Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-03

to France from the United States can
not be said to have been given the
preference any more than the men
who went to Plattsburg and other
training camps from civilian camps
and quickly earned commissions could
be said to have been favored over the
enlisted men in what was the Regu-
lar Army of the United States before
we entered the war. Another excerpt
from the colonePs editorial read as
follows:
TT is wholly illusory for the gov
lege all who may wish to go. The
average workingman or small farmer
has not had money enough to educate
his son SO that the boy can now enter
college without further training.
Yet that boy may have in him quail
command. Such a workingman or
farmer ought to wish, and does wish,
that his son be tested on his merits
by actual service in the ranks along
side Of all other boys, no favors be-
ing shown to either"
Hits at What Is Going On.
That is precisely what is happening
and has been happening overseas. And
it is just the same on this side Of the
Atlantic. If Col. Roosevelt had read
corning the Students Army Training
Corps he would not have made so obvi-
Gus an error. Here is a paragraph in
a War Department announcement of
September % which applies to the boys
who have not had college training, but
who are eligible for commissions in the
Students Army Training Corps through
the vocational section:
The vocational section of the Stu
dents Army Training Corps has been
operating since April of this year. At
this time, in lat schools, soldiers VOL
UNFAIRLY indicted through their draft
boards or selected in answer to a call
from the provost marshal general are
being trained in trades essential to
war. Some are grammar school grad
u yates tn.t or men having the equivalent
tional education, but have asked for
this. service in which they are al
ready skilled. These soldiers are
being trained $4,000 at a time. The
courses last two months. At the end
of each two months fresh contingents
are assigned to the vocational Sec
ton"
All Will Not Get Commissions.
Another thing that Col. Roosevelt
has not understood is that every mem
Der of the Students Army Training
Corps, now in the colleges, isn't going
to be commissioned. Many are to be
non-commissioned officers, and many
will go in as privates. The process
of selection will be severe. And many
thousands of privates now in camps
or who are likely to be drafted
through local boards, can be sent to
the Students Army Training Corps
schools and camps hereafter whether
they have had four-year high school
education or not. Those men who may
lack a year or so of high school work
but who show qualities Of leadership
will be discovered by their command
ing officers and sent to the colleges
thousands of them every month. All
that was announced. too. weeks ago
Col. Roosevelt either doesn't read the
newspapers or somebody has imposed
upon him. And his friends in Wash.
ington are very sorry. because the,
don't want men in the Army in France
or in the United States to think thai
some sheer deception" or gross ia.
voritism" is being practiced upor
them. Such propaganda works mucf
i'll in the ranks, as the men in the
service are sensitive about nothing
more than their opportunities for pro:
motion.