Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-23
WHAT MILITARY
TRAINING MEANS
Captain Cosby, Formerly OF
Rough Riders, Cites
Its Values.

In an add ress on military training be-
ore tho Chamber of Commerce, today,
Captain r. Cosby, formerly of the Rough
Riders, said, in part:
s.What is military training? There Is
much confusion about 1t. Those who
have been In the service hesitate TO go IN
again. The plan we are working on Is to
make the training universal and thus re-
heve those who have given service.
.srhe Senate bill now pending provides
that all BOYS over Is years shall go for
four months training. Ii he can't speak
or read English, he must be IN two more
months to enable him TO learn more OF
English. After service he goes back nome
and is assigned to q certain regiment OF
reserve citizen army for five years. Dur
ing that time he is only called on twice
for a week each time, so that In fact ne
is In service but five months altogether.
''The bill further provides that the
training should be given not by the army
alone, but by men OF the regular army
and civilians, so they viii be trained
near their homes. Wilmington boys
would go to Camp Meade or Camp Dix
and Wilmingtonians would be their
instructors. Each boy would have to
register when he reaches II years.
s.Most of the training ought to be IN
summer to get all good weather, but the
farmer needs his boys help in that
season all the time, so provision Is made
to divide the training between winter
and summer.
"'The stabilizing of this military in
fluence upon business is important. There
has been social and industrial unrest in
this country. Anything that brings home
obligations to the flag brings q stabiliz-
ing influence. The returning army from
France would be the first to stand up for
their country.
'eThose who can't speak English cant
have the same respect for our flag, but
compel these same boys to spend four or
five months in military training and they
viii come back with s very different
feeling. They feel a close relationship
The stabilizing influence comes first. Then
Americanization. The army is now
teaching men to speak and write English
1t is not on question of hav NC men,
but as an Americanization question the
effect is ovbious to us all. We also know
the advantages of physical instruction.
We saw out boys and how they looked
when they came home. We also know
there were physical reflections amounting
to 35 per cent in the first draft They
had as rule, remedIablc defects, which
would be taken care Oi IN tDlS uniNGTSal
military training We would all see that
a boy improved his physical welfare.
You all know what it means to teach these
young minds hygiene when they need it
most. They would return to their homes
and shops much better young men. 1t
is up to the Government to handle them
in sane, sympathetic way and return them
in much better condition. The pending
bill has all these matters in view.
'.ts q matter Of preparedness, that is
the biggest question of all. Should we
come again into national emergency,
we won't start IN to prepare our officers
and men months after war IS declared.
In this war we won, but let US frankly
recognize it was thirteen moths after war
was declared before we had trained men
at the front and able to turn them over to
the command in army numbers. These
same conditions won't happen again.