Evening star., 1925-03-31
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL 7. COLLINS.

Military training would be worth
every cent the country has expended
on it and is now expending, even if
there were the assurance of no more
wars said Secretary of War Weeks
A day or two ago, while addressing &
the Association of Military Colleges
and Schools. The song, Il Didn't
Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" has
gone out of style, and the thesis of
Mr.. Weeks tends to put even the
pacifist in the same category. Never
theless. the registrations in the Dis
trict of Columbia for the privilege of
attending the citizens military train
ing camps this Summer appear al
most dormant, and the officers in
charge are wondering why. Usually
good. healthy young men are glad to
pay the expenses of a months outing
in camp, but here Uncle Sam offers
TO pay the cost. with no obligation
upon the recipient to give military
service afterward, and the Districts
quota is only IS per cent taken up.
At the last, when there will be post
ed an S. r. O. bulletin, there will be
long lines in waiting. filled with dis
appointed would-be trainees. The op-
portunity is still open for applicants
who apply to Lieut.. Col. Scott, in the
Graham Building, at. Fourteenth and
L streets.
DR.. Tigert, United: States Commits
sioner of Education, Is quoted as de-
claring that "the modern tendency of
education is to teach too much about
nothing and not enough about some
thing" Educators are beginning to
realize that all of life is not in the
cerebeIIum, but lies in biceps and
nerves. All education is not in books,
but some Is in ability to do team
work and to hold ones own with
thousands of others undertaking dis
cipline. This year at Camp Meade
and Fort Monroe there will be be-
tween 1000 and 5000 young men an
swering the bugle calls, learning to
right Dress" about face" right by
fours," and to respect authority-not
bossiness, but organized development
of efficiency. A man who has learn
ed to stand erect, act erect, salute
the American flag properly, and to be
respected by officers and men alike
because he has proved his ability to
obey orders, and thereby proved his
capacity to give orders in due time,
returns from such a training 100 per
cent more of a man than the loafer
who mopes around a street corner
without really knowing
"s why he's born,
But only to consume the corn,
Deyour the cattle, fowl and fish
And leave behind an empty dish"
X x X x
The camps open July 1. In the 80
days of training the boys learn how
to care for their bodies, how to de-
veIop all, their muscles and, organs
properly, how to swim, ride horses,
do athletics and setting-up exercises,
at-better than anti-aircraft guns.
There are four courses provided for
raw recruits and for the advanced
trainees who have been to previous
camps. Boys from II to "a years
take the basic course, the first year
the second year the red course;
third year, the white" course and
fourth year cages 1S to 3D, the blue"
course.
That qualities them to take exami-
nation, IL they desire, for a commits
sion as second lieutenants in the
Regular Army, but such career is
not obligatory. 1t is enough for Uncle
Sam to know that the camps actually
train men, physically and mentally,
so that in case of need they would be
fitted to take immediate responsibility
in national defense. The trainees can
return to their civil occupations with
all the benefit of the months outing
and training, and with clear con-
sciences that they are not putting
one over on Uncle Sam" by doing SO.
When it is recalled that the draft
found 40 per cent of the men Of the
United States physically unfit for
service and 25 per cent mentally
unit, being so illiterate that they
could not read and write, it will be