New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-17
MILITARY TRAINING FOR THE. YOUTH
A SoundS the Best Basis for Our Military
General o NGaryS - o the Hour

more valuable than all the preceding days
taken together, although we could not have
secured satisfactory results that fourth week
without the other three ahead OF il; indeed,
those who left before the hike" might a.
most better have stayed away altogether, and
an extra month there would have done won
ders for us. Let this training, therefore,
continue two months if possible and com
pensate by taking less time when the man
is older and his time more valuable.
If the young man is physically IN TO start
with land he should not be accepted at camp
unless he is) this experience will do him an
immense amount Of good physically and ben
eft him morally and intellectually as we'll
Here again Plattsburg can be cited for the
good done its participants OF all ages. 4
youth of eighteen 10 twenty possesses the
greatest elasticity OF body and mind and the
greatest capacity for learning. Az that age,
therefore, the greatest results can be ac-
complshed in the shortest time. II his
training is handled with common sense h.
will go back to his family and 20 his work
more robust. more alert quicker in thought
and in action, better equipped generally for
the battle of life, a finer stronger citizen
And, not the least important, he will be in
]
his country ever needs him.
What, if anything, is TO be done in subse'
quent years is a supplemental consideration.
The Swiss call their young men TO the coors
for a few days every year after their first
year until they reach the age OF thirty-tvo'
after which they cease 20 be members OF the
Elite COR Auszug) and enter the first re-
serve COR Landwehr). A similar system OBJ
tains in Australia. Such a continuation
training is chiefly a question OF military pol
icy, but with our great population IL might
be omitted save for those ambitious 70 be-
come non-commissioned or commissioned Of
ticers.
An all-important question is that OF teach
ers, whether for children or for the young
men. In the case Of the latter regular army
officers would at first prove the bes, instrue-
tors, but little by little their pupils would
grow up 70 carry or their work
Just what form that beginning shall take
is our present problem. We can safely star,
with the proposition that five 20 ten weeks
Of intensive training for every young man IN
let US say his nineteenth summer is the
essential feature of the programme. That
should stand in any event And as leading
up to this a comprehensive scheme Of physi-
cal framing III the primary scnoolsf Prev
ably supplemented by exercises calculated 20
create quickness Of thought, promptness OF
decision. instant obedience TO those in com
mand, accuracy, punctuality, teamwork. CO.
ordination, ability to care for ones self on
and off the field, cleanness OF living, deYo'
ton 10 an ideal.
Then, II war does not como we shall have
our reward in a stronger, healthier, more
loyal type of American citizen; and II the
worst befalls we shall find that We have
reared a true citizen soldiery. ready 10 take
up arms and with a knowledge OF how 70
use them This very fact will initiate
against war A soldier welded 20 his home
is soberer, more thoughtful Of others, less
likely to be pushed or cajoled into a need
less conflict, the horrors Of which are only
too we'll known TO him. And so, in the words
Of Washington, BY preparing for war We
shall have created the most efectual means
of preserving peace ANSON T. M'COOk.
Hartford, Conn, May 70, 1915