Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1924-05-03
IN TODAY'S
SPOTLIGHT
Paul v. Collins Tells How Better
Men Are Made In The Citizens
Military Training Camps.

| lamely ana unIaSnOnaDly CnaC DOG:
bark at them" as they honk by then
on the road), theer would be indigna
ton meetings and violent resolution!
unanimously adopted.
American automobiles are better
constructed than those who ride il
them. The physical wrecks who e
through life half invalids or half de-
formed, struggling always against
handicaps and costing American in
dustry more than $2,00O,000,O00 6
year because Of preventable incapa.
city, are far short Of the efficiency Of
the veriest FLYER. They count in the
census of Americans, yet the public
never realized the enormous weakness
of American defense until the wal
draft tests sifted out the sound Amer
leans from the weak ones.
This sitting applies only to those
of draft age. 1t did not even include
the cancer zone, much less "old men,
of forty-five years or even grandfath-
ers of fifty years. Forty-eight per
cent of our young men in their PRIME
are more or less incapacitated when
they have no right to be unable to
run, jump and climb mountains.
Some Of us have been incredulous
when told that one out of every four
Americans of draft age was not
"raised to be a soldier" because he
cannot read enough to know what is
meant by the simplest printed mill
tary order-cannot read even a news
paper and could not write a letter to
his home folks.
Then, too there are boys with
bright minds, quick and alert, with
good schooling, but whose horizons
have been bounded by the end Of
Main street, where the sun rises, and
the other where it sets. They dream
of some day taking a journey to the
big world about which they read.
They wonder what sort of people in
habit the great cities or even other
towns in the next state to their own.
They need contact which they cannot
get at home. How such chaps do ex-
pand when they "take distance" and
keep step with a thousand like them,
only differing by reason of differing
environments! Watch their chests
when they learn that attention" is
good English for standing on both
feet, with the heels together, chin up,
shoulders down, eyes straight ahead.
and the hands where they ought to be
according to what is in them!
They have always known that they
were "just as good as anybody" and
to prove it they had slouched and
stood first on one foot and then on the
other, and leaned against door jam
with a pipe in their mouths, no mat
ter who came along. In training
camp they discover that they prove a
lot better than anybody they knew at
home when they learn to salute an
officer or salute Old Glory, for it is
an absolute impossibility to pay due
respect to a superior without an UNI
conscious thrill of added self-respect.
How often the lout has been laugh
ed to scorn when asked in a gay COM
pany if he could play the piano, he
answered meekly "Dunno, never
tried" That is exactly where most of
the boys are today in knowledge of
themselves and their untried capabili-
ties.
Can George stand up>and face the
big fellow who threatens to knock
him cold? Can he defend himself?
Can he learn skill in boxing, develop
self-confidence, alertness, quick OBJ
sevation, instant decision of charac-
ter? "Dunno" Unless he gets train
ing at a military training camp he
may never know what it means to be
a "man's man." That does not mean
bruiser, nor a pugilist nor tough.
1t means to develop his manifest a.
bilities to defend himself and those
who are under his responsibility. It
means to know that he is not at the
mercy of the brute or of the enemy of
all he holds dear-his country or his
home. 1t makes for mental agility in
place of the sluggish brain. 1t means
true manhood. Fencing, too, is a
great limberer not merely of biceps
but particularly Of nerve and "gray
matter"
The colleges and schools fall short
of giving their students a chance to
"play the game" They make not
sports, but sporting men and women
out of fans, applauding or betting on
the nine or eleven representing their
school while none Of the other 900
or 1900 fans ever had an oppor-
tunity to "be SPORT" and develop