Denver labor bulletin., 1918-06-29
MAKING CIVILIAN
OUT OF SOLDIER
CONCLUSION SEEMS EN-
TIRELY LOGICAL.
II Is An Undertaking Equal in Inn
portance to That Of Waging of
War Itself; Successful Achieve
ment Assures Victory.

The conclusion of European expe-
rience in the rehabilitation of disabled
soldiers is that the process of making
civilian out of soldier, which has
been aptly styled fertilization" in con-
tradistinction to the process of "mili-
tarization," that is to say, in contra
distinction to the process of making a
civilian into a soldier, can best be car
ried on by a civilian agency.
The conclusion seems entirely logi-
cal. Clearly the making of civilian
into soldier is an affair of the war
offices, and where, as in this war, es-
pecially in those countries such as the
United States, Great Britain and
Canada, the national armies have been
necessarily composed of unframed civ
ilians quite unfamiliar with all the
practices of military discipline, it
would seem that the making of civ
ilian into a soldier is, perhaps, the
greatest undertaking imposed upon
The military establishments-a un-
dertaking equal in Importance to the
waging Of war itself.
Its successful achievement assures
ultimate victory for those nations
which have maintained their charac-
ter as peaceful democracies in the
face of the aggressively threatening
standing armies of the autocracies
dominated by military ideals. And
failure in this primal undertaking. if
one can conceive the possibility of fail
ure where the very existence of the
free democracies is at stake, must in
evitably involve disastrous defeat.
Since the making Of a civilian into
soldier is a part Of the profession
q Ii &c
sarily in all Of its manifestations an
affair Of the war Office The civilian
is brought under. and he gladly sub
mits to, all the rigurs and eXacting
requirements of military discipline. In
this voluntary subsection to discipline
the final step is seen in the surging
out of the trenches across No Mans
Land at command. The civilian made
into a soldier obeys without reckon
ing the consequences. even when he
knows that they involve mental and
physical disablement and even death
itself
The process of "civilization" is quite
different. The requirements of civil
life. if less heroic and dramatic in
their exactions, are infinitely more
complex To face death at command.
recklessly, is the final glorious act of
the civilian become a soldier. To face
life courageously under any handicap
ping disability is the obligation i'm
posed upon the soldier returning to
civil life, after making every sacrifice
demanded of him, and having been
rendered unfit for further military
service in making these sacrifices.
Unquestionably the qualities Of the
soldier acquired under military dis
cipline will be of sterling worth to
him and to the community in civilian
life. Just because he has learned the
religion of the trenches" which re-
quires absolute self-sacrifice and sub
lection of individual interests to the
common welfare, the disabled soldier
will bring new inspiration into civilian
life. But the process of civilization"
is not n part of the profession Of max
ing war. There is no single profess
sion of civilization" and the ulti-
mate end of civilization is not SIM
pie. II is, on the contrary. infinitely
complex. This process must be, as it
has been in the several allied coun-
tries, entrusted TO civilian authorities.
who can take account of the diverse
requirements of civil life, establish
contracts in every field of employ
ment, train the disabled man for a
new occupation where this is neces-
sary, follow the soldier. become once
more a civilian. into the workshop, and
render him every assistance in becom-
ing a self-sufficient normal member of
society.
I