Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-15
Reconstruction Of the Mon
Walter camp IN the outlook.

Perhaps OF all the serious problems our gov
eminent faces that frepar is least understood,
This war, indeed, differed from any other in
past history in the rapidity with which the
weapons changed. Now if you change the
weapons fast enough you soon have no one not
even the most experienced surgeon, who knows
anything about what happens or is going to
happen to the men against whom these weapons
are used. What surgeon knew in the beginning
even the composition of some of the gases,
much less the effect upon the men who breathed
them? In this war we grew from cavalry and
ordinary gunhre to air machines capable OF go
ing $50 miles an hour and guns that would shoot
rs miles. We were suddenly confronted with
gases that would put out OF action thousands
of troops and toward the end we devised gases
for which there would have been almost no re-
sistance. Troops that according to all the rules
Of war as formerly laid down, were sure to
break went right on up to the nests OF machine
guns and with their bare hands choked the gun
ners and took the guns. In fact, at the very
time when we had all concluded that on account
of the wonderful progress made in devising new
death-dealing machines, there could never be
another war. the world faced the greatest war
in history But no matter what he faced III the
way of still further man-killing devices, the sol
der went straight on and met those devices
with unwavering fortitude. There is some
thing in man, call it what you will-courage,
pluck, will poWer-that is beyond and superior
to any machines, inventions or devices. And
this war demonstrated as never before that
there is nothing that that human being is not
ready to face.
But when we get men of such accomplish
ment and endurance who will go forward until
they achieve their objective, we get them from
the breed that has grown up in this country OF
on the athletic fields, the sand lots OF base
ball-even the base ball and "scrapping" of
the streets. We got them as the best of that
American spirit which despses the yellow
streak" and makes the word "quitter" synony-
nous with coward and disgrace. Now such
men go through with their job But they are
not only human, they are also highly strung,
and for that reason all sorts of sequelae come
from this very abandonment of self and the SUI
premeness of their courage. Hence, she'll
shocked and gassed and broken, they presented
, such lot of new problems to the surgeons
Mat none of them was able to give the final
answer.
But our surgeons did most noble work. they
came through" with the same spirit as the
men; they learned fast, and they put science
against science gas mask against gas, and every
new weapon was met with new defense. And
now that the war is over we are getting our
opportunity to study more quietly these great
problems. We are to handle thousands of these
men who have been through this inferno of hell
and have come out with the marks upon them.
Some of them will never be the same, but pa
tience and study and work will bring many of
them back to normal again. We have some
had considerable experimental work directed
along these lines.
And, finally, there is another phase Of re-
construction, or at least of the return or men
from the service to civilian life, which seems to
have entirely escaped the attention of everyone
and yet which should have certain measure
of consideration. We all of us know that one
of the objections that has in the past been adj
vanced against athletic sports in the colleges
has been that men indulging in them develop
themselves muscularly, increase the size and
power of the heart and then, graduating from
college, suddenly drop all exercise and suffer
breakdowns in health accordingly. What shall
we say of the man who comes out OF camp
cantonment after the pretty severe physical eX-
ercises there practlced and goes back to his
work on the bench in the factory or in the
counting room or office? Someone certainly
should advise him that as it took him months
to build up that physique, he should look some
what after the manner in which he comes back
to the life which must be his normal one. The
men who come out of the naval stations will
have an easier time adjusting themselves for
many of these stations had a more moderate
training, designed for suppleness and muscular
control rather than more violent and prolonged
muscular exertion. The men who come out and
adopt the plans suggested by the secretary OF
the interior, Mr. Lane, which involve a vigorous
outdoor life, will have far better chance of
continuing health than those who are almost
at once shut indoors to a combining, sedentary
occupation after months of exceedingly strenu-
Gus exercise in the open air. But some men
must perforce go back to the sedentary jobs,
and whether anything more than the advice to
let down slowly and to keep up some measure
OF outdoor exercise can be given is question.
am merely dealing with the fact that for man
who has had the regimen practiced at the
camps the transition will be a very decided one
requiring considerable effort at adjustment on
the part of nature; and it will need much aid
from the man himself in accomplishing it.
HoJni NJ. Wo POr5cb