The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-06
Topeka STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. c.
A NEW SCHOOL FOR MARINES.

soldiers, with the liability of active
service in case OF war?
That Is the question which the
| United States marine corps is now put
ting to Americans. 1t has established
at the marine barracks at Quantico,
Va, a school known as the Marine m
stitute, where it is prepared to give
men regular grammar school and
high school Quotations, and to teach
| them several highly paid vocations,
such as automobile engineering, cleo
trical engineering, stationary gas en-
CINE work. building construction and
contracting and livestock farming.
| At this barracks it is an absolute
rule that only the morning hours are
devoted to military exercises. and all
of the afternoon is spent in classes
and III athletic work. The routine is
much like that of first class military
| school. Men are now offered enlist
menti in the Fifth regiment of marines
which is the one stationed at Quantico
with the flat promise that after pre-
liminary training at Paris Island, the
recruit will be sent to the Quantico
school, and viii be allowed to stay
there until he has completed what
ever course he desires to take, sub
ject to the single condition that if tho
United States gets into war, he may
be assigned to active service
The opportunity for enlistment
under these terms, which amounts to
contract with Athe government to
give certain amount of service in
return for an education, began on
April 1.
This Marine school is the latest of
number OF efforts by the government
to make military or naval service at
tractive to young men by giving them
education in return for their time,
Both the army and the navy have ala
ways had some classes where a >man
could spend a few hours a day and
study grammar school courses. These
schools never amounted to much, and
they did not offer vocational, courses
During the war, the Student Army
Training corps. and since the arni-
st1ce, the army universities in Europe,
have offered men in the service much
but 1t was seldom possible for a man
to remain in any of these Institutions
more than a few months.
This Marine School is a new depar-
ture in two ways. In the first place it
offers man a complete course lead
ing to . diploma, and in the second
place he is given a definite promise
that he shall be allowed to finish his
education to his own satisfaction un-
less the emergency of war interrupts
it.
under the command of Maj. Gen. J. A.
Lejeune and Brig. Gen. S. D. Butler.
For this account of it we are indebted
to Lieut.. j. H. Craige, who is aide to
General Lejeune, and who leaves no
doubt that the Marine Corps is spar
ing neither expense nor effort to make
this school a real school where a man
can fit himself for the business OF
making a. living. AS Lieutenant
Craige sees it. this is not merely an
effort to get men to serve in the Mar
inc Corps in return for a certain
amount of schooling; it is an effort to
put the whole business of military
service on a higher plane, and to at
tract TO it Il higher type of men.
1t is agreed by all that, the state of
the world being what it is, we must
have a considerable standing army.
a large navy, and Marine Corps of
good strength. 1t is equally clear to
all that there is strong sentiment in
the country against compulsory mill
tary service and compulsory military
training The alternative is voluntary
enlistment. 1t is notorious fact that
men are not voluntarily enlisting in
any branch of the service in adequate
numbers. The Marine Corps has
about two-thirds of its, authorized
strength, but both the army and navy
are in worse condition.
1t is not remarkable, from a civil
IAN view point lnaI young men DO not
rush into the service. Most of them
have had-all the military service they
want in the past few years And
peace-time service in a standing army,
as it was before the war, offered very
little inducement to man of any
ambition or energy. A few hours of
drill every day, and for the rest, bunk
duty''-that is to say. loafing under
especially monotonous conditions.
There is nothing in that to attract
high type of man. or to attract men
in any numbers, and it is a well-known
fact that our professional army never
has attracted either.
If, therefore, we are to have a vol
unteer standing army strong enough to
make US safe in a very troubled and
unsettled world. something has got to
be done to make the service. really
worth a good mans time, and that
something has got to be widely ad-
vertised
This seems to be the logic back of
Marine institute, and the officers at
Quantico appear to be making a most
| earnest effort to live up to that logic.
AS a sample of what they have to Of
fer, take their course in automobile
engineering. The facilities which the
school offers come under three heads.
In the first place, they have a great
number of motor vehicles of every
type from motorcycle to q multi-ton
| truck, and they have all sorts of repair
| shops and machinery. These are not
! limited to the tools and supplies which
would be found in first-class auto re-
pair shop, but include also machine
shops with welding outfits and lathes.
A man can learn there not only how to
fix an engine that is out of order, but
how to make and repair structural
parts. He could in fact learn how to
/ build an automobile.
In the second place. at the head of
this school is a mechan.SAl engineer
whe is a graduate of one of the lead
/ ing American engineering schools. and
who gives regular lessons to the men.
In the third place, each man is given
| the textbooks and instructions of one
of the great correspondence schools
on this subject to study. When he
I finishes his course. he can take tire
examination and obtain the diploma of
this school, as we'll as that of the
| Marina Insfifute l