-coms' and un-
I derstanding the system OF keeping regi-
/ mental accounts.
There are a good many things about The
military service of the United Kingdom
which the general public does
/ know. and some of them are
surprising. One OF the matters
/ which come under the latter head
/ is that of the married life OF the soldier
! when he has wife. Only five ana thirty
/ years ago married men with Their wives
! and children were obliged to share bar
! racks with the troops. a blanke. screen
| forming the only means of privacy. The
! lot Of the unfortunate girls who married
1 soldiers under such conditions can be bet
ter imagined than described.
The soldier who marries nowadays Is
considerably better off. for he is given
quarters consisting of two rooms and a
| limited amount of furniture. His allow
ance for the maintenance Of family is
also extremely limited and usually aug
mented by money earned by his vie. who
generally does some laundry work for the
| officers and priyates. A man who has
married without leave has no right, theo-
retically, TO any allowance at all, hut in
practical usage the regulations are some
| times evaded in ways best known 10 Off
GERS and men. When ordered to ac.tyc SER
! vice the soldier usually has TO leave his
wife and children behind. often on yery
scanty income. while the soldiers widow.
whose husband has died in the service, 10
practically unprovided for
There seems 10 be screw loose in all
this, though perhaps no remedy can be
found Immediately. Another criticism
which the author has TO make is in con-
nection with the time expired mana
subject on which the author of Soldiers
Three has also had a great deal to say.
1t is manifestly rather absurd that a man
who has spent the years between eighteen
and twenty-five in learning his business
should not be allowed to re-enlist and II is
evident that he will find some difficulty in
learning new trade when he re-enters
civil life
Still another matter which is worth some
attention is the commissariat. II is
claimed by officers of the medical staff that
the soldiers rations are both insufficient
and, for the most part, badly cooked. Mr.
Wyndham strongly recommends that army
cooks be enlisted as such-a suggestion
which was also made in this country during
the late war, and which. on the face of it,
seems 10 be dictated by sound common
sense. Cooking. especially catering for an
army in the field, demands a chef with
some training. knowledge. and experience.
and il should be obvious 10 any intelligent
oil Iat
be made into a good cook on short notice.
Army rations which might be made APP
petizing and nourishing are often wastel
in just this way and it may very well
happen in some future war that the army
which enlisted competent cooks will win
battles on that basis The business Of war
fare is coming more and more TO depend
on economic factors. Courage, nerve, and
endurance will always be the most i'm
portant qualifications Of the soldier; but
the brsvest man may be knocked OUT
at an important juncture If his diet hap
pens to be unwholesome. and endurance
will succumb to heavy and badly made
uniform. If any army. either in England
or America, is 10 be made thoroughly
efficient II must be by having all the de-
tails of food clothing and shelter as per
feet as they can be made. There is no use
in wasting a mans strength. even If he
has a great deal of it; and courage is
more effective when expended on fighting
the enemy in direct battle than when used
upon unnecessary obstacles due 10 an ig-
norant war office. This is Mr.. Wyndhams
general idea, though he does not formu-
late st: and it is the only sensible view.
The American as well as the English pub
lie will do well to read his book and think
about It.
One more thing is mentioned by him,
which is quite as important as the mate
rial reforms which he suggests. He says
that at present. in too many places SOL
diers are looked down upon and treated
with contempt and injustice; and that this
does not foster that self-respect which the
fighting man should have. He contends
that this sort of thing should be rebuked
and abolished. and that the soldier should
be given to understand. by the civilian as
well as by his own officers, that his trade
is an honorable and useful one. IN this
country We are not in much danger of
making this particular blunder since our
only experience Of warfare has been in
conflicts where banker and laborer. clerk.
and mechanic, met in the ranks too often
to allow much caste spirit 10 develop. The
division between officer and private has
never been strong in our army as in
that Of Great Britain and it Is well that
this should be so.
We may lose something in our officers
by not having the exaggerated esprit de
corps characteristic Of the British army, |
but We gain UNNECESSARILY in our rank and |
file. Perhaps we have sometimes gone to |
the other extreme, and honored the |
soldier so much that he has become I'M |
duly concelted, but that extreme is |
preferable, on the whole. Most men will |
do more when they know that other men |
respect and appreciate them than when |
they are made 10 feel at every step that |
they belong to an Inferior order OF humani- |
~. II lis to be feared. from what English |
writer's say. that the British soldier is |
too often regarded in that light by the |
civilian; and that. as Private Learoyd put |
IT, all the moral stories about the bad boy |
end and then he went and listed for a /
soldier" as II such a fate were the deep |
est disgrace possible to a human being. /
(Boston: l.. c. Page g. Coz