Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-12-21
WALKS AND TALKS
From the Brooklyn Eagle
Let the Government Establish
Training Camps for the
Physically Unfit
By JULIUS CHAMBERS

@At7A kAet LIZ lNo 1880
.unfitn who were capable OF military
service calls renewed attention TO the
fact hal the best young men of our
country are volunteering, or being con-
scripted, while a large class of useless
citizens are escaping duties they " TO
the nation. Something should be done
to correct this obviously illogical social
condition. 1 am in receipt of a letter
from a former Brooklyn friend, Aneon
A. Gard, now a resident of jamestown
N. Y, in which he suggests Training
Camps for the Slightly Unfit"
The idea is an excellent one and
should be put in practice at once.
Those of us who have observed and
commented upon the change for the
better in our friends who have gone
through several months intensive train
ing at P%lattsburg, or other camps,
recognize that -four out of every five
young men today classified as unfit"
for military service would be made
"ftu after several months of regular
and disciplinary lives.
"Why not round them up and make
them fit?n asks my correspondent.
In every community there are scores
of idlers, not always of the idle rich,
for nearly every wealthy family in this
city is represented in one or another
branch of the national service who are
| of no use to their fellowmen or to them
selves. From this class whole regi-
ments could be conscripted in each of
the large cities.
Under present management, the
flower of our manhood is going TO the
war while the weeds remain al home.
estimate on which ell calculations at
Washington are made, l am told
there will come a time in which exam
lining boards must overlook minor ply.
steal defects such as under weight for
height, deformity of a toe, inadequate
chest expansion, etc.
Why not recognize the fact that our
country is in for a long, tough job and
bring these slightly defective men I'M
der a strict regiment and physical ex-
ercise that will cure their ~unfitness?
1t is not a happy fact to refer to at
this time, but the example of danger
threatened Paris in rounding up her
"apaches" and making them fight for
the salvation of the capital, off which
they had extorted an Infamous living,
has been attended with excellent re-
suits. Many of them have developed
into capable soldiers; not a few of
them have won medals for bravery
and all of them have been mentally,
morally and physically improved.
Many "apaches" who survive the
war will never return 10 their old ways
Of life.
In the United States, there exists a
large class OF men rendered unfit by ir-
regular and immoral lives-men in
capable of personal reform-who can
be rendered respectable members of
society only by compulsion such as
st let military discipline will give.
They are not sufficiently criminal to
be sent to jails, they covet the work
house as a winter home, charity is
wasted upon them and any morality
they ever acquire must be driven into
their heads and hearts by the impera-
tive routine of daily discipline that has
activity for its motive power! There
is no such thing as idleness aboard ship
or in camp. In the trenches, there are
hours, even days, of "watchful wait
ing" but anxiety of mind supplies &C.
tivity to the brain, nerve centers and
heart.
The member of Congress who will
formulate some plan by which "Train-
ing Camps for the Slightly Unfit" can.
be established will accomplish great
good for the present and coming gen.
Grafton! 1t ought to be easy, II some
practical military mind were in col
laboration.
X X
l would go SO far as to give another
chance to men in prison convicted of
minor ~offenses. / would object to re-
cruiting from the ranks of murderers
and thugs, but there are in the prisons
Of this State at least one thousand
young men who would gladly enlist in
their country's service in preference TO
waiting until they are eligible for
parole.
Several hundred social undesirsbles,
now out on parole. could be induced to
join the colors. They may not make
the best soldiers, but they will be need