Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-03

an Englishman might expect of sol
der in several important particulars
The first of these is upon which
i am always insisting in conversation
and in speeches and in articles and
books. because 1t is really important
that every one who wants to under
get hold of it. 1t Is the fact that In
France every man is a soldier. That
is a phrase you often hear people use
about Germany. But about Germany 1t
Is utterly and completely false. and ]
wonder that educated men should use
that phrase as often as they do.
have heard it used constantly in the
house OF commons even from the lips
of people who are responsible for for
eign affairs. and who ought to know
better.
Every One Serves.
What happens in the great continental
conscript armies is this: Every male of
age for bea ring arms Is legally liable to
serve and every such person Is called up
Casually in his twentieth or twenty-first
year, for what is called revision" But
nations differ very much in the proper
ton chosen out of those so called up.
Germany does not take the greater part
OF the men so called up. Until quite
lately she did not take half of them or
anything like half; neither does Italy,
neither does Russia. neither does Austria
d
France because there are always a GER
tain number who are physically unfit or
who are exempted for special reasons
such as being the only support of their
families. particularly where an orphan
family is supported by elder brother.
etc. But the distinction between the
French army and all other armies In the
world, ccnscript or professional, Is the
fact that with these few exceptions
every one who is called actually serves
that is. goes in barracks room and
is trained as a private soldier for SO
many months.
with certain exceptions for men who
served only one year. Then, after
the time in which I served. a law
was passed making it two years
lions of one year. Then. quite
recently. in face of a sudden increase Of
the German army, the period was ex-
banded again to three years. But the
characteristic thing which must never be
forgotten. is that every one who can
serve at all does serve.
Now, the effects of this upon the ma
tional life and upon the army are very
from all other military countries:
I have often expressed the effect by
saying that soldering had now become
as universal a habit among the French
as cricket and foot ball among the Eng
lish.
That.is one way of putting It, Or.
again. one might say that the knowl-
edge of a soldiers life and all the
habits acquired in the barrack room
are as universal in France as the ordi-
nary habits of town life are in Eng
land. 1t permeates all French society.
The second mark of the French army
in which 1t is distinguished from all
others is natural consequence Of this
first mark. 1t is that the French army
Is peculiarly democratic. There are, OF
course, two ways of looking at this.
~. y LII
of soldering is only possible in France
because the French are a very demo-
cratic people, or one might say that 1t is
because the French had become more
ence of this habit of universal service.
But, anyhow, the results are very strik-
ing.
Rising From the Ranks.
Thus you will have in a French
barrack room men of every class and
grade of society mixed together as
private soldiers, and the authorities are
very vigilant to prevent rich young
men from Sinking their duty once they
are enrolled.
This feeling of equality about the
service is seen in a number of ways.
One of them is the rapid and easy pro-
motion from the ranks which contin-
ually takes place. A very large pro-
portion of the French commissioned
ranks below the rank of colonel con-
Sists of men who have risen straight
from the barrack room through nom
commissioned work to a Heutenancy
and then captaincy. or to be majors.
Even among the colonies there Is a
proportion, though | do not know how
large it may be, of men who have thus
risen.
1t would not be true to say that such
rising from the ranks dominates the
T., u
nearly every one has come from the
great schools for officers, st. Cyr for
the infantry and the Polytechnique for
the learned arms. That is inevitable
affected by the way in which a man
enters the army. If he gets in through
the ranks he is later by a few years
than his own brother. maybe, who has
entered the arm through the schools
and who was given his commission In
early youth.
Then. again. it is quite common for
young men of well-to-do families who
wish to make the army their career to
enlist first so as to save the trouble of
the examinations, and it is still more
often the case that man who never
meant to be an officer at all, though
belonging to a well-to-do family, takes
taste for soldering when he is in the
ranks and goes on with 1t, the result
being that of those who rise from the
ranks very large proportion are of
tHe same Social Class as those VINO
would be officers in any other country.
Still, this rising from the ranks is a
very important feature in the French
service, and co1ors all its life. For one
thing, 1t adds enormously to the pres
uge of the mere functions of an officer
and in the French service 1 have found
that men pay more respect to military
rank as such. quite apart from wealth
or family. than they do in any other.
A French-German Contrast.
II must not be imagined, even by the
most ardent democrat, that this state of
affairs has no drawbacks attached to
II. Upon the whole. l am convinced
that 1t is good and makes for the
strength of the French service. But
1t does burden that service with GER
tain anomalies not to be found else
where One of these anomalies Is the
extreme youth Of the commissioned
officers.
Since men are perpetually passing up
from the ranks, through non-commis-
stoned ranks to a commission, there Is
naturally very large proportion of
sergeants who are still conscripts-that
is. young men under twenty-four years
of age. And, since the discipline of
an army largely depends upon the
moral authority of the non commits
stoned officers, many people have re-
b, garded this as a weak point in the
French service.
There is here, by the way, a very
ri mt OF 1,otx h1 -