New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-03
,r... A., So cn,,,.rona.n, o, The Tnsun,l

IRON . Sia- Correspondsn, u The Tribune
81. Johns. Quebec. June 2-Hope Tor
conscription in Canada has been aoah-
doned in army circles. With volunteer
enl;stments at so low an ebb that the
recruits hardly compensate Tor inc
wastage overseas. military men mere
believe that Canada, so far as increaS-
ing her forces on the west l'o"' "
concerned, is through.
Unhesitatingly these mon say 'ha' u
;s nm 70 the United States TO cast li'o
the balance the final 100000 men VINO
are expected TO tip the scales Of VIZ
tory 10 the side Of the Allies.
canada has sent $4,000 soldiers 10
N, front and now has only 3o'ooo on
,ors and men in training, with lie" It
orni,s in sight. Her vast conceh'l@-
,ion and instruction camps arc Nl''U-
sllv empty. Her troop ships have pee"
diverted to other uses. Her matchlesS
oor,s Of trained instruction otlcers Is
;Ha Or with such small tasks at hand
hat /, virtually spells idleness Tor mil
itary men.
Training Camps Deserted
Take st. Johns. This was once Can
sda's most important training depot
Tor army engineers. Since the first oil
tho wear it has dispatched l,3OO men
abroad. Now fewer than 500 remain
There were but thirty men IN the de-
tacbment which arrived for the next
course which began to-day. Rows OF
barracks arc tenantless. The whole at
oosnhere of the camp is one OF rest
le,sness bred by the inaction no one
can escape.
This is one picture-Canada with the
organization and war experience ou.
not the men. Now another-the United
States with the men, but not the organ
ization built on war experience, with
out which errors are inevitable.
Fifty miles south Of here lies Platts-
burg. the site of Americas largest Off
GERS training camp. There forty regu'
lar army officers are toiling away at the
wellnieh impossible task Of imparting
individual instruction to $500 men, the
nick Of whom will be turned out before
the middle of August to turn the United
States's first conscripts into soldiers.
Ask Major VI. c. Stewart, the senior
instructor at Plattsburg, how 1t can be
done. and he will say it's individual in
struction given collectively" 1t has to
90 at that.
Ask a Canadian or British officer, and
he will say politely that he always
heard the Americans are a clever peo-
pie and quick to learn, adding that the
Kings officers cannot speak for pub
LEGATION on such matters.
United States Lacks Instructors
Every day Lieutenant Colonel Paul A
Wolf, the Plattsburg commandant. en-
phasizes ths need of additional in
structors. They are not TO be had. He
fas stripped his administrative staff 70
the bone to send men 70 the drill field
and lecture room, and still there IS only
one tutor 10 $50 f<pils.
But the difficulty does not end alto
eether with the taefe shortage Of regu-
lar army instructors in the United
States. Our army has appropriated
much from Canada and Britain that has
been learned in the experiences of this
war which is new TO United States Off
GERS.
For example, ten days ago the
American bayonet manual was sup
planted by the British system, devel-
oped by the lessons Of trench warfare.
There was not an officer at Plattsburg
that knew thoroughly the new bayonet
fighting method he was expected to
teach. There were no printed instruc-
tons for guidance, though some are
being prepared in Washington. An
article on the British system published
in an American military journal has
served as a textbook thus far. In
Canada there are hundreds Of officers,
many of them returned men," who
have put the new bayonet fighting
methods into actual test in the attack,
who are chafng with so little TO do.
Canadians Want to Help
Canadian officers are ready and will
ing 10 20 70 the United States if so
ordered, and IL the views Of the men
in training At Plattsburg are repre-
sentative Of the opinions Of those in
other camps. the Canadians would be
welcome. When an occasional Ameri-
can serving as common soldier with