Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1917-10-13
BY HAYWOOD BRoUN.

BY HAYWOOD BRoUN.
tAceredited to the Pershing Army In
France by the New York Tribune and
Syndicate.)
American Expeditionary Army
"The most important factor In the
American army will be discipline" said
an officer shortly after the troops came
out to the training camps. IF 1t has
good discipline Il will be good army !;
IL 1t has bad discipline, 1t will be a
bad army. can watch regiment
stand Mt attention and tell you wheth-
o. or not II can fight effectively"
The question remains ms to what sort
of discipline the American army Will
have. Some observers say that there
sre two kinds of good discipline
French discipline and English disci-
piine. Under the French system there
nre let-down periods. Off duty an Of
ficer may fraternize with enlisted men
to an extent which would scandaliZe
the English army. This Is due, in part,
10 the fact that the armies are COM
posed differently. The English army
Is much more stratfied than the
French. 1t has, as the American army
had before the war. distinct officers
class. An Englishman of certain edu-
cation receives a commission as mat
ter of course. Under the volunteer
system, which prevailed at the begin
ming of the war the English volunteer
of me upper or upper middle class
did not offer his services until he was
prepared to fulfil the duties of an
officer. The French draft, on the other
hand, thrust many distinguished citi-
zen into the ranks. A sergeant In
the instruction division here was one
of the most popular playwrights in
France before the war, and the other
day grlmy little man climbed from
coal cart to tell me In perfect
English that he had been an assistant
professor of Romance languages In
tles-Cornell think-before the call
came.
OF course. when the word English
discipline Is used 1t falls short Of the
British army. Australian discipline
and English discipline are vastly diff
ferent. There is popular story about
an Amaze colonel in Egypt who drew
up his men and told them: IT
IAN English general Is coming }here
today to inspect the regiment, and re-
member, D. you, don't call PIE biz
until he goes"
Canadians Well Disciplined.
An instructor at British training
camp told me that the Canadians were
now among the best disciplined troops
IN the army. but that the Australians
still gave occasional trouble. "Every
now and then.~ he said, "a couple of
them will sneak down to the woods
and camp out alone for couple Of
days"
British officers will tell you that, al
though the Australians fight well, their
losses IRE much higher than they
would be with better discipline. II
there Is such possibility as an alb
solutely democratic army, 1t has been
much impaired by the poor work Of
the Russian republican army. The
scheme of submitting each plan of at
tack to the soldiers before II Is Or
dered cannot be said to have proved
effective.
The question of discipline In the
American army is complicated by many
factors. Before the war there was a
gulf between officers and men fully as
wide as that in the English army. II
was not due to lack of democracy. II
was gulf founded on fundamental
differences of character and education.