The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-12-21
We MUST NOT PURSUANCE Gun
ARMY


|of North Carolina introduced a reso,n.
ton In congress. the purpose of which
was to prevent the possibility of in
producing into our army the system Of
Prussian militarism against which
this country is now doing battle to pre-.
serve the spirit of democracy at home
and spread its influence over the
earth.
Among other things Senator Over
man said:
One man wrote me that his SON
and two other boys were asked to ride
In a conveyance where an officer was
riding, and when they accepted and
got In the officer Immediately got out
and would have nothing to do with
them. Other men have written me
that their sons have been snubbed I'M
hotel lobbies and dance halls
In late issue of the Yorkville, Is i
Co Inquirer the following communica.
ton appears:
L have noticed several comments
III your paper on editorials in the
Greenville Piedmont on snobbishness
by army officers with respect to then,
attitude toward enlisted men. in
which officers are charged with OBJ
jecting to enlisted men being served
in cafes before they are served. rails
ing objections to lady inviting enlist
ed men Overtaken by her in her auto.
mobile to enter it when they (offi-
cers) were riding as her guests, and
asking to be excused from a dinneri
party to which they were invited be-
Icause enlisted men were also invited
We would like to know the brand
of democracy as seen by these Off
GERS? If this arrogance will not lead
to the Prussianizing of our army we
would like to know the reason why,
and how much further it has got to go
before the line of demarkation will be
blotted out and democracy will be
completely absorbed?
But it must be understood that this
apeing of Prussian tactics is not gen
eral in our army, and that a little
shoulder strap does not make all of
our American officers forget their
good breeding or their dmocracy
For instance. Col j. 3. Allison, sig
nal corps, u. S. A., stationed with the
troops at Monterey, CAL, in letter
to the Yorkville IS CD Inquirer, says:
II can only say that our profession.
like other professions, as lawyers,
ministers, school teachers and citizens
in general, has some unreasonable
members, but unfortunately for us,
when they do occur, the entire service
is charged with the same lack of COM
mon sense. When one or two occur
rences like these appear in the army
all of the officers of the army are
charged with snobbishness, or at least
the comments appear that way.
/ II am no exception to the average
army officer, and would like to relate
i a few of my acts and experiences. In
going to and from town in my autom0-
bile l invariably stop and ask any en-
listed man I happen TO overtake to
have ride when | have a vacant seat.
/ am in command of the post, and Mrs.
Allison and myself are generally in
vited by the enlisted men to their par.
ties, and we always go and lead the
grand march at their dances. and re-
main for few dances after the grand
march,
j Colonel Allison is South CAROLYN
ian. He cites the following instances
that have come under his immediate
observation:
Major Brady of the second hospital
corps, knows every man, personally,
in his company, and they are all his
boys. When on duty, or in drills OF
any character, everything is business
and discipline: but when the days
business is over, and hours of recrea-
ton and amusement are in order, Ma
jor Brady mingles among his men
with all the freedom of friend. He
visits with members of his company,
they join together in music, in singing
and the dance; and his men swear by
him and would die for him. We have
talked with his men and inquired of
! them if this informality on the part of
their officer caused them to respect
him any less, or led to laxness in dis
cipline Far from it, was the reply,
we esteem him all the more. He plac-
es us on our honor and treats us like
gentlemen and equals when not on
ldrfv aud We kuou mr. nIacoS when