Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-10-19

During the great war, you see. officers found
that altogether TOO many of their men were il
lterates. Moreover, One-third 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 waliops on the nose may repair the latter
but auto engine requires more expert treat
ment.
SO the education and recreation branch of the
plans division was instituted with total of
S45O00QO TO operate on in the next II months.
Its business will be to take the ''il" out of all
ilierate 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 mill
itary efficiency will be increased and the soldier
will leave the army prepared to enter industry or
commerce or farm as responsible citizen.
Says Maj Bernard Lentz of the general staff
corps:
Offensive vocational work will be done in the
winter months, while the summer will be dedi-
Gated to drilling and maneuvering. This school
work will not encroach on the military program
of the army. for it will merely up the time
which used to be given to bunk fatigue I'M
der an eight-hour day
There is different attitude toward the enlisted
man under the new plan, according to Maj Ed
rnund r. Andrews, who will be in charge of the
education and recreation work at Camp Grant
His self-respect will be increased" he says,
land the civilian will also respect him. We want
to get the idea out of the civilians head that
soldier is a hard-boiled bum"
And now let US take look around the drab
wooden houses which were used as barracks dur
ing the mobilization Camp Grant, 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 more boys
in O. D. bouses sitting at desks. Up in front is
Df %I.,.- lS,Nr to-
ing aloud. 1t is vigorous narrative about ball
game with plenty OF healthy slang and 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 dismemherment.
Here and there we see blue denimed soldier
tinkering with the intestines of an engine.
Other soldiers being taught business meth
obs On model dairy farm Uncle Sam is train
ing agriculturists and on, all through the camp
and the other camps like it.
The greatest AmericanZation work the normal
Graduates will perform this winter will be taking
tbe illiterate soldier recruits of which there are
many. and teaching them to speak, read and
write English
Once at a great exposition in a foreign land an
American stood watching the troops of all nations
90 bv on parade. the story goes foreigner
stood beside the American pointing out the SOL
diers of the various countries and their flags. He
said. "Those are the English troops and that is
tbe flag of the king; those are the German sol
dters and that is the flag of the kaiser; those are
tbe Japanese troops and that is the flag of the
nikado: those are the soldiers of Russia and tina t
is the flag of the car" Presently as the Ameri-
can troops approached flying the Stars and
Stripes, marching to the tune of the Star-Spanged
Ranner. the American spoke for the first time and,
turning to his foreign friend, he said:
"And those are the American soldiers and that
is nv flag; not the flag of any king, not the flag
of any ear not the flag of any kaiser but my
flag and the flag of every man. woman. and child
in nv great country, the land of the free"
So il is-and so we should make it.