Evening star., 1939-06-12

| StA a oAAA ukO1A UlloSC III SollA1ldllo VI CilC
individual units calls for qualities
of leadership perhaps never before
required in military history. Though
the day of individual champion may
have passed into history, the day OF
the leader of small and large units
is still young.
Leadership has meaning only as
it brings about cooperation. When
men are working upon a great prob
lem, but must work by themselves,
or in small groups without close
contact, there is danger that they
may not pull in the same direction
Cooperation means discipline, not
meticulous though unthinking obed-
ience to guardroom technique, nor
blind mass cooperation of a Mace
donian phalanX or the close -order
attack. Discipline is the tempered
working together of many minds
and wills, each preserving independ-
ent judgment, but all prepared to
sink individual differences and ego
tisms to attain an objective which
is accepted and understood. When
men are taken far apart by me-
chanics and specialization, team
work is far more essential than
when they are close together; for
1t must be teamwork of the mind
as well as of the body.
Some Of you, no doubt, in full
ness of time, will f1pd yourselves
with responsibilities even greater
than those of bringing about the
cooperation of military units.
When the supreme test of war
comes-and I hope it never will
an army to be effective, must COM
mand the cooperation of all ele-
ments in national life. The men
then charged with the national de-
tense must be able to bring into
harmonious action the civilian in
struments of production, and Of
transport, and of finance; they
must deal with labor, with indus
Try, with management, with agri-
culture and with costs.
To do this requires sympathetic
knowledge of how other men s
minds work and of processes by
which on-military life operates
There is no greater quality of dis
cipline than the ability to recognize
different technique and different
processes, and by persuasion and
reason to bring these divergent
forces into fruitful cooperation.
You have seen the problem in its
smaller aspects here at West Point;
let me commend to you in your Army
careers continuous study of prob
lens outside as we'll as inside the
military field, as the necessary prep
aration for the greatest success in
your chosen work.
Strength in Cooperation.
These qualities of cooperation,
discipline and the self-restraint
and self-reliance which make them
useful are the very fabric of modern
life. If it can be developed interna-
tionally as we'll as nationally, we
shall be materially nearer to a real
ization of our hopes of peace.
Recently we have had the pleasure
of visit from King George vi, as a
courteous recognition of the cor
diality and good will which prevails
between two great nations. It's sig
nificance lay in the fact that friend
ship could exist between the two
countries since both were without
fear Of any act of aggression of one
against the other. To achieve that
result. strength is needed; strength
which comes, not from arms alone
but from restraint, understanding
and cooperation which in turn are
the product of trained and dis
ciplined minds.
am sure the lessons you have
learned at West Point will be OF
use in peace, no less than war; and
that in you the Nation will take the
same pride, maintain the same con.
fidence, as, through the generations
it has held for the officers of the
Armies of the United States.