Weekly journal-miner., 1917-05-02

| plaln just why he did this, and just why he did that. l was complimented
 several times for the way l handled the battery and my solution of the i problem assigned to me. sure | thought that l was some pumpkins, but found out later, that it was most | ly punk. The officer conducting the
 Critique was an old Major, famous | throughout the army for his efficiency and also his cussing. I was the first man up and things were going fine. answered all questions in a very sat isfactory manner, in regard to de- fection, angle of sight, corrector, etc
 Finally the old Major started off: What was your range" A 500 yards, Sir" What was your brackct?" 4,400-4 600, Sir" What range did you start firing for effect at:" "4, ,410 yards, Sir" "Very good, but you have damn rotten eyc-sight, young man. Couldn't you sec that all your bursts were over the target? What do you think was the most efficient thing you did out there, this morning." Be- coming somewhat alarmed l now be- gan to stuttcr: Well, Sir, fired IS rounds of ammunition in ten minutes That is considered very good time. Sir" "YcS, you succeeded in wasting 4S perfectly good shrapncl, and they cost Sl2 per. You were very efficient in doing that. There arc your targets standing in the corner. Go over and look at them. Count the hits and come back and tell me how many you got" I looked over the targets very carefully In fact, l scrutinizcd them so closely that l think some of the olive drab paint dropped off on the floor at the time. I came back, re- luctantly. Well, what did you lind?" "Two shrapncl hits and one gun shield, Sir" Do you know how many shrapncl balls you fired out there, this morning." Yes, Sir, IT, 234." ''Vcry good percentage of hits you made" Whcreupon, he proceed cd to lay down the law and raked me over the coals in, such manner that was almost paralyzcd Finally, his voice softencd, and he said: Young man, l hope this lecture will do you some good. Your technique was very good but your results were pretty damn rotten. It is not the number oi rounds that you can fire. IL is not the ease and good 'form with which you can come into action, nor is 1t your ability to obtain the firing data. These things, of course, all count up. but they are no good if you cannot hit the target The thing that counts is the HITS PER GUN. PER MIN UTE. That is efficiency. You may be seated"
 And so it is in every walk of life, and so it is in this wonderful fratcrn- ity of ours.
 Up until now I have not spoken on the relation of the officer to the en- ! listed men, or as I might better put |, Cc--oc.acy in the army. There is vcry sharp inc drawn between the officer and the enlisted men. do not mean to say that the enlisted man is looked down on in any way. He is considered by everyone as THE army. But. the enlisted man does not asso- ciatc with the officer in social way. The officer las a separate mess, sep aratc quarters, and his amuscmcnts, while in some cases the same, arc en- tircly apart. The most democratic army in the world is the French army. the officers associating with enlisted men freely in every way. You will often find a man having no social orI civil ranl. and with very little means, holding the rank of captain, and even llRuCT, Nlllt lllC OiuNAiN S9it9AiNNA tD him may be a man of highest social and financial standing. While there are a great number of arguments against this. such as that it does mol breed good discipline, still we musti feel that the principle is good, when we look at the French army and see the doggcdncss and wonderful prog rcss that they have made.
 All officers from the lowest ranking second lieutenant to the highest rank ing general, have the same social standing, but naturally. the second licutcnants, being younger men, do not associate very much with the higher officers. The second iicutcn- ants, as a rule, feel themselves very ! much picked on. because they have 10 do a great deal of the disagrccablc ! work. such as making out all the . company papers. taking charge of