The Dickinson press., 1917-12-22
WAR TALKS
By UNCLE A
Military Training Necessary Tor safety
and Defense.

n Defence. }
"say, Uncle Dan" said BILLIE, sJlm-
mic and I have been looking up about
wal in the encyclopedia at school. We
found that in the war between Ger
many and France in 1S70I71. Germany.
lost In killed and wounded 5000 SOL
sdiers while France lost about six times
a. many. and besides that, she lost
every battle. We asked Professor Slo-
cum why this was. He said that the
German army was highly trained and.
ably commanded, while the French
soldiers were poorly trained; and that
their war department was honey.
combed with jealousy and politics;
that the officers were not much good,
and that's why France lost the war
and SO many men, What do you think
about 1t, Uncle Dan1" !
"Well," said Uncle, Dan, professor
Slocum is right. By inef1iciency France
lost that war, together with two Of
her best provinces-Alsace and Lor-
raine-and had to pay q billion dol
lars indemnity money. France today
learned her lesson by that sad expe-
rience, so she put in universal military
training, and as q result, her soldiers
now know how to fight and how to
protect themselves. They are losing
less men in the war than the Germans,
France also put politics out. OF: her war
department, SO that expert authority,
instead Of bureaucratic stupidity, now
directs the army. The result is,
France has one of the best and most
efficient armies every assembled, and
this shows what thorough training and
good leadership mean in warfare.
This saved France in this crisis as
well as the liberties of the world"
""As war Is now conducted, there is
no place for an unframed man. A
body Of 10000 well trained soldiers
properly handled could defeat five
times their number Of raw recruits and
do 1t every time with comparatively
small loss to: themselves. Proper train
ing alone will reduce the death and
casualty rate one-third of what It 9TH
erwise would be, and right here is an
unanswerabIe argument for universal
military training. -E2s@ }%a
"Our government has no moral right
to force her men into war service
without properly training them for it.
To do so is simply murder, hence the
frantic effort that is now being made
to give her soldiers some training be
fore they are sent to the front. II we
are to win this war, it will take trained
men to do it,. and it will take trained
men to win any other war that may
come upon us in the future. If we
must fight, let us fight to win and not
to lOse." -. :
"That's the stuff" said Billie.
Continuing, Uncle Dan said: "Our
government has expended about $780,
100000 to put up cantonments and
training stations in order to train the
men called. by the ~selective draft.
When these men are trained the train:
ing stations should be Immediately
filed with younger men, say those in
their nineteenth year, to receive six
months Of intensive military train
ing along the lines Of the Chamberlain
bill. This will be Of Unreasonable
benefit to them individually. It will
do them more good than any other two
years Of their whole life it will make
them strong, manly, s~elf-reliant, quick
to see and quick to act; it will equip
them for a successful life. In short,
it will rebuild American manhood and
will also give the government a body
Of trained men to draw from in case
it is necessary to defend our flag and
country. We.must settle this question
Of universal military training imme.
diately, otherwise these training camps
may be demolished. The adoption Of
universal military training will be no.
tice to the world that from then. on
we will be prepared to defend Dur
selves promptly and efficiently, and
this will do more to keep US out Of
war in the future than anything else
we could do" -
do you think, brother" said Mrs,
Graham, that there will ever be an.
other war?"
II have no doubt about It" said
Uncle Dan. $50 long as men are
selfish, SO long as nations + ambi.
hous to acquire territory, so long as
population presses and demands more
room. SO long as there remains q