The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-24
The Military Spirit.
d. John 10. Danny.

4 = r.
] BY JOHN D. BARRY.
From friend who joined OF the business
Imen's camps received letter telling of his ex-
perienee. He was most enthusiastic. The exercise
was doing him great deal of good. He found in
terest in the association with kinds of men that in
his everyday life, he seldom never meets on
close terms. "One trouble with u.s." he remarks,
as that we all walk in grooves. We know people
who are very like ourselves, with similar opinions
It's pity there isn't any way of our getting to-
gether people, really mingling equal terms
and finding out about one another This camp
has taught me great many things about my fell
low Americans that | never suspected before and
| it is making me more democratic Incidentally,
| it is teaching how to handle myself better
You should have seen me when they first put
a rifle in my hand. l should have been joke
, if there hadn't been lot of other fellows Just
as awkward. l learning to timber up men
| tally and physically. But, through my associa-
ton with the army here, am becoming a
little skeptical about this business of prepared
ness. All these professional fellows are for war
They remind me of horses that are champing at
their bits. No wonder. Singers want to sing
and writers want to write and fighters want to
fight. It's almost pathetic to think of these
experts who allowed to put their skill
into actual practice Much as | admire them per-
sonally, must admit that, a body of men, they
represent real danger. Most of them are Guilt
waited gentlemen; of them arc highly in
tellectual and accomplished; they have good deal
of influence public opinion. II they were to
devote themselves to genuine service they would
do an immense amount of good. After only few
weeks in the camp even ! find myself looking for
ward toward war interesting possibility"
Then the writer goes on to explain what he |
thinks might be done in the way Of volunteer
camps In the first place they ought not to be |
emphasized military. They ought to be for |
young people. They ought not to be directly
associated with the idea of They ought |
to be like our great public schools perhaps !
affiliated with the public school system provid-
ing training in hardihood beneficial to every |
one, and genuinely productive. Much of the !
necessary work of the world could be done in !
this way. And the workers should include both |
sexes, the future mothers and the future fathers.
This theory interested me both because it |
seemed to be founded on common sense and be-
cause it conceded with the ideas expressed by |
Prof. William James not long before his death |
and often commented since the outbreak of /
the present war. James had a good deal OF SYM |
pathy with the kind of enforced training that /
should make the young generations realize their |
relation with the community at large and that |
should develop in them strength OF body and mind |
and breadth of social consciousness. In war he !
found an appeal to the spirit of idealism that ex-
pressed itself In magnificent courage and self |
abnegation. If the world were to give it up with |
out securing substitute he felt there would be
be found in the development OF spirit of de-
voton not destructive but constructive, not lead
ing to the narrowness inseparable from the in
tense and bitter partisanship of war; but leading |
higher and finer conception OF public service, |
and, at the same time, creating sturdier race.
The dangers OF the professional military spirit,
felt by my friend in the businessmen's camp are
finding an appalling illustration now in Germany.
To say that Germany is warlike nation would
be absurd. 1t is nothing OF the kind. II is a
nation devoted to commerce and science and art.
But in the very heart of Germany since the days
of Napoleon, there has been developing the spirit
of militarism that IS now known to the world as
Prussian A comparatively small but powerful
group of Prussians have succeeded in dominating
the German lima gination: BY working through |
fear, OF the baseSt OF the passions, they have
made the Germans feel that this fear is purely
defensive, that Germany is desperately struggling
for her life. In this way they have found an
excuse for carrying to the extreme limit OF
ruthlessness. They have been the means OF ex-
citing horror of the Germans all the world. /
As consequence. it looks if Germany
would suffer in esteem for many years after war
is But. it should be borne in mind that, by
their very ruthcssness, the Prussians are making .
the world realize it never did before the degra-
dation of manhood that goes with war; the /
even among the Germans the Prussians stand
out for their hardness. They arc not to be
DlaHleQ. Ihey arc me examples OF what false i
ideas lead to in the way of sincerity and de-
votion.
Early in the war 1T was often remarked that I
still imperfectly civilized The war sug- l
gcsts that not civilized at all, that our |
civilization is mere veneer. AS for the theory
that the destructveness OF war makes war i'm
possible, it has been exploded And we know
now that those nations which can't afford to go
to may be among the first to rush in. That
greed alone makes is, OF all theories, one Of
the most misleading. Where greed operates as
a powerful factor it is usually associated with
fear, which leads to madness. That the Prussian
mlitarsts played most adrotly on the fears Of
the German people is plain enough. 1t is also
plain that their bringing the war was direct
expression of military professionalism. They were
like those American officers in charge Of that
businessmen's camp, with their longing to put
their preparedness into action intensified by the
rivalry and the hate invariably bred by the mill
tary spirit. 1t must be acknowledged that from
their point OF view, they having a glorious
time. They have created situation where every
warning nation, matter how much it may be !.
suffering, matter how terrible the cost may
be, feels in honor bound to keep fighting What
is most tragic about the situation is that there
seems to be no solution short of utter exhaustion
The full harvest of the evils sown in peace is still