The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-08-21
College Training Plan
In Full Swing

With President r. c. McLaurin, OF
| the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
| nology, serving as educational head
of the Students Army Training
Corps, and a staff of well-known
civilians to help in the task, the War
Department plan to have every i'm
portant college in the country mill
tary post for the training of men for
the Army and Navy is making rapid
headway. On July Is, three large
training camps at Plattsburg. n. Y,
ILL.,. with attendance of 1000 men,
bers of college faculties and selected
students, began a siXty-day course
designed to prepare men to assist il
the work of military instruction in
the colleges this year.
Details of the plan nave Just been
The plan is an attempt TO mobilize
and develop the brain power of the
young men of the country for these
services which demand special train
ing" says the War Department. Its
object is to prevent the premature
enIistment for active service of these
men who could by extending the
period of their college training, null
tipIy manifold their value to the
country"
In its announcement the Depart
ment points out the needs for highly
trained men as officers, engineers,
doctors, chemists, and administrators
Of every kind.
The Importance of this need can
not be too strongly emphasized, "says
the War Departments circular. This
is a war in which soldiers are not
only marksmen, but also engineers,
chemists, physicists, geoiogi doc
tors, and specialists in many other
lines. Scientific training is indis-
pensable. Engineering skill is need
ed by the officers who direct every
important military operation and who
control our lines of transport and
communication. In the same way
chemical and physical knowledge are
in constant demand at the front as
well as behind the lines, while the
task of saving the lives and restoring
the health of hundreds of thousands
of wounded calls for the services of
regiments of military physicians. The
scientific training which prepares a
man to fulfill one of these highly
specialized duties and the more lib
eral training which helps to develop
the qualities of leadership needed by
the officer or administrator are es-
sentiaI elements of military efficiency.
The boy who enlists in the Stu
dents Army Training Corps will be
a member of the Army of the United
States. He will be provided by the
War Department with uniform and
equipment, but will be on furlough
status and will not receive pay. He
ing as a part of his course during the
college year, will attend a six weeks
camp for rigid and intensive military
instructions with privates pay, and
will be subject to the call of the
President for active service at any
time, should the eXigencies of the
military situation demand it. The
policy of the Government, however,
will be to keep members of this corps
in college until their draft age is
reached, and the War Department
will have the power to order such
men to continue in college even after
their draft age is reached whenever
their work is such that the needs of
the service, e. g., for doctors, engi-
neerS, chemists, and the like, are
such as to make that course advis-
able
The Students Army Training
Corps is administered by the Commit
tee on Educational and Special Train
ing of the War Department, which is
a section of the Training and In
Branch of the War Plans
Division of the General Staff. Com
petent officers and non-commission-
ed officers will be assigned to the va
rious institutions to carry on the
work of military instruction.
In view of the educational signifi-
cance of the new plan, DR.. T. P.
Claxton, Commissioner of Education,
has sent copy of the War Depart
ment's statement to school and col
lege executives throughout the coun-
try.