Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1918-06-06
Great University
For American Boys

The greatest university ever OPEN
ed in the world, says an exchange,
is now in full blast over in France,
for which several hundred prepara-
tory schools have been opened in
this country. These are filled with
young men who will soon be ready
to matriculate, and their places will
be taken by thousands of others, SO
that by the autumn there will be
several million men over there, or
fit to go over. and to go over the
top If necessity demands or oppor-
tunity offers. And the beauty AMI
the great promise of it all is that
they will be thoroughly interested
in the great problems that are con-
fronting humanity, and fully appre-
ciate the necessity for solving them
for the benefit of the world general
ly.
Many people have the idea that
war is demoralizing, and that those
who serve term are not fit for
much during the remainder Of their
lives. Instead of army training de-
moralizing men and making them
worse 1t is making them better every
day. This is the testimony of prac-
tically everyone who has visited any
Of the training camps. Those who
have taken the training preparatory
to entering the great university over
there need only to appear in person
to satisfy anyone that they have been
wonderfully improved, while those
Who have been over there, and even
over the top, although they may have
gotten the worst of it, agree in say
ing that it is great, and is fully worth
all it may cost
Weaklings of all sorts are made
strong, men of short vision see far
ther and clearer, and men of coarse
habits are refined. This is not in iso-
lated cases, but the rule The physi-
cal education these men receive is
worth it all, not excepting the risk
of life, for we were fast becoming
a nation of physical weakllngs.
"The American in uniform is liv-
ing on a higher moral plane than
the American in civil life" is the con-
clusion of an associate president of
the United Society of Christian En-
deavor recently returned from So
iourn with the American soldiers in
France "The American soldier over
seas is true to the finest traditions of
American arms. The stories of whole
sale drunkenness and vice which |
have disturbed the minds of thous- |
ands of people who have given their
sons to the nation, are not true. The |
program of the American authorities
in France is the most comprehensive
and aggressive ever attempted by a
nation at war to keep her fighting
men physically sound and morally
fit. The fruits of the program are
lnmistakable.
my own Investigations, conducted
under every condition of army life
and in every training camp of any
'ize where American soldiers are
gathered together in France, substan-
late the figures of the military au-
horities which prove that the Ameri-
,an in uniform is today living on a
higher moral plane than the Ameri-
,ans in civilian life. My word to the
and fathers of this country
S one Of reinsurance and cheer"
BY getting these facts we'll into
'our system you will acquire a broad
# and clearer vision of the great
in which we are engag-
ID, and you will contribute more
reely and willingly to the support
# the government.
This war is not being foubht for
he fun of licking somebody, nor
merely to display military skill, or
he fighting quality of men, but for
he purpose of removing an enorm-
us obstruction from the pathway of
luman progress and world pros
erity. &
a