Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-06-30
MILITARY CAMP FOR
STUDENTS PRAISED
Gen. Wood Enthusiastic Over Good
Accomplished; Local College
Graduate Enrolls

Commencement days over, many
college and high school boys are now
turning their faces toward Platts-
burg on Lake Champlain. where the
big United States army camp for stu
dents will be held from July to
August s.
Harrisburg will be represented in
this camp by Edward ]. Stackpole,
Jr.. who graduated from Yale Uni
versity last Wednesday. He. with 9TH
er Yale boys and students from all
the big universities and many high
schools to the number of 400 will
spend the month in this camp under
strict military discipline. Follow
ing are excerpts from an inter-
view with General Leonard Wood,
published in the New York Sun, prais-
ing the military camp plan for stu
dents:
Yes, I am enthusiastic, because
the outlook for the present season is
most encouraging" Thus spoke
General Leonard Wood at headquar-
ters, Department of the East Cover
nors Island, New York THE stu
dents military instruction camps
have made a gripping appeal to our
young college men and the boys
just about to enter upon their last
year in the high schools.
For Maintenance of Peace
"Our aim is to build up wider
knowledge of the technical aspects OF
military life and at the same time
to broaden an understanding of what
preparedness means toward the
maintenance of peace.
I'VE are not teaching militarism.
The soldiers duty is to shorten strife
that peace may come the quicker or
by a parade Of force to avoid con-
make each man
feel that he is a part of the nations
defense.
ITO begin with, the applicant must
be sound physically; the camps are
not designed to deal with those bodily
impaired. He must be at least feet
inches in height and between the
ages of is and 80. He must be
student in a university, a college or
the graduating class of high school
or of other schools rated as such, or
graduate of the same.
"Unquestionably, the training at
the students camp develops the body
and the youngsters are certainly
good deal more vigorous and husky
at the end of the term than commonly
IS the case at their arrival. But
even so, the applicant must measure
up to the rigid medical requirements
of the regular service. Meeting these
conditions, the student falls in at once
Training Essentially Practical
There is no faVoritism or any
chance for students from particular
educational institution forming cliques.
The boys are assigned to their tents
Just as they arrive, and this intermiX
ing stimulates general comradeship.
The novices are put in the ranks of
the camp companies alongside of stu
dents who have already had one sum-
mer's experience, and this is helpful,
because the trained man gladly lends
his aid to the newcomer.
From the instant the students re-
port they are subjected to camp dis
cipline and routine rules. This does
not mean that there is anything irk-
some about the program for each
day. The training is essentially prac-
tical, and our one object is to insure
proficiency on the battlefield or dur
ing approach to action. Accordingly,
we purposely omit needless formality,
and results rather than precision of
movement are the goal.
"Starting with the simple manual of
arms and the setting up exercises, to-
gether with camp sanitation and per-
sonal hygiene, the lessons for every
day gradually unfold, the students
being familiarized both practically and
theoretically with the tasks cut out
for each of the combatant branches of
the service.
Other Military Camps
This summer, students military in
struction camps will be established at
Chickamauga Park, Georgia. near
Plattsburg barracks, New York; at
Iuddington, Michigan, and the west
ernmost one near the Preside of San
Francisco. Details about the dates of
these camps can be obtained from the
commanding officer Of the military
department in which each is locat-
ed.
Undoubtedly in time of need, espe-
cially those that have won the stripes
of a noncommissioned officer at the
camps, will be picked up eagerly by
the government and given commits
sions as volunteer officers. II the
hour for such service should not
come it is commonly admitted by
those familiar with the work that
the graduates from the training
camps will be all the better equipped
for whatever task may be theirs in
life"