Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1920-10-16

During the great war, you see, officers found
that altogether too many of their men were IL
lterates. Moreover, one-thlrd of the national
forces had to be given mechanical training in or
der to carry the work of the army. Warfare
has become complicated In this advanced age
that ability to fix stalled mule is not enough.
A few wallops on the nose may repair the latter.
but an auto engine requires more expert treat
ment.
So the education and recreation branch of the
war plans division was instituted with a total of
$4,500,0O0 to operate in the next ~ months.
It's business will be to take the al" out of all
iiterate recruits and to give the rest of the en-
listed men training in any vocation they may
choose In this way according to the theory mil
itary efficiency will be increased and the soldier
will leave the army prepared to enter industry or
commerce or farm as responsible citizen.
Says Mai. Bernard Lentz of the general staff
corps:
Intensive vocational work will be done In the
winter months, while the will be ded
Gated to drilling and maneuvering. This school
work will not encroach on the military program
of the army, for it will merely use up the time
which used to be given over to bunk fatigue I'M
der eight-hour day."
There is a different attitude toward the enlisted
under the new plan, according to Maj. Ed
mund r. Andrews, who will be in charge of the
education and recreation work at Camp Grant.
His selfrespect will be increased" he says
"and the civilian will also respect him. We want
to get the idea out of the civilians head that
soldier is hard-boed bum"
And now let us take a look around the drab
wooden houses which were used as barracks dur
ing the mobilization. Camp Grant, as one of the
nine corps areas in country, will be the school
center for the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and
Michigan.
In a classroom we find dozen or more boys
in o. D. blouses sitting at desks Up in front is
a civilian instructor. One of the soldiers is read
ing aloud. 1t is vigorous narrative about ball
game with plenty of healthy slang and a Babe
Ruth ending.
In another room of the same building we find
a platoon of men taking spelling lesson under
the guidance of Miss JEANNE Polk.
Another building Here are q collection Of gas
vehicles from motorcycles to caterpillar tractors.
They are in various stages of ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Here and there blue denimed soldier
tinkering with the intestines of an engine.
Other soldiers are being taught business meth
DDS. On model dairy farm Uncle Sam is train
ing agricuturists and so on, all through the camp
and the other camps like it.
The greatest Americanization work the normal
graduates will perform this winter will be taking
tbe uterate soldier recruits, of which there
many. and teaching them to speak, read and
write English,
once at great exposition in a foreign land, an
American stood watching the troops of all nations
90 by on parade so the story goes. foreigner
stood beside the American pointing out the sol
dars of the various countries and their flags. He
said. "Those are the English troops and that Is
the flag of the king; those are the German SOL
ders and that is the flag of the kaiser; those are
tha Jananese troops and that is the flag of the
n,ikodo: those are the soldiers of Russia and that
l. the flag of the car" Presently, as the Amer
can troops approached, flying the Stars and
strpes marching to the tune of the Star-Spangled
Ronner the American spoke for the first time, and
turning to his foreign friend, he said:
sand those are the American soldiers and that
&c my flag; not the flag of any king not the flag
of any car, not the flag of any kaiser, but my
flag and the flag of every man. woman and child
In my great country, the land of the free"
So 1t Island should make 1t.