The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-04
X Article Two.
BY PAUL CLINE.

by FAOI CItNEs
TINE useF of athletics as a means of
4 military training is a direct out
growth Of the army methods discov-
cred and used by America during the
world war. During the process Of
whipping the raw drafted men into
shape the United States military ex-
perts found that games of various
kinds could be used to inculcate some
OF the rudiments of military training.
Thus it was found that the motions
perfected in playing quoits and base
ball rendered the soldiers more skill
full and accurate in grenade throwing
and that the swaying, footwork and
punching learned in boxing made a
soldier more adept at the gentle art
of sticking a bayonet into a Huns"
CUTS. A general slogan used in the
training camps was, "Bayonetting is
boxing with a bayonet in your hands,
Soccer was encouraged because 1t
habituates the player to running with
short strides and sure footing, knack
very useful In traversing the torn
areas OF NO-Man S-LanQ.
However, athletics was not encour-
aged in the American army during
the war merely because it assisted in
training the soldiers physically. 1t
served another and more important
purpose: that of training and controll-
ing the soldiers mentally. This was
openly admitted by General Pershing
himself. In a speech dealing with the
American forces in France, Pershing
said:
PershIng Spills Beans,
II am most anxious to encourage
in every way the athletic side, both
as a means of keeping the personnel
wholesomely and enjoyable occupied
during the period not needed for other
military duties, and as a means of
keeping the men in that state of
mental and physical fitness which is so
necessary to the morale which breeds
contentment."
Evidently General Pershing, who
was known as a severe disciplinarian,
was indulgent with his boys when it
came to athletic recreation. He sensed
that the sky-pilots and patriotic ora
tors who were delegated to the task
of keeping the men in the proper
mental and moral condition were not
quite able to do 1t without some as
distance. Therefore Black Jack
deemed it advisable to divert the men
with athletics, to occupy their every
spare moment so that they could not
begin to do a little thinking on their
own account.
That this was precisely the reason
why athletics were encouraged in the
army was plainly brought out by an
officer in an address at recent con-
vention of the National Collegiate AS
ISOLATION. He said:
"The value of participation in games
in the rest camps cannot be- overesti-
mated. 1t prevents a man from worry
ing and thinking about his troubles,
wondering what is going on at home,
and whether the next time will be his
last time, and variety of things of
that sort" @
What the War Is For.
Probably under variety of things
of that sort the officer had in mind
that the soldier might start to wonder
what the war was for anyway, who
profited by it, etc. 1t is not strange
that the officer thinks It a bad state
of affairs when the soldier begins to
think about his troubles, for it is quite
certain that given the time to do that
the soldier will eventually come
around to the point of wondering why
these troubles are necessary and how
he can relieve himself of them. The
next step, of course, would be to con-
fide his nominations and conclusions
to his buddy" who would then be
stimulated to express his own doubts
and misgivings on the subject Of kill
inc and diving In N,sdar A.