The Washington herald., 1906-10-21
AMAZES WAR OFFICE
Col. Pollock Makes British
Soldiers in Six Months.
USES ONLY AVERAGE RECRUITS
What Officials Have
Heretofore Insisted Gould Not BE
Employs Humane Methods and De-
veIops individuality in Men.

/
Employs Humane Methods and De-
veIOps individuality in Men.
Correspondence Of The Washington Herald.
/ London. Oct. Ito J. St Loe Strachey.
the scholarly editor of the Spectator. one
/ OF the most influential OF high class Eng
/ lish weekly journals. and Col A. ".
! Pollock, an officer. who has freed him
self from the schackles of military tradi-
tions, are due the successful carrying out
OF an experiment which may be destined
/ to work a revolution in the training and
| organization Of the military forces of the
/ British Empire. They have proved that
! It IS possible by six months of rational
training to make complete infantry sol
diers out of average raw recIsIits-men
i. whom Sir John French. one Of che ablest
! generals in active service in the Brit
ish army. has pronounced quite 1T
to take their place IA the ranks with
/ regular troops And this was no snap
judgment The opinion was expressed
after the men had been under his vigil
liant eye for week at Aldershot, parti-
I cipating IN the maneuvers Of seasoned
/ soldiers Of the regular army.
Heretofore it has been maintained ny
the martirets Of the war Office that a
man could not be put through the mill
tary hopper and turned out at tine other
emo IA efficient soldier in less than three
years.
Is OF Interest in America.
The success which has attended the e1-
pertinent is Of even greater interest TO
America than il is 10 England. because
America. 20 a much greater extent than
England. is dependent for her military
strength on an efficient citizen force,
capable, should the necessity arise. Of CO.
! operating effectively with regular troops
IN the field. The United States military
/ attache was one of The keenest observers
OF the system OF training employed, and
was present at the formal disarmament
of the company.
King Inspected Them.
The men had been in training only two
months when the King. with that pene-
tration and discrimination of Judgment.
which enable him To realize what may
prove to be- important movements. be
Z
manded the company to appear before
him az Windsor. After deyoting an hour
10 their inspection he addressed a few
words 10 them. in which be stated that
they were engaged i1 an experiment
which might prove 10 be Of national inn
portance. In conversation with Mr..
Srachey he displayed the kccnest inter
est 81 the scheme Now that the ex-
pertinent has proved q success. il may
be taken Tor granted that his majesty
viii exert his influences 10 secure its
adoption on a large scale.
The fact that the great object lesson
has been achieved entirely through pri-
vate enterprise. and owes nothing TO wal
Office initiative affords striking proof Oi
Ihe inaptitude of that old f0gey institu-
ton. II was started by a letter from Col
Pollock 10 the Spectator ia this he
declared 1t would BE- quite impossible
for any company officer of ordinary abi!-
iIy 10 take q hundred recruits OF Tho
, militia class and by O proper system 81
/ training 10 make them thoroughly com
peteut infantry soldiers and capable OF
. meeting continental troops on equal
4. terms. Further. no offered 10 undertake
the training Of such a company il the
{ necessary funds were provided. The pro
posal cOincidng with the policy which
Mr. StTachcy had always advocated, Ne
undertook &c raise the money through
the Spectator. In an, something like
! $4,000 was subscribed. OC this amount
William Waldorf Aston. the expatriateC
7 American mUiti-mill 0naiTe. contribute
! / $500 and the Duke Of Bedford another
5000.
Not Picked Men.
The hundred men chosen were in nj
sense picked men, either as regard.
. physique or intelligence They fairly
, represented the average material upon
s which the nation would naturally be de
pendent for a volunteer or militia force
/ The majority of them were between
eighteen and twenty years of age anC
none Of them was over twenty-five. Ir
the matter Of trades or callings no pref
erencas shown. Among them were
u laborers. y clerks. { butchers brick
layers. 4 walters footmen diapers, .
tailor, and, as oddities. billiard marker
, a motorcycle racer, and weight Hitter
In order to make the experiment con
elusive. one point was rigidIy insisted on
No man was accepted who had received
] any military training in any of the forces
r OF the crown. The fact that q man hat
/, been I'm the volunteers was an absolut,
e. bar TO his enlistment
There was nothing that could be spec
flied as disunctively moved in the method:
= employed by Col Pollock for making
soldiers out of young men in One-siXti
? of the time ordinarily deemed requisite
, 1: was simply military training dominat
( ed by common sense without regard q
s traditional rules ard regulations Col
+, Pollock'S secrets-if he had any-cOnsisteC
in bringing out the mems individuality
in eliciting their sense of initiative, II
! making them interested in their work
!, and preventing them from becoming dull
4 and stale by compelling them. as drill
! sergeants do. to do the same thing owe
and over again an endless number %
times without knowing any reason fo
them.
, Treated as Reasoning Beings.
! They were treated as reasoning being.
t and not as human automatons. Every
E thing superfuous in the training o
soldiers as ordinarily pursued in tn,
British army was eliminated They haS
none of the usual housemaid's work o
I the barracks and lackey work for Off
{ GERS to perform. The cooking. potato
] peeling, Cmptying of sIOp and such worl
= was done for them that they might de
T vote the whole of their time To soldier
l ing. No attention was paid to the attain
r ment Of mere military frills. No effort
e were wasted TO obtain an appearance o
s smartnesS.
e Hence those severe and. as medical OK
2 perts declare. often injurious artificial
4 chest-expansion exercises so rigorOusl!
y insisted on in the regular army were en-
tirely discarded. This system of ''settinl