The Raymer enterprise., 1920-10-28

70 INstWWWtuc' VHcH NC opeuh6 lW
Msm. he speaks what he knous.
BY CAPT. EDDIE RlckENBAcKER.
Chapter 3.
II Is q solemn thing to 20 out to kill
or to be killed. Most men do not like
to CO. They 90 because duty forces
them to. Their sense OF duty to their
country Ii stronger than their sense Of
self.preseryatIon. They face death be-
cause they ought to protect what they
love at home.
That s what makes spirit In an
army. The West Pointer calls II mo-
rale Without this fighting spirit a
soldier Is not worth much, aud an army
Is no army at ALL Every soldier knows
this. And so he asks:
How are you going to get the prop
er lighting spirit into American troops
when, under article 10, they will be
called to fight for Poland against Rus
sia, or for Roumanln against Bulgaria.
or for Greece against Turkey"
What Is there to nerve a man against
death In the thought that by his death
he will help one Of these foreign coun-
tries retain territory as big as Long
island and prevent another country
from getting III VIII that thought con
sole him when his mind turns to the
mother or wife In Americai Is there
any inspiration In 1T Does man die
gladly for anything SO foreign and so
sordidI
The soldier who has stood by the
charred flesh and bones Of a comrade
knows there Is no spirit or consolation
In any Of these things. He knows that
men cannot fly willingly into the face
Of death for any such causes.
The whole thing is impossible. To
soldier Of the line 1t Is simply un.
thinkable. To him all the talk about
making the world safe for democracy
by fighting boundary wars all around
the globe means just nothing at all
You might as well tell him to die for
the blue sky as to die for boundary
lines everywhere and for democracy
In general.
! have never seen a soldier or an
army that could get the fighting spirit
In such a cause as that. Neither has
any other American soldier. An Amer.
lean army that had no Osher lnspira-
ton would be an army without spirit,
without morale; 1t would be no army
at all. defy any soldier to imagine
q fighting American army under these
conditions.
In August, 1918. 18 American avia.
tors were lined up at Claremont,
France. to 90 to the front They shook
hands with everybody and said good
BY" An engineer officer asked the
captain IN charge Of tie aviation
group: why all this gioomr The
reply was: "Weil. those American ma
chimes have ~ protection; q soon q
. bullet hits that gasoline tank It %
csrtain Il win take fire Immediately
and The msn have no chance to get
away. "A month hter the engineer
again met the captain and asked II
those men came back. They never
came back" was the simple answer.
They never came back
Do men do these things as they 90
to breakfast or board q street cart
Do they do these things for political
theories or for general principles or
for a miserable piece Of land that
some foreigner covets and some other
foreigner will not give upI
Can you expect any soldier, who has
seen men do what those l8 did, to be
for the League Of Nations? Can you
imagine his wishing such sacrifices to
be made on the orders Of a foreign
country7 Can you picture to yourself
an American army sent overseas by
the American people to enact such
ragediesi Or, If sent, can you think
It possible to inspire TN army to brave
deeds on such hollow pretensesi
! cannot. No soldier can. That 10
Why the soldier y against the League
q NatisaA