The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-02

withdrawn from the firing line in or
der to provide demonstration drills.
With the exception of the work at
Peterborough. at first educational
training had been confined TO such
boys, who IN England form definite
military category known as A. " boys.
that was to say. boys enlisted at eigh
Teen but. except under the heavy pres
sure of the fighting of last summer,
not liable to be sent abroad until nine
teen. For these. work had been early
instituted somewhat on the lines of
continuation school. but up 10 the
fmidtfle Of iIse year there had been
no systematized scheme laid down,
no personnel hatever had been au
thoriZed for educational work with
a result that often an enthusiastic of
ficer was ordered for military pur-
poses elsewhere, and there was no CO.
ordination at all between the work
that was gong on in England and
the work that was going on in France.
In the meantime the Y NJ. c. A. had
been invited o act as agents for the
military authorities on the lines of
communication in France and very
] Loyalty and efficiently had they labored
in this task ever since. through their
universities committee,
! Neces div OF Education.
! The army order OF Sept. "a. 1918,
/ for the first time conceded the point
| that educational thraining was part
of the soldiers business, and provided
a FRAMEWORK Of organization on which
il was possible TO build For the
army as a whole, attendance at in
| struction remained voluntary, For
those in your soldier and graduated
| battallons il was embodied as def
mite part of their military training
! Throughout the subsequent months al
I the autumn the organization. so far as
/ authorized, had been completed. and
! a great deal of work had been done
/ But it became obvious that it was
merely framework, and quite in
adequate to the needs that became
daily more apparent as the armistice
doomed nearer. therefore, in sub
! sequcnt order promul gated chertlS
after the sienlng Of the armistiCe. this
! organization had been very greatly
extended, For the first time \ den
mite instru tional staff had beer
brought into u, sin; certificates hao
been instituted; subjects had beer
grouped. and schools at oxford ans
Cam bridge for the training of instruc-
tors under tha scheme had been IN
stituted. Th" scheme at first onl,
extended to the forces IN Great Brit
ain and France. but il had since beer
extended 10 those in Italy. Ireland
sSalonika. and Egypt, ana. at the eX
press desire of the wounded and con
valescents. TO- the great hospitals ano
he many recuIerative camps,
The period when educational activ
ity had risen to its highest had beer
in December, 1918, and January o
this year. when upwards of 100000
students had been in attendance at tn,
classes. but even now that demobiliza
ton had greatly depleted the ranks
there were more than 100000 men nu
dergoing instruction in classes il
France alone. besides the many NOR,
who attended lectures
The size of the scheme mad beer
throughout ore of its greatest diff
culties, but II had not been the onl,
one. Before November II fightint
had been very intense and educa
ton had naturally suffered by beinf
purely of secondary consideration AT
ter November il. and increasingly 81
as the weeks passed, the authorize.