Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-10-12

LA1dI kACJ Will OO 6RC QupAASS VIII AhAO''
their whole being into the service and
will give sympathetic response to the
efforts OF their teachers,
Regular army officers like to teach.
They say there is an intense interest in
taking a willing but militarily ignorant
force of men and bringing them up to
service standards, to watch them day
by day develop from the civilian status
into that of the soldier.
There is another thing which makes
regular army officers hail assignments
to commands in the new National
army. The men in the drafted serv-
ice are all young, in fact are virtually
about the same age. Youth makes for
enthusiasm and, as army officers say,
a force of men of which every indi-
vidual is under thirty-one years Of age
is bound to be an enthusiastic force,
physically and spiritually strong force.
and one upon which, after the days Of
training are ended absolute depend
ence can be placed while in the field.
Do Not BelittIe Other Forces.
Now there is no intention of the
army officers to belittle the regulars or
the National Guardsmen. These troops
have proved their worth and so far as
the regulars are concerned foreign Of
fcers concede the American officers
contention that the little regular army
of the United States, little in the past
at any rate, is as fine a body of SOL
diery as the world ever saw.
Men in the regular army and in the
National Guard to a considerable ex-
tent have learned their lessons, and it
is only the recruits who have to be
taught and while there are large num-
bers of the latter in both the Guards
and the regulars today, the teaching of
these largely is done by the contact
which they have with the enlisted men
OF their regiments who have been in
the service for months or years.
So it will be seen that, as army Off
GERS put it, the teaching joy and the
pleasure of seeing great bodies of men
develop day by day into fighting forces
are more or less lost when the officers
service is given to the regulars or to
the GuardSmen.
Officials in Washington life inter-
ested in various characterization move
ments which are being fostered in diff
ferent parts of the country say that
there is no AmericaniZatiOn movement
which can equal in it's opportunities
and in its probable success the draft
ing process by which million or two
young Americans. are to be taken into
the ranks of the army to serve their
country on the battleline.
Democracy in the Draft.
Maj Gen. William L. Sibert, who
commands the First division of Amer
lean troops in the field in France, said
to the writer of this article just before
he was ordered TO foreign service:
There is no democracy like the democ-
racy.of the dog tent"
Now the dog tent, or as it is some
times called, the pup tent, is the little
shelter tent which soldiers use when
camping at night along the way of
march. Each tent holds only two men.
In the great National army it is entirely
likely that the same tent will be oc-
cupied by the son of laborer and the
son of a millionaire manufacturer 1t
is also entirely likely that one may
be occupied by a boy of Polish de-
scent and by another boy of English.
German or Irish descent. The COM
panionship, army officers say, makes
for mutual sympathies and mutual
aims. 1t also levels ranks, or the So
called social ranks of this country.
So it is that today in Washington
regular army officers are showing
eagerness to be given commands in the
new National army, not only because
of their teaching desire and their wish
to see civilians develop into soldiers,
but because of the absorbingly inter-
esting study that there will be in
watching the great melting pot OF the
army fuse these metals into one solid
block of gold Americanism.
Methods of Delay in Congress.
Congress has voted almost solidly
in the affirmative for all the war
measures which have been pro-
posed for the purpose Of helping
this country win in the great conflict
which confronts it. Nevertheless,
congress has taken a long time to put
through the measures before it. The
result has been that criticism has
come from one part of the country,
while another part, though not prais-
ing the slowness Of congress in enact
ing legislation, seemingly has been
glad that the lawmakers have re-
NAMED in session, for it is true that a
part of the country believes that SEN
ators and representatives should be
here virtually all the time while war is
in progress.
Now it seems to be the desire of a
majority of the house and senate to
adjourn some time in October, the
earlier the BETTER" as some members
put it. Whether or not adjournment
can be brought about still remains to
be seen, because all signs fell in war
times