The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-12-07
DEVELOPING RECRUITS.
WE TAKE A GREAT DEAL OF PAINS
WITH NEW SOLDIERS.
The Matter Of Physical Training osvsl-
opsd Into Business Which the Army
Surgeons conduct-The Effects OF Ex'
ereiss Carefully Noted.

Surgeons conduet-The Effects OF Ex.
ereiss Carefully Noted.
The nation takes a great deal of pains
with the new soldier. 1t does not cod
die him or make him child of luxury,
but it improves him physically, men
tally and morally by system of train
ing which develops the worthy charac-
teristics of man and makes him bet
ter fighting unit. Time was when the
physical training of a soldier was left
to such exercises as the brawl, and
the weakling in the military service got
what muscular development he could by
personal encounter with the more quar-
relsome of his comrades. If a soldier
knew anything beyond the necessary
drill of his business he picked it up
himself, and his moral nature was MUIR
tured by the chaplain who preached per-
iodically and who devoted his efforts
to retaining sodden soldiery from the
grogshop pest. That was before the
government established its post ex-
change, being the cooperative store and
social club.
In the scheme of making a soldiers
life agreeable to himself and the service
acceptable enough to prevent him from
being deserter, the matter of physical
training has developed into a business
which the army surgeons conduct with a
good deal of care and thought. They
realize that military efficiency depends
upon the strength, activity and endur-
ance of the soldier, and that he is the
better fighting man in proportion to his
bodily vigor, suppleness and ability to
withstand the fatigue and hardship of
long marches and campaign in the
field.
The recruit is selected, in the first
place, with every consideration of his
health and strength when he applies at
the recruiting Office, but naturally many
men who are enrolled stand in need of
further development, and this is a part
of an important and systematic process
to which the new soldier is subjected.
A man who becomes soldier may have
worked at hard manual labor and may
have developed one part of his body
to the sacrifice of another. He has alb
normal power in one set of muscles and
none at all in another set. Such men
pass the surgeons examination at the
recruiting Office, but they must be put
through the regular course of gymnastic
drill which gives them symmetry in
development and finally gives to our
troops of cavalry and companies of ar
tillery and infantry that splendid ply
steal APPEARANCE which has been recog-
nized as the ideal in soldierly bearing
and presence.
The care of the soldier takes the form
of robust training which neglects no
part of his anatomy and no organ of
his body. The nervous system and the
heart are looked after quite as much
as the muscles of his legs and arms,
and one of the most important of the
physical exercises is that which relates
to his chest and lungs. He is made to
run and walk and breathe-the latter
function being more difficult for new
soldiers than people imagine. In the
British service this idea is carried to
an excess chiefly for the picturesque
benefit of soldier with a dilated chest.
The drill sergeant makes the recruit
throw his chest out and keep it out
until the physicians say the heart is. dis
placed downward. and the result is a
pouter-pigeon effect on a mild scale and
a soldier with'a weakened vitality.
One has but to observe the before
and-after" effect of six months ply
steal training in our army, graphically
shown in photographs kept at Washing
ton, to realize the physical advantages
to soldier systematic exercise. The
records made are surprising in many
instances. Some of the men whose con-
situations early lend themselves to the
training are found, in an incredibly short
period, to have increased their measure
ments so as to be objects of veritable
ridicule. They outgrow their original
clothing, into which they squeeze them
selves to their great discomfort and with
the constant menace of bursting them.
The military authorities make these
exercises as entertaining as possible
They furnish music whenever it can be
obtained in the shape of athletic meets,
and the officers take so great an interest
in their commands as to provide prizes
for those who surpass records. A part
of the fund gathered by the post ex-
change is always used in the equipment
of gymnasium in which enlisted men
take the greatest pride. In the cavalry,
the animals come in for a part of the
spectacular exercises which are possible
by the combination of men and horses.
The well-drilled troop of United States
cavalry in some of it's maneuvres fur
nishes an exhibition which rivals that of
the professional riders of the best
circus in the world.-Collier's Weekly.
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