Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-03

I appliances has this one fatal defect
| that it's operations can be impeded by
| the Veriest trifle, the smallest morsel
of grit in its complicated tangle OF
cogs and levers and pistons and
wheels But that is not even its worst
defect. The real brake on it's efficiency,
to use an engineering smile, is that 1t
liscourages individuality. That is in
evitable. You cannot drill and or
ganize millions of units to obey the
word of command by instinct, to learn
their duties by rote, to pay respect
TO any biped in a uniform, to regu-
late their whole existence by police
| DEGREES, without turning them into
machines Or rather, let us say, into
cog of a machine, an inert object,
until animated by the engineer with
the hand on the throttle.
Notwithstanding"
"Germany's rulers have not found
this process of 'mechanicalising diff
ficult The German of all peoples
takes so kindly to the drill sergeant
and the 'verboten' (forbidden) notices
that he is actually lost without them.
1t has been said by witty observer
that IL three Germans were cast on a
desert island they would not be happy
until they had elected one of their
number into the position of herr bur-
gomeister, or herr polizei president,
and got him to plaster the beach with
notices forbidding sea bathing save
at low tide and in suitable costume.
There is considerable substratum Of
truth in that amiable satire, and the
moral effect OF the system is that
while the German schoolboy of six
teen excels his English colleague as
cNt nf
he is miles behind him when it comes
to self-reliance and force of char
acter.
"a people imbued with such char
acteristics, and looking to offlcialdom
for guidance in every Juncture, is an
ideal nation to govern, from the Tudor
standpoint, and politically, Germany
Is at the same stage of evolution as
England was in the time of Henry
VIII; but q people which takes kind
ly to being drilled and ordered about,
which acts blindly on the word of
command, and to a large extent does
not use its great intellect in the or
binary affairs of life (the PROFESSIONAL
tradition is very far from being dead
in Germany, however amenable it
NAV be to the desires of the ruling
military caste, is not the best pre-
pared for Armageddon. Theoretically,
an army of machines may be very
desirable but then its component
units must have everything done for
them must have nothing at all to do
themselves save march and fight at
the word of command. Let the con-
trollers of the machine omit to make
provision for any detail, and the ma
chine cannot repair the omission for
itself.
"That is exactly what has happened
in the German advance on Belgium.
On paper, both the organization and
tn plans were perfect as human in
genuity could make them. The troops
were even provided with every type
of bugle used in the French and Bel
gian armies, with field glasses and
watches whose hands glow at night,
with whistles for transmitting orders,
even, 1t appears, with numerous Eng
lish and French Uniforms for deceiv-
ing the enemy, and with timetables
scheduling the stages of victorious
advance. But not with food. This
was not due to any glazing lack of
foresight"
A Kent "Ad."
How the war affects every branch
of life in England may be seen from
the following advertisement, which
appeared in the London Observer
Sunday August 16:
HOTEL IMPERIAL,
HYTHE.
| The Sunniest Spot in Glorious Kent
An Ideal Family Hotel in Beautiful
Grounds.
No Foundation Whatever for Ridicu-
lous and Idle Rumors of Danger.
/ No Restriction on Promenades or
| Beach.
| Town Perfectly Safe and Everything
] Quite Normal