Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-05-01

| iiiiilaly education. ana the point
that drove home to the clergyman's
soul was this: If half the time vast
ed on dead and useless studies in
me years gone by had been put on
definite military training he could
have been a vastly more useful man
in these grim hours even had he been
given the job Of Clergyman.
He could have understood the act
ual military problem at Eand. He
could have understood the needs of
these soldiers. He could have done
even his job of "stop-gap" with finer
grip, bigger understanding, and
broader effectiveness.
You may say 'every man to his
as important as many oth6rs--some-
Job; and the job of stop-gap even is
body has to do it.
Wait q minute. 1t happened that
from this spot where we lay resting
we could see section of our lines
being bombarded by Fritz. The shells
were dropping in particularly nasty
fashion-great jets Of mud flying in
the air at every burst, livid flashes
of flame cleaning amidst showers
Of splintered steel. For mile-long
stretch the boys in that trench were
being buried alive, blown to atoms
and our guns almost silent.
An airmen, Canadian as we
learned later, flew over, signalling to
our batteries giving them the range
and calling for heacy fire. They kept
silent. The airman landed, and call
ed up II. @. whats the matter?
Why don't batteries fire."
The answer came-"No Shells"
And we talked the matter over
again, with this Military Education
thought in our minds. The factories
in the home land couldn't turn out
shells quick enough for this war and
these gunners had just about half
dozen shells a day to stand off the
German attacks.
l recalled an anti-preparedness
speech / had heard back home in the
States. l recalled how cogent and con-
vincing the argument of the great
statesman" seemed to me then in
my ignorance of military matters. l
remember one part of his speech ran
soothing like this: "Why all this talk
about foolish and wasteful war pre-
paration? Bless you, we have the
greatest nation on the face of Gods
earth. A nation descended from the
pioneers, nation of natural fighters.
Why, if this nation should be plunged
into war tomorrow we could put half
a million, yes, a million and a half
fighters in the field inside of a
month";"
And how? How I wished that "great
statesman" who had .swayed the
hearts of that vast audience by means
of his oratory and their ignorance of
military affairs could have been plac-
ed in that section of trench under fire
before US, just to learn the difference
between theory and fact. He knew
nothing of military education, did
not know even enough to realize how
long it takes to teach a gunner the
art of laying gun and firing it with
out crippling his own men. He did
not know that it takes at least six
months to teach an airman the use
of his machine and the signalling
needful just to give accurately the
range and direction from the sky
by code. That "great statesman" did
not know how long it takes to or
ganize and build shell factory large
enough to produce even smoderate
number of shells; or an airplane fac
tory: or shipyard or battleship.
He did not know any more about
military education than l did. The on
ly difference between his ignorance
and mine was I had been made to see
with white clarity how and why those
boys were being blown to bits. While
he three thousand miles back of the
line, sought in some library, proofs
to convince another audience that
military education is an unnecessary
thing.
lived to see the Canadian boy who
thus flew and signalled, load his plane
with all the bombs it would carry,
fly through clouds of bursting sharp
mel, to do what he could, pitifully lit
tie, to help the boys in that CHASTITY
trench. Splendid young fearless lives
sacrificed, splendid young, strong
bodies blown to bloody bits, because
that statesman and that audience and
their kind didn't even know enough of
military education to see the blind
folly of expecting trained and
equipped army to grow up in month
or in six months.
Had we even an inkling of military
knowledge we would have laughed
that statesman off the stage and out
of the state.
l took another look at that Front.
Here an airplane attack; a flotilla of
planes coming over to bomb; some
speeding low, two of three hundred
feet from the ground, splitting fire
of death from their machine guns,
some higher up bomb dropping, some
soaring aloft for observation, others
going back of the lines to drop huge
bombs on the villages and towns to
crush helpless civilians, women and
children. watched the shrapnel puffs
and did some thinking. The sky was
literally dotted with shrapnel, the
white puffs and vivid flashes framing
the planes; the solemn "plop" far up
in the clouds the insistent. bang and
crash right over your head; the sinis-
ter hiss and bone shattering detona-