The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1917-10-26
AMERICAN ARMY IS
LEADER IN BRAINS
First Known in History of the
World Which Contains AbsO-
lutely No Illiterate Men.
New York SUM

New York SUM-
When the flags are flying and the
bands are playing and everybody is
roofing for our boys as they march
away to wal it is difficult to get any
man or woman to listen to a cold
analysis of the fighting power of the
men. They are to the mass "our
bays" and, like the flag, the country
is with them right or wrong. What
a great consolation it must be in the
light of the hard facts to know that
they are right!
For the first time since men donned
armor and shouldered arms for the
fray the world sees in the new Ameri-
can army a force of individual think
ers, without a single ~illiterate in the
ranks. 1t is not 81 far back along the
calendar of war when many a good
noble, with a design on his shield that
commanded respect everywhere, and
broad acres at his back, could not do
better than make his mark as a sign
of his approval of a written docu-
ment. The benefit Of clergy vas so
highly esteemed that it might be
pleaded as a good and sufficient de-
tense to criminal charges.
From that state of things down to
the swinging of the New York Ma
tional Guard down the asphalt of
Fifth avenue is a long jump, but it is
one of the notable facts in connection
with that cheer accompanied pilgrim.
age that this division represented the
most intelligent collection of individ'
ual soldiers that has " beer
brought into a single division.
It is true that the advance guard Of
this army Of intelligence went along
with General Pershing, but that force
is part and parcel of the same com
mand to which the New Workers. be-
long, and the national guardsmen rep
resent a still higher state of mind thar
the regulars who preceded them.
But the difference is not what thi:
article seeks to show. 1t is the aver
age condition Of the first 900 1000 mer
that the United States has sent int
the world war. Taking the army, tn
navy and the marines, we have nov
nearly 9O0,0 600 men under military or
g~anization.
Every one of these men has BEEF
touched by the magic wand of tn
public school system, and in the en-
tire list there is not a single man VIII
could be classed by the experts a. Al
illiterate.
When it is remembered that tn
Russian army contained at the begin
ming of the war 81 per cent of litter
ates-a condition that the %subsequen
recruits made worse-and that tn
Italian army holds 81 per cent of me-
of the same class, the contrast wit
the extreme ends may be readil
grasped.
Even England's army re~presente
IL per cent of ~illiteracy and Franc
had about 4 per cent on her com
pulsory service rolls. Germany wa
our nearest competitor in point Q
school training for soldiers, and eve
she had to put a fraction behind he
decimal point to show that some POI
ton of the 100 could not pass tn
mental test.
But our W is a clean slate.
Under the old army regime it wa
necessary for a recruit to read, writ
and speak the English language j
order to enlist. The standard ha
held on up to this time. What
means may be understood by citing
leading German general, whose wor
is generally taken as authority upo
all technical military subjects, n
matter what one may thing of tt
imperial company in which he fight
~ attribute the fighting strengt
of the German army" said this al
thority, "to the individual intelligen,
of the German soldier. 1t is charge
that the German soldier is a machil
who thinks not, but blindly obey
That is entirely apart from the fac
! 1t is his superior intelligence tn
! leads him to understand disciplin
I and where we do not find the indivi
! ual intelligence we do not get the di
! cipline."
I For proof of which look at the Ne
I York Guard regiments. When tn
! came into the Federal service o
month ago the commands had ma
I recruits. The men had been thinki1
] in terms of business of various kim
with military ideas as entirely seco
IS Diary. A month of undivided atte
s ton to the business of being soldie
worked a wonderful change. The
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