New-York tribune., 1919-09-11
Service and Reason
To the Editor of The Tribune.


the welfare and uplift of the people of tbi,
country than all others in Congress com.
bined
Therefore it is Of the utmost importance
that it should be handled most intelligentlv
and, above all, most unsefshly by the mill.
tary experts. And not by them alone should
it be conceived There should be on tho
commission which drafts it one far-seein,
broad minded non-miltary statesman from
each of the great political parties, men %
the type of Wilson and Taft, with their
wide experience who have passed beyond +bs
lure of political Office
The attitude and temper Of the three great
classes Of critics of the Chamberiain-Kahn
bill are extremely unfortunate and entirelv
unnecessary. The regular, the guardsrnan
and the training camp man take each a shot
at it. Each has grain of right in his critj
cism, and to a calm, unprejudiced judge, Of
the evidence offered it is perfectly patent that
all three of them should have an equal hand
in its framing And a bill thus framed will
come nearer to the perfect law policy and
effectiveness of military policy and adj
mnistration than this country has ever had.
In the past century our military policies and
unpreparedness have been little less than
an open insult to our national intelligence.
1t is about time we did the thing properly.
These are serious times for our country. and
in a matter of the vital Importance of this
step disgusting partisan politics, sectonalism
and personal whims, army jealousies and the
like should be kicked aside for the good of
all concerned
Certain facts have led the writer to seek
contact with and the friendship of the largest
possible number Of officers of our regular
services, of the National Guard and la,rerlv.
of the National Army many the product Of
our training camps and universities The
result has been both unexpected and iMani-
mating.
Briefly stated it was glaringly appa~en.
that the average regular officers were
markedly narrow in their views of lie and
the worlds affairs doubtless produced bv
army post life. Although strongly prejudced,
inclined to arrogance and dictatorial in their
expression Of opinions probably due to and
quite eXcusable from the nature Of their
training and army duties-they are truthful.
to a fault; direct, manly and fine comrades.
But, almost to man, they have proved to
be either silently contemptuous Of quietly
opposed to and jealous of or openly hostile
to the whole National Guard; at anv rate,
at all times silently working among them
selves against it and its wider influence.
They have not the slightest use for it.
Per contra, the National Guard officer ad-
mires and almost instinctively looks up to
the regular; is keen to learn from him and
prejudiced in his favor, and will work like
dog to merit his praise until too intimate
association has shown him his faults The
Guardsman, however, coming from civil occu-
pations of every possible kind, has far wider
world experience and interest. Many OF them
experts in their lines. Almost any of
them are more influential politically than
their regular brother For this reason. il
for other. it would be desirable and
sensible for them to work jointly and har-
moniousy to upbuild our national defence
system.
This has produced third snd far
larger class than both the others combined
the training camp officer
Of this class too much can scarcely be said
in praise. l have come in close contact with
and observed thousands in their work They
have proved themselves as a class to be the
broadest and best educated of the three;
quite outstanding and physically fine IS
the regular and equally earnest Most
important of all. they are to-day the idols
of 10000 to 100000 families scattered
throughout every city and hamlet in the
country. Thousands of these are now seri-
Gus thinking, earnest men, veterans of
terrible war. 1t would be idiotic to suppose
that they will not for some years to come
exercise commanding influence both So
cia and political, upon the body polite
Vast numbers of them are as resentful
as the National Guard at their treatment
by the politicians and the regular army
authorities during the crisis Of war;
when they sorely needed but after the
stress relieved and they were shipped
unceremoniously and largely unrewarded to
their homes to begin life anew
1t might not be a bad plan to call again
to the colors, as it werc twenty representa-
tives selected by the regular service. twenty
more of the ablest that the Training Camps
Association can pick and twenty more
selected by the National Guard Association
and let them, with the assistance Of the Will
son-Taft exoflicios, get up a Chamberlain
Kahn military service bill that would have
easy shedding through Congress into popular
approval and make nation of outstanding.
athletic men in a few years that no COM
bnation of nations would care to tackle
And this would be not the brutalizing
machine of the German, that robbed Young
men Of full three years of youth from
their lifework but the human. democratic
borrowing of the minimum of their unuro-
ductive time on some Australian or Swiss
or American system, in the interest of ma
tional defence, that will always be needed
so long as men and nations are selfish or
self-seeking.