Arizona republican., 1918-07-13
WONDER CORPS NOW
 RECOGNIZED AS ONE
 GREATEST ASSETS

When the United States Marines were rushed up to reinforce the French near Chateau Thierry at the tip of the German salient menacing Paris-a job they performed with a neatness and dispatch that sent a thrill of admira- tion throughout the civilized world one thing was known by the allied commanders. That was that nobody could know just what the Marines would be called upon to do
 Fight? Yes; of course. But in ae- dition to fighting, it was a situation which might call for every other form of human activity from bridge building to bridge destruction, and from mule lwrangling to refugee rescues But whatever it might call for. there had to be men on hand who were qualified for it, not merely by their training, but also by natural aptitude and often- times earlier experience.
 Now the United States Marines cer- tainly do get all around training. by sea. land and air. But there is another factor in the all around proficiency for which they are famed which makes them precisely the service corps needed for any and every emergency of strife that may present itself. So far as the individual units composing any command can be adjusted in the practical application of the principle every man in the United States Marine Corps, the recruiting of which has been so tremendously stimulated by it's operations at the front in France, is an example of American individualism American initiative, Amercan techni- cal skill raised to the limit of develop ment by a system of selection that be- gins with the very rookie himself.
 The recruit who enlists in the United States Marines may or may not bring to the service some innate bent for a particular kind of work there; or he may be skilled in some trade or profess sion which can be directly utilized in ! the work of the Corps. If he does pre- sent definite skill or aptness. his of ficers are on the lookout for the class of work in which his abilities will prove most effective. If he does not, an equally careful watch is kept for the earliest manifestation he gives of being adapted to some one kind of use fitness. And while his own inclination cannot, of course. be always the deter mining factor-sooner or later, but usually sooner. the United States Ma rine, by the time he is full fledged. has been assigned to the particular func- tion for which he is best fitted and also to that function which best af- lords him opportunities for advance ment in the Corps.
 This is inside Marine Corps informa = tion which explains the outside infor- nation known to the world at large and. commonly seen only in the ef- fects of the Corps system of selection Many reader of Kiplings widely quoted verses has wondered what mir acles of adaptability so lauded by the poet; but anyone, who has in mind the Corps careful selection and assign ment of it's men, can appreciate the full force of those admiring lines of Kipling.
 An after I met i'm all over the world
 a-doin' all kinds of things.
 Like landing isself with gatling gur
 t. ts ik to them 'eathen kings.
 E sleeps in an 'ammic1 instead of co
 and e drills with the deck on {
 slew.
 For there isn't a job on the top O th'
 earth the Marine don't know an(
 do.
 Congress has recently authorized tn increase of the United States marin corps to 75,500 officers and men Among tic United States Marlnes cn gagged in carrying out this importan undertaking are two who are conspic uous exemplars of the corps system o using the highest measure and qualit. Of service every Marine can render.
 In 1898 Edwin Denby was a gunner mate on the U. s. S. Yosemite, whicl conveyed the Panther to Guantanam bay and helped land 900 marines-th first United States troops to set foo on the soil of Cuba during the wa with Spain. When this same Edwi Denby recently resigned his seat i congress to enlist as a private in tn Marine corps-no matter who you ar you enlist as a private when if comes f the U. s. Marines-it would have bee natural to expect that his previous ex perience in the navy would land bir somewhere in the corps artillery worl
 But Private Denby, during the year intervening, had become an inspirin speaker, an orator of the type capabl of filling men with ardor and ideal That special gift of his made him to valuable, at time when the IT. S Ma rine corps was being more than double in it's strength, to be assigned to m lduty other than instillinr tho S,ir;t .