Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1920-10-14

During the great war, you see, officers found
that altogether too many of their men were IL
literates Moreover, one-thrd of the national
forces had to be given mechanical training in or
der to carry on the work of the army Warfare
has become complicated in this advanced age
that ability to fix a stalled mule is not enough.
A few wallops on the 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 total of
S4,9OO,OOO to operate on in the next 10 months
Its business will be to take the 81" out of all
illiterate recruits and to give the rest of the
llsted 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
commerce or farm as responsible citizen.
Says Maj. Bernard Lentz of the general staff
corps
Intensive 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 use up the time
which used to be given to bunk fatigue un-
der eght-hour day"
There is different attitude toward the enlisted
under the PLAN according to Maj. Ed
mund r. Andrews, who will be in charge of the
education and recreation work at Camp, Grant
"Hs sef-respect will be increased," he says,
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 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. blouses sitting at desks. Up in front is
civilian instructor. One of the soldiers is read
ing aloud. 1t is vigorous narrative about a 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 a spelling lesson under
the guidance of Miss Jeannie Polk.
Another building. Here q collection of gas
vehicles from motorcycles to caterpillar tractors.
They are in various stages of ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Here and there we see blue denimed soldier
tinkering with the intestines of an engine.
Other soldiers are being taught business meth
DDS. On a 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
the lliterate soldier recruits, of which there are
many and teaching them to speak, read and
write English.
Once at a great exposition in foreign land an
American stood watching the troops of all nations
go by on parade, so the story goes foreigner
stood beside the American pointing out the sol
diers of the various countries and their flags He
said. "Tbose 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
the japanese troops, and that is the flag of the
mikado; those are the soldiers of Russia and that
is the flag of the car" Presently the Ameri-
can troops approached flying the Stars and
Stripes marching to the tune OF the Star Spangled
Banner the American spoke for the first time, and,
turning to his foreign friend he said:
"And 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 It ia-und should make it.