Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1917 — SHOW SPIRIT OF OUR FOREFATHERS [ARTICLE]

SHOW SPIRIT OF OUR FOREFATHERS

Men of the Training Camps Will Make Excellent Lot of Officers. NOT VERY MANY WEEDED BUT Considerable Number Is Being Detailed for Engineering and Aviation Instruction—War Department Officials Are Pleased.

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

Washington.—More than half the first training period for candidates for commissions in the new army Is up, and the officials of the war department are ready to declare that results are beyond expectations and that the “plucking” process will develop fewer victims than anyone thought possibly could be the case. Stock is being taken by the officials of the results obtained by weeks of training for the 40,000 young men novt undergoing instruction in the camps. An officer of the army,said today: “The lower commissioned rank in our national army will be filled by men of whom any country could be proud. The young Americans who are attending the sixteen officers’ training camps in as many sections of the country are showing the spirit that made this country free. It Is to be expected that no difficulty at all will be experienced in selecting the men to command In the Junior commissioned grades, the first 500,000 young Americans soon to be called to. the colors. “The time given for the training is short, and only bne-half of it has passed, but the results obtained make us believe that, numerous as were the early mistakes and trying as were the conditions to which the men at first were subjected, the outcome will be all that we can wish, and It seems to be assured that the young officers quickly will get the confidence of the men whom they are to command and with it the confidence of this country and of its allies.” Political Pull Weakening. The reports which come to Washington from all the training camps are that the boys have put all that they have into their work. Washington still Is a little fearful that some of the young men who may be denied commissions because they have not come up tp the mark may have recourse to friendly political Influence to secure for them what they could not secure for themselves. This fear of the officials, however, is not sharp, for within a week or so the pressure from the politicians for preference for this man or that man has weakened. It can be said for the war department that it has stood faithful to its duty of denying requests for commissioned places for those lacking experience otherwise unfitted for the work of leading men. It should be understood that nothing like all the young men who entered the camps will answer their names at roll call on the day of breaking camp. For six weeks the weeding-out policy has been pursued. Men who never would make officers are told of their shortcomings and sent to their homes. In addition to this a considerable percentage of the men have been sent to other camps where they will specialize in engineering, or in aviation. The department has adopted a policy of sending men to flying headquarters where they will be trained, and later be given commissions in the air service. To Help Prepare Army Camps. Now that something like seven weeks have passed and virtually full opportunity has been given for passing Judgment on the qualifications of each man, it is not to be expected that the elimination will be anything like so many as they have been in the past except perhaps in the cases of men who show marked aptitude for places in the staff department. These men, of course, are not eliminated, but simply are transferred. It has hgen asked frequently what Is to be done with the candidate officers between August 11,- when the first camps are brought to an end, and the time set for the mobilization of the first national array. The students after about a week’s leave probably will be sent to the sites of the cantonments where they will undertake work under the colonels in command and will be given opportunity to help in the preparation of the big camps for the selected service men. In the preparation for the second series of encampments which will be opened on August 27 the officers of the army are doing what they can to avoid repetition of the mistakes made dur-' ing the continuance of the first camp. Plans now drawn up by the department eliminate almost entirely men who lack any military experience. Of course some likely soldier-making material to be found among civilians who never have shouldered a musket will be utilized, but it is probable that the students at the second camps will be In large pars men who have seen some previous military service. J