New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-15
Military Value of A. B."
1t Counted Very High in the Opinion
of the Plattsburg Examiners
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Slri ] have read with interest the letter OIL
J. Van Ost in The Tribune Of May ii, in
which he complains of the fact that ne did
not have a college degree, and infers ne was
not accepted for the officers training camp
for that reason. Mr.. Van Ost assumed mat
he was rejected. but telegram TO us from
the commanding officer at Fort Myer states
that the first notices to accepted candidates
were only mailed on May (Which IL the
date of Mr. Van Ost's letter., and others VIII
follow later, so It may be that Mr. Van ost
has been accepted by this time
His letter, however, raises point when
has been frequently referred to-thft IS, tnat
preference was being given to college men
This criticism, feel, is unjust The orders
to the army examining officers from the war
Department were that they were to examine
the candidates personally and certify as to
their fitness to be officers, and that all ap-
plicants must have personal qualifications
outlined in Paragraph o., Officers Reserve
Corps regulations" These regulations pro-
vide as follows: Each applicant VIII be eN-
amined personally by the designated onlcer
or officers, in order that hlgh standard
may be maintained with respect to the fol-
lowing: Character and sobriety; personality
address and force; reputation ana standing
in his community; whether he is likely TO
command the respect of officers and enlisted
men; whether he had adequate education. IN
formation as TO such matters as cannot be
ascertained by brief personal contact shoulu
be obtained by careful inquiry among resi-
dents of the community. ohcers WIN
are designated to examine applicants under
this paragraph are cautioned that relatively
few men are qualified. if measured by mill
tary training alone, but that many are quail
fed under the test prescribed herein. Hence,
n determined effort should be made to APP
point men thus qualified in an emergency
The Necessity of Education
Think any fair-minded man will admit that
the standards above expressed are sound IL
must be remembered that the standard OF
education required in the regular army IS
that of n four-year course at West Point or
else admission to the army by special eX-
animation. with a training at one of the army
schools of one year Education under mod
ern warfare is absolutely necessary since
modern warfare has become so SCIENTIFIC ana
certain branches, such as artillery, require a
high ability in mathematics, and all branches,
in fact, require well trained mind
The writer is in charge Of the Military
Training Camps Association, which has con-
Quoted recruiting for these officers training
camps throughout the United States. and has
been in close touch with the recruiting work
for these camps, and has also personally OBJ
served the methods of the army examiners.
While a college education was obviously an
hafr aIaH to
education,' especially in a young man, as
giving him also a certain status, this asso-
citation has uniformly, as far as its inter
probation and influence went, acted on the
theory that applicants should have college
education or its full equivalent, meaning
thereby business experience in which the
applicant had shown some measure of sue
cess. and in any case should have demon
strated some quality Of leadership We thor
oughly agree with you that the new citizen
army should be Differed on democratic
basis" and will use our efforts TO that end.
The real trouble with the recruiting for
these camps was the short period of time, as
there were only two full weeks in which to
recruit forty thousand men of suitable Of
fcer material throughout the United States.
In New York City the applications toward
the end were so numerous that the police re-
serves had to be called in. Although the
army officers worked from early in the morn
ing until midnight, it was impossible TO see
each man and give him the proper attention.
Naturally men not accepted feel hurt, and
there are many good men who were passed
by. The commanding officer at Plattsburg rec
ognizes this. as does this association, and
we both deplore it, but it is inevitable in
hurry-up emergency job of this sort, done
on so large scale. This association is now
preparing a report for the War Department
suggesting remedies based on this expe-
rience which, we hope, if adopted will cure
the complaints made about the present re-
cruiting. We expect new camp will begin
on August IS, and if the War Department
will only announce that soon officially and
make suitable arrangements this would allow
three months for recruiting, in which the
work could be done much more satisfactorily,
both TO examining officers and TO applicants.
ARTHUR +. COSBY,
Executive Secretary, Military Training Camps
Association.
New York, May IL, 1917.