The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-10-16
&ERMAN'S TALK
on SOLDIER PAY
MUCH DISCUSSED
COLLEGE PRESIDENT MAKES
FURTHER EXPLANATION IN
ENDEAvoR TO CLEAR UP
ANY MISUNDERSTANDING
sby Associated PresS)
BY DR.. JOHN Fl. SHERMAN
President Of Weber COLLEGE,

BABsON PARK. Fla, Oct. 1e.
Probably ! should have expect
ed . comeback from last weeks
remarks on army morale, but no
body could possibly have fore
seen the completeness with
which those who caught my
meaning have agreed, and those
who didn't have reached for the
brickbats.
It leads me to believe that
everyone who understands my
point viii agree with it, and
since IL Is a matter of much mo-
ment to the nation and its SOL
diers, let me explain this view
further.
/ contend that, due to their
inexperience with the governing
spirit Of military idealism, our
Congressman and dollar-a-year
industrialists have shown them
selves unable to comprehend the
problem. and are making mat
ters worse by trying 90 pay more
money for a service which is in
tolerable except it be valued be-
yond the measurement of any
money.
And ] repeat that American
army morale has steadily de-
ciined with the successive in
ereases in soldiers pay; and pre-
dict that the more pay our boys
are given, the lower viii be their
morale.
The hired mercenary--a pro-
feSsiOnal murdered despised
wherever free men draw breath
lis paid to kill. The soldier
honored and respected for the
seIf-sacrifice he is willing to
endure-offers himself freely to
be killed for a great cause Here
Is the difference between dark
ness and light: between self
seeking and self-sacrifice. AS
those cannot mix, neither can
mercenary consideration and the
soldierly spirit of eager sacrifice
be mixed.
Because the boys don't under
stand themselves very well. they
gladly accept any money that is
offered them, but they show a
marked discomfort in its ac-
ceptance. Pressed for explana-
ton the more thoughtful among
them usually viii explain that
somehow" they feel that money
makes a bad soldier.
Every experienced officer
knows that the presence OF
money in a soldiers pocket Gre
ates a soldier who is restless in
camp, and officers dread the
week following payday, while
breathing easier when their men
are financially low or broke.
The overpaynent of soldiers
introduces luxury elements which
are destructive Of that spirit OF
hard self-discipline and plain
simple living from which the sol
der draws his feeling of differ
ence and his pride. Did you no.
tice that no old soldiers objected
to the strict discipline of Cen
eral Ben Lear? Hardness of life
is the pride of the soldier, who
can III afford to be softened by
coddling or by money.
Then, too, the possession of
money tends to develop an in
competent soldier. For example,
he gets his washing done for
him. OF course he should do
all his own washing. Ii he
doesn't, he viii be awkward and
incompetent at the job when at
the front where laundries and
washerwomen cannot follow him
Then stencil, vermin and disease
ride in the filthy uniform.
But more than all these is the
fact that the soldier knows that
his is a service beyond price,
higher the less it is paid; and
necessitating destruction of life
which he can eondone in himself
only to the extent that it is not
paid for in any material way. He
fights not for himself and not for
pay; but for others and for a
cause that transcends all per-
sonal consideration.
Garibaldi knew this. He rous-
ed, united, and led to victory men
to whom he could pay nothing
whatever except the priceless
rewards of the soldier which
alone he promised them: cold,
hunger, suffering, fever, wounds
and death-that their children
might be free.
Only thus do true soldiers long
to be paid.