New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-20
Making an Army Democratic

Making an Army Democratic
One of the old dogmas which the Great
War has Unexpectedly demolished is the
theory that an army and democracy are
essentially antagonistic terms. Most
Americans held vaguely to this view-so
far as we had any views upon armies and
war and the world beyond our shores. We
were more or less familiar with our own
excellent little army, composed of two
widely divergent classes, the officers high
ly trained and educated, the men able
bodied fighters with minimum of train
ing and education. It's notions of dlscl-
pine and etiquette were largely modelled
on the British system, where the aristo-
cratic theory prevailed as an unbroken
tradition amounting to national faith.
So, it seemed, all efficient armies must IN
their nature be organized.
The war had been on but few months
when news of the utterly different system
in the French army began to unfold new
idea before US. What we had conceived to
be the essence of military discipline had
apparently nothing to do with necessary
fighting discipline at all. Here was citi-
zen army, built on a genuinely democratic
basis, with no gap between officer and pri-
yate save the necessary obedience which
any boss of gang requires, and fighting
at least as well as any army in the field.
We have since had ample descriptions of
the French method-of the friendly, pa
ternal relation between a French officer
and his poilus, as well as of the possible
gains in intelligence and all-round efh-
cheney which flow from it.
Now comes an interesting sidelight out
of England. 1t was a foregone conclu-
sion that "Kitchener's Mob" could not be
disciplined as was the old British EXpedi-
tionary Force. The moment you create
citizen army, composed of every manner
of male being, you negative the old rlgld
British idea which was based on a body
of interiors led by small class of aris-
tocrats. But how complete would the re-
form be? Perhaps the clearest answer
lies in book from the trenches, "a Stu
dent in Arms" the short writings of a
young English scholar, Donald Hankey
bv name. who Joined "Kitchener's Mob"
at the outset, underwent his preliminary
training and was killed in action on the
West Front last October. "An Experiment
in Democracy, he called his most inter-
esting essay. 1t is the record Of emotions
of one of Kitchener's army, from the re-
cruiting Office to the battlefield. 1t was
a "section cut out of the nation" that
the recruiting Office held:
Men and boys of the working class
formed the majority. They were in their
element shouting, singing, checking the
"coppers" with as much ribald good humor
as if the recruiting Office had been a music
hall But some of the other classes were
far less at their ease. They had been
brought up from earliest youth TO thank
God that they were not as other men, 10
set store by the innumerable little marks
that distinguished them from "the lower
classes" All these they were now sacri-
fcing TO an idea, and they felt horribly
embarrassed. Even the gentleman who had
prided himself his freedom from "the
snobbishness of the suburbs" felt i'll at
ease.
Just how quickly this embarrassment
wore off Mr.. Hankey relates with fervor.
The little marks that distinguished a given
man from "the lower classes" vanish rap
idly when he finds himself one of four
naked men in a cubicle, awaiting medical
inspection. Yet it is possible to escape
completely democratizing an army, even
though it be citizen army, and Mr.. Han
key has much interesting discussion of the
dogmas of military discipline, as, for in
stance, that only an officer can think. The
system of offering plays a controlling
part as well as the announced philosophy
and tradition of the army in question.
France has put democracy into her armies
by demanding it and teaching it. Just
how completely the new British armies
have thrown off the old British tradition
remains TO appear. Mr.. Hankey's book
makes it plain that the great change has
begun and is gaining ground rapidly.
Whether the democracy of the armies
would survive the war TO leaven all Eng
land was a point upon which Mr.. Hankey
was slow TO express a prediction. He
made the wise observation that the extent
to which women entered the war and
shared It's democracy would very likely
control the permanent effects. For Amer
leans the book will increase our convic-
ton and resolve that our army must be a
citizen army, based on universal service,
and that the natural democracy Of such a
rningiing must be fostered by every means
in our power.