Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1917 — HOME-READING COURSE FOR CITIZEN-SOLDIERS [ARTICLE]

HOME-READING COURSE FOR CITIZEN-SOLDIERS

(Issued by the War Department and all rights to reprint reserved.) Thia course of thirty daily lessons is offered to the men selected for service M the National Army as * practical help in getting started in the right way. It is informal in tone and does not attempt to give binding rules and directions. These are contained in the various manuals and regulations of the U. S. Army, to which this course is merely introductory.

LESSON 1. YOUR POST OF HONOR.

You are called to serve as a soldier in the National Army, because that isone of your obligations as a citizen of the United States. The ■ citizens of a republic must always be ready in the hour of need to leave their own homes and take up arms in defense of their rights and principles. Otherwise the Republic could not long continue to exist. The men who now enter the military service deserve the gratitude and respect of their fellow citizens. You are doubtless making a heavy sacrifice in order to perform this duty to your country. Hundreds of thousands of other young men and their families are face to face with similar sacrifices. All our citizens will Conner- nr later be called upon, each to bear his or her share of the burden. Men and women, rich and poor, all alike must do whatever is necessary and must give up whatever is' necessary. For no personal interests or feelings can be permitted to stand in the wa"y at a time when the safety and honor of the country are at stake. As a citizen soldier you are chosen for a post of special distinction. America is justly proud of the soldiers of the past who have won for us the rights today denied and put in serious danger by the high-handed attacks of the German government. America will be no less proud of you, as you fight to uphold those rights. Your personal responsibility is great. As warfare is today conducted, the individual soldier counts for more than ever before. Your own skill and bravery, no matter how humble your rank, may easily be important factors in deciding whether an engagement is to be won or lost. You can not depend upon anyone else to carry .this personal responsibility for you; you must depend upon yourself.

SOME AMERICAN SOLDIERS Americans are well-fitted to meet this test. During the Civil War, at the battle of Antietam, the 7th Maine Infantry lay, hugging the ground, under a furious storm of shot and shell. Private Knox, who was a wonderful shot, asked leave to move nearer the enemy. For an hour afterwards his companions heard his rifle crack every few minutes. His commanding officer finally, from curiosity, crept forward to see what he was doing and found that he had driven every man away from one section of a Confederate battery, tumbling over gunner after gunner as they came forward to fire. * * * At the end of an hour or so, a piece of shell took off the breech of his pet rifle, and he returned disconsolate, but after a few minutes he gathered three rifles that were left by wounded men and went back again. .' .. In the Confederate armies individual soldiers were no less skillful, cool and braye. On both sides they were Americans. Here are a few cases quoted from official records. You must read between the lines to get the full benefit of the stories they tell of resourcefulness and courage. ' On June 9,1862, Private John Gray, sth Ohio Infantry, “mounted on an artillery horse of the enemy and captured a brass 6-poundpiece, in the face of the enemy’s fire, and brought it to the rear.” On October 12, 1863, Private Michael Dougherty, 13th Pennsylvania Cavaliy, “at the head of a detachment of his company, dashed across an open field, exposed to a deadly fire from the enemy, and succeeded in dislodging them from an unoccupied house, which he and his comrades defended for several hours against repeated attacks, thus preventing the enemy from flanking the position of the Union forces.” ' From May 8 to 11, 1864, Private John B. Lynch, 3d Indiana Cavalry, “carried important dispatches from the President to General Grant, passing through the enemy’s country, escaping capture, delivered his messages and returned to Washington with replies thereto.” • On April 27, 1899, Private Edwatd White, 20th Kansas Infantry, during a fight with insurgents in the Philippine Islands, “swam the Rio Grande de Pampaga in face of the enemy’s fire and fastened a rope to the unoccupied trenches, thereby enableing the crossing of the river and the driving of the enemy from his fortified position.”

On May 6, 1900, Private William P. Maclay, 43d U. S. Volunteer Infantry, “charged an occupied bastion, saving the fife of an officer in a hand-to-hand combat and destroying' the enemy.” Tn all these cases medals of honor ♦ere granted. The incidents, however, are typical of the army. Thousands of similar stories might be told. They represent the spirit that will inspire the National Army when the time comes to show the stuff of which it is made. Tales of heroic courage can be found in the annals of all armies and of all nations. But the American Army has its own special tradition, which these incidents illustrate. It is the tradition of intelligence, selfreliance, and individual daring on the part of men serving in the ranks. THE INDIVIDUAL SOLDIER COUNTS Other things being equal, an army made up of self-reliant, thinking men has a great advantage over a merely machine-like army, and this is especially true in present-day warfare. Maj. Gen. Hugh L. Scott, Chief of Staff, U. S. A., remarks on this point: “The conditions under which modem wars are fought are ever making increasing demands on the individual soldier. * * * The individual soldier must know how to interpret accurately orders and signals, for the enemy’s fire may often so isolate him from his leader and comrades, perhaps only a step away, that he may be thrown on his own initiative in making his actions conform to those of the whole line; he may have to use his own judgment in opening fire, in advancing, in intrenching.” . FAIR PLAY A second tradition 3>f the American Army, which need only be mentioned, is that of fighting fairly and treating even the enemy- with as much humanity as his own conduct will permit. As for slaughtering or enslaving the civilian population of captured territory, attacking prisoners or assaulting women, American soldiers would as little commit such crimes in time of war as in time of peace. In this respect most of the ,civilized nations of the world think alike. FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS AND PRINCIPLES There is a third splendid tradition of the American Army which you will help to carry forward. It has fought always and everywhere in defense of principles and rights—never merely for territory and for power. Even the Civil War resulted from the clash of opposing principles—the principle of an indivisible Union upheld by the North, and that of freedom to withdraw from the Union upheld by the South. To protect the rights of citizens, the American people have several times opposed tyrannical governments —the English government in 1776 and 1812, the French government for a short period in 1798, the Mexican government in 1848, the Spanish government in 1898. The final effect in each case has been toadvance the cause of liberty and democracy throughout the world, even in the countries against which we fought. Our weapons have not willingly been turned against any peoples, but only against the rulers who misgoverned and misled them. In fighting for our own rights, the American Army has fought also, in President Wilson’s phrase, for the “rights of mankind.” For a like high purpose, the American people have entered 'into the present war against the German government—a government which in our belief misrepresents and misleads the German people. Only by so doing can we make ’ America and the world “safe for democracy.” But one ending can be thought of—an ending that will guarantee the continuance of all those principles and rights which the American Army has in the past so nobly fought to establish. j Never lose sight, even for an in- • stant, of the fact that all your traih- ' ing, your efforts, and your sacnfrces . have this one great object in yiew, i the attainment of which is worth anything.it may cost