The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-01
{ TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
! FREDERIC }. HASKIN, Director.
! Washington, d. c.
SENDING THE ARMY TO SCHOOL.
Washington, ID.

!
| Washington. D. c.. March 2e--The
office of the provost marshal general
/ has announced that ten thousand
/ young men of the first class. having
/ grammar school educations, Will be
! sent to technical schools and univer-
stiles by April 1. and that thereafter
drafted men with the proper educa-
! tional qualifications will be sent to
| these sch ools in a steady stream to be
| qualified for the technical and me-
| chanical work of which our war or
| ganiZation stands in such great need.
| Tie Haskin letter first announced
several months ago that a plan for
relieving the shortage of skilled work
ers by sending drafted men to school
| had been laid before the secretary of
4 war by a committee of educators, and
prophesied that the plan would speed
| lily be put INTO operation. This has
now been done.
An executive committee of army Of
ficers has been appointed to take
charge of the work, and they are as
| sisted by an advisory committee of
educators, which represent several of
J the large universities. the United
| States bureau of education, the fed
eral board for vocational education
and the Carnegie Foundation. These
two committees will cooperate to or
! ga niZe the technical schools and uni
t versities of the, country into one great
| system for the training of soldiers.
! Before the summer is over, thousands
! of young men will have been fitted to
| take their places as skilled workers
/ in the army.
This plan means much to the indi-
vidual as well as to the country. 1t
means 20 thousands of young men ed
ucational opportunities and practical
experience which might otherwise
have been denied them. By sending him
| to school and giving him work to do
| for which he is mentally and physical
| ly fitted, the nation makes to the re-
i cruit some recompense for the hazards
and sacrifices which he must under
! go.
| The federal board for vocational ed
| ucation has outlined in detail some of
| the courses of instruction which will
| be given the drafted men, and a brief
| account of some of these will doubtless
| be of interest especially to the recruits
who are going to The training schools.
One of the most interesting and i'm
| portant courses is that which is de-
signed to fit men to be motor truck
drivers and chauffeurs. Drivers of
| motor vehicles arc needed in great
numbers at the front. and they must
be men of the highest possible RELIABLE
| ity and resourcefulness. To obtain
| from civil life the number of trained
men needed IS Impossible. Hence the
government will choose men who seem
| to be physically and mentally fitted
| for the work, and will give them this
| course of training So far as possib BILE
| they will choose men who nave had
| some acquaintance with the gasoline
| engine, so that they may quickly learn
| the general principles of it's operation.
| The course will occupy a period of
| four weeks of five and one-half days
per week and eight hours per day. 1t
is designed to teach man not merely
| how to run a car but how to keep
it running. 1t is not expected 20 make
| an expert repair man of the student in
| this brief period. but the educators say
| that man with proper aptitude can
be taught in four weeks to operate
| car with the least possible damage to
it, quickly to diagnose" engine trou-
BILE, and to make simple roadside re-
pairs and adjustments. Men who do
| not show aptitude for the work will
be quickly dropped. All of these war
training courses will be vigorously Sc
| lective in their effect, and a man in
| choosing the lire of work which he
wishes to study should carefully con-
slider his aptitude and ability. There
| will be no room for misfits.
| These courses in uto-driving will
be given at technical schools and uni
| versities, a neighboring garage to be
USED for practical demonstration work.
In some instances the garage may be
| the classroom, too. The course will
consist of classroom instruction, shop
| work and driving instruction on the
road. The work will be intensely
| practical, and no more time will be
| given to the theory of internal COM
| bustion and electrical ignition than is
| absolutely necessary to successful
| operation of a car. The course deals
with every detail of the car and it's
operation. There are few civilian
cnauffeurs who would not be bene-
| fitted by study of it.
| The numbers in which trained me-
chanics and other skilled workers are
needed may be gagged by the follow
/ ing statement OF trained men needed
by the aviation service: Cabinet maxi
ers and carpenters, 14,4o0; chauf-
| feurs, Il, 400; coppersmiths and metal
workers, 14.4o0; motor repairmen,
1880; instrument repairmen, 1900;
ignition and magnetic repairmen,
$500; welders, $500. The total num-
Der OF mechanics and technicians
| Eeeded by the aviation service alone
is 1920. The war department has
hsteG eighty-seven occupations which
are fundamentally necessary to the
| operation of a modern army. For
| every man who is an actual fighter
| in tn line, there must be at least one
| in some other occupation. Thus the
army Of mechanics and other skilled
workers is as large as the army of
! fighters.
These facts are offered to show the
| conscript the range of opportunity
which exists for him to serve his
| country in some skilled capacity The
man who is soo1 to be drafted or who
| wishes to enlist should not leave his
| disposal to the authorities, but should
carefully consider his own experience,
his education, his aptitudes and his
tastes. before he is called to service.
He will have given some of this in
formation in his questionnaeSe. but he
would do well to inform the chairman
| of his local board in what skilled ca
pacity he thinks he might serve.
This is his duty both to himself and
| to his country. The policy of the gov
| eminent is to make the operation of
the draft law continually more and
more genuinely selective. This means
simply that each man is to be placed,
50 a rnSSihln ho d