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

cial profession. Places in civilian life
are reserved for him upon his leaving
the army, and I have heard it said. not
without truth, that Germany, wher-
| ever you go, is country of sergeants.
BY which it Is meant that places in the
postal service, in the railway service
| and 80 forth are now filled with men
| who have served as non-commissioned
officers in the German army.
Democracy and Discipline.
| Another effect of this democratic
character in the French army, and one
that must seem rather unexpected to the
| English reader, Is that the discipline has
to be all the more harsh and severe be-
| cause of the equality of feeling that ex-
| lists socially between the men and those
who command them. If you depend for
your authority upon nothing but military
rank, and not upon the other aids of
social difference, or the false respect paid
in civilian life to wealth, you have ali the
more need for enforcing that purely reg
mental authority by sharp punishment
| The English newspapers used to be
the discipline Of the German army, but
l am not sure that for strictness and
| ruthless severity the French service is
| not compelled to harder standard than
any other.
A third effect of this universal serv-
Ice and Of its democratic character is
the fact that the French authorities
cannot pick and Choose. The Germans
here claim certain moral superiority
which. though I should be slow to ad-
init it. is well capable of argument.
They say: I'VE only take those whom
we care to take. only a certain proper
ton out of large number. We can
pick the healthiest types. particularly
minimize the element of the more edu-
Gated town population which might be
less amenable to discipline, etc.
French Can March,
1t might even be added that the
French thus taking every kind of man
lower the physical standard of their
service. 1t might be so in theory, but
| II you look at the men of the two serv-
ices compared. the German and the
French. you can hardly come to that
conclusion. And. in the supreme
physical test of marching power, there
is no doubt whatsoever Of the French
superiority.
OF other particular marks of the
French army not dependent upon this
democratic and universal system, what
Is perhaps most to be noted-though
it is entirely a moral characteristic
and not calculable one-is the alb
sence of parade. Here. again, the
thing is neither wholly good nor
good with the evil and to consider the
national character. To the average
layman. the man who is quite ignorant
Of military affairs. and knows nothing
of what makes for or against military
efficiency. this absence of parade is
simply shocking. All his ideas of a
soldier are connected with smartness
In bearing and in every other external.
| Now this French doctrine that smart
ness In all its forms Is to be avoided
/ a ocff t.
happens to work more or less well with
the French character. though even
there 1t has its drawbacks, for external
smartness does something for the SOL
der of any service in adding to his
self-respect and to his pride in the
service, but it is not as necessary to
1 the French soldier as it is to some
others. and at any rate the French
have discarded 1t as much as any army
can discard it.
| think 1t true to say that there is not
| a single point In the accouterment and
training Of French soldier in which one
| hour has been given to effect which
| might have been saved for practical
| work.
Regimental System Discountenanced.
1t is this same spirit that has SO large
ly destroyed the regimental system in
France In Germany 1t has been highly
| fostered. The moral factor of what may
be called particular patriotism. the love
of ones own regiment and district, has
been worked for all it Is worth. In
| France 1t has been discountenanced A
| German officer may almost be said to be
| elected among his comrades as a man is
\ elected to a club. French officer passes
| from one regiment to another upon re-
| ceiving promotion by a mere change Of
| numbers upon his coat, with very little
sentimental suffering at any change, and
with the gertrude of many such
| changes in the course of his life.
There is one last point of great i'm
portance in connection with the French
| army which will have to be remembered
| with its good and its evil effects during
| the weeks that are just before us. 1t is
| placed upon intelligence and upon
| Individual initiative Those words put by
| themselves sound as though they con-
| noted nothing but good. There again.
upon the whole. ! would say that they
| do connote good and not evil, but there
| is something to be said upon the other
| or German side. A highly developed
| individual temperament is great asset
| especially in success, but it carries with
| 1t the necessary handicap OF a temper
| ament more highly strung and Of a de-
| pendence placed upon weak units and
| particular situations.
| Upon the opposite theory of conducting
an army one depends much more upon
| the mass even for company work, and
one foregoes intelligence save In the
higher command. The French have not
carried the cultivation of the individual
| to an excess, at least do not think they
| have. But they have pushed 1t pretty
| far. l have myself seen an officer on
| maneuvers call to private soldier whom
he was sending upon a message. describe
to him a position upon the map and
when as he thought. that private
soldier had mastered the map. send him
| of. That would be quite impossible in
the German service. and it is, II you like,
| an advantage. But 1t goes with nerves.
l. Evans Boulder, aged fifteen years,
son of farmer of the upper part of
Cecil county. Md, killed his uncle.