New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-26
Hov England Did the Job
Blu Ian Hay captain Beith)
Aubor Of 1.-THE First Hundred Thousand and Ceung I0se"o

CsmpbeIIs and Camerons and Wilson's ana
Tbomsons-not to mention the rotous hordes
~ "vacsv-was a sou-destroying business.
nav after day. night after night, the siftlns
,rocess went on with infinite labor ana as
comfort So much for the voluntary system
and the stunning Of "militarism.'
In due course the new battailons were
ovoIvod out of chaos and departed into space
IN undergo their training. 1hey possesses
mo Notwithstanding beyond the civllian
clothes they stood up in. Practcaiiy no
man owned greatcoat. II he ala ne
promptly sold il to save the trouble OF carry
inc il. for Tommy is the most mprovIdent
creature in the world.
We had all types. There were miners py
the hundred-the finest soldiers IN the world
for trench fighting because they handle pick
and shovel by instinct, and they appear to
prefer residence below ground to residence
upon the surface shipbuilders, farmers
90 rpenters, shepherds and members OF other
and rarer trades One platoon, for instance
contained waiter from a restaurant, VINO
was accustomed to parade every morning IN
the ranks, bright and early. in all the glories
of evening dress. The outstanding feature
Of "K1" as we called ourselves. was It's aoil-
ity to produce on demand an expert to cope
with any possible emergency. II an escape
of gas was discovered in the orderly room
literal, not figurative-a plumber was IN
stantly forthcoming TO cope with the matter
In fact, it was hardly safe for an ohicer 10
pose TO his platoon as an expert upon any
subject at all for fear some lifelong expert
should uplft his voice in the rear rank and
refute his doctrines. And it may be ADDED
that in XXI" no considerations OF military
etiquette ever prevented him from dong so.
| still cherish the recollection OF certain
Junior officer who devoted twenty minutes 70
explaining the points of the compass and the
elements of map-reading to a man who after
wards explained that he was by profession a
land surveyor.
All Talents Except Soldering
Such was the material we had TO handle.
II was an army Of all the taents-except
soldering. No one who saw Aldershot dur
ing the first months of the war will ever for
get it. Men wandered about in droves,
dressed like nothing on earth. The spirit OF
discipline was hardly born. Rules and regu-
lations were regarded either as Anticipated
relics of the age Of space, or else as a form
Of industrial tyranny. The officer was re-
garded as a rapacious employer, while the
sergeant-or foreman, as he was usually
called-was looked upon as hired bully. IL
a man felt disinclined to go upon parade he
simply did not go; and he felt both surprised
and panied if, on returning from trihing
absence of three days, prepared to forget and
forgive upon a monetary basis-say the loss
of three days pay-he found himself under
arrest as deserter. But we can judge
these men by no standard but their own.
They had Joined the army, to man, at the
outbreak of war, in the sure and certain ex-
pectaton of being provided forthwith with
rifle and bayonet and of being dispatched
at once to the front-wherever and whatever
that might be-to kill Germans. One cannot
blame them for feeling little disappointed
on finding that the path of glory was APP
preached by a stony thoroughfare eight
months long, hedged about with unexpected
restrictions on the subject of obedience and
sobriety. They had TO acquire the instincts
Of soldier after they had settled down TO
another way of life. No wonder they found
things difficult. Yet, less than year later,
at the opening assault of the great and
bloody battle of Loos, those same men went
forward, many of them to certain death, as
steadily as the most seasoned veterans.
Such was the spirit of the British armies,
pld and new. And it is that spirit which has
saved us as a nation, and done most, at terri
BILE personal sacrifice, to redeem us from the
tvils of unpreparedness