The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-19


 the National guard of the State o1 New York, has written to the New York Evening Post a letter in which he takes issue with many arguments that are raised against methods in vo- que in the military training of the mill itia-
 The fact that discipline is necessary, as psychological proposition, to make habit our ally instead of our enemy is pointed out in an interesting manner. TheN writer became famil- far to Bridgeporters through his ac- the Blue armies in this section ~sev- eral years ago, which culminated in a sharp battle in Newtown- The letter follows:
 My attention has been invited to the editorial appearing in the Evening Post under date of Saturday, May 6. entitled seThe Universal Military Ser vice Cure-All,'' in which article am quoted as having stated that the pri- mary thing that military service teaches is that the soldier shall stop thinking and become an auto1naton- to do only what his officers tell him. The writer of the article referred to was nfsinformed as to my views on this subject As the policy of your paper is apparently to fully and fair ly afford opportunity for full discus sion of matters of public interest, and particularly of a subject of so much consequence as universal military ser vice, I offer the following views of this subject which represents princi- pies and conclusions that have from time to time advocated in lectures on the psychology of discipline. and in re- lation to the value of universal miIi- tary service
 In the first place it is not true that we seek in the military service to de- 4 veIop minimizing hun1an. auto omatons- ez-T<7 every effort is made to develop initia- tive, resourcefu1ness, and holiness in acrlon and accomplishments, that field fx the military. But ia .ths develop nent of that initiative aad resource fitness, we seek to build upon the firm basis of discipline = in other words, the initiative to be of value must be trained initiative. From observation l lear that some of our people confusc undiscipllned enthu- sasm with trained initiative And so 141 the training cf recruits we do not seek to deveio0 initiative until we lave first established discipline and in the establ: shnlent of discipline we resort proEtab.y to the principles .E pEychoIogy. zt is ae this sts2 of the recruits development that the charge. oS automat onism is made. Let us see what the charge amounts to. It is true that we seek to make auto q, etic by tn establishment of correct haiti those rhysica1 efforts which are essential in action, and which do not time the operation of the higher pow CTS of the mind. We have to keep in mind the influence of the emotion Of fear and of panic, which may de- ve1op in combat. Such emotions of- ton paraIyze the superior mental pro- ceEkes, leaving the individual a creat- ure of his instinct and his habits. If the individual has been abtuated byi drill (by automatism, if you pleasel to perform certain muscular actions pursuant to the stimulus of command, he will perform such actions automat- 5ca1ly under such stimulus when the higher powers of his mind have been benumbed by the emotions indicated.
 Few people realize how largely hab- It {automatisn1) enters into our daily lives If an officer wear a campaign hat for a month and then substitute a cap, he will upon saIuting a, lady bring his hand automatically to the top of the cap instead Of to the visor In an attempt to raise from his head a campaign hat which is not there. How many of those who read this ar ficle can say which shoe he first puts on in the morning, or which arm he first inserts in the coat sleeve. These questions cannot be answered because this work is. done automatically by the brain nerve servants, and these ser wants always perform their work in the same manner To answer these questions it would be necessary to ac- tuaI1y put on the shoes and the coat and to observe the order in which these servants did their work What a commentary on the force of habit (automatisIn) in human existence. What man can say he never uncon- sciously wound bis watch result of removing his waistcoat in the day time. From force of habit the remo- val of "a naT1f "a irs gignal for the winding of the watch and the necessary muscular move nlents followed. I mite cite many oth- or examples illustrating this point.
 How important, therefore, that in all military training of an elementary nature, we should make habit our ally Instead of our enemy. In military training we seek to make automatic and habituaI those movements and ac- lions which we must perform when the need is imperative and when the conditions affecting the reasoning poWers of the mind are disturbing. As a matter of fact. there is no more un- happy man than one in whom noth- ing is habituaI but his own indecision, and for whom the lighting of every ci- gar, and the time of performing ev- cry ordinary act of the days work, are subjects of vo1itional deIiberation. Much of the time of such a man is ex- pended in deciding or reg..sttiry < ac- JIG uS Wnlcn Snpuld De so aurOf1at1c as mt to call upon his conscj otsne ss at R!l. And so ir the IldutarY service we believe that the more of the de- tails of our military life we can hand over to the effort1ess custody of au- tomatism the more will the higher powers Of the mind be set free for the development and operation of train ed initiative and resourcefu1ness- This Is the extent to which we advocate what has been called automatism Isn't h sound Is there anything involv- cd i'm it which doesn't appeal to the practical sense of the average man once our point of view is adequately explained and understood a
 And now as to the broader subject VI compulsory military service. Like