Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1917 — TROOPS IN FRANCE ARE LEARNING DISCIPLINE OF FOREIGN ARMIES [ARTICLE]

TROOPS IN FRANCE ARE LEARNING DISCIPLINE OF FOREIGN ARMIES

Officers Are Inclined to Follow Stiffneck British System, But French Democracy Is Invading Ranks —Our New Crop of Reserve Officers Are Greater. Sticklers for Form Than Most West Pointers.

By HEYWOOD BROUN. (Accredited to the Pershing Army in France by the New York Tribune and Syndicate.) American Expeditionary Army. •‘The most important factor in the American army will be discipline.” said an officer shortly after the troops came out to the training camps. ‘‘lf it has. good discipline it will be a good army; If It has bad discipline, it will be a bad army. I can watch a regiment stand at attentldh and tell you whether or not it can fight effectively.’ The question remains as to what sort of discipline .the American army will have. Some, observers say that there are two kinds of good discipline French discipline and English discipline. Under the French system there are let-down periods. Off duty an officer may fraternize with enlisted men to an extent which would scandalize the English army. This is due,-in part, to the fact that the armies are composed differently. The English army is much more stratified than the French. It has, as the American army had before the war, a distinct officers’ class. An Englishman of certain education receives a commission as a matter of course. Under the volunteer system, which prevailed at the beginning of the war, the English volunteer of the upper or upper middle class did not offer his services until he was prepared to fulfill the duties of, an officer. The French draft, on the other hand, thrust many .a distinguished citizen into the ranks. A sergeant in the instruction division here was one of the most popular playwrights In France before the war, and the other day a grimy little man climbed from a coal cart to tell me in perfect English that he had been an assistant professor of' Romance- languages—inone of the great American universitles—Cornell, I think—before the call came. Of course, when the word English discipline Is used it falls short of the British army. Australian discipline and English discipline are vastly different. There is a popular story about an Anzac colonel in who drew ■up his men and told them: “An English general is coming here today to inspect the regiment, and remember, d- you, don’t call me ‘Bill’ until he goes.” Canadians Well Disciplined. An instructor at a British training camp told me that the Canadians were now among the best disciplined troops in the army, but that the Australians still gave occasional trouble. “Every now and then,” he said, “a couple of them will sneak down to the woods and camp out alone for a couple of days.” British officers will tell you that, although the Australians fight well, their losses are much higher than they would be with better discipline. If there is such a possibility as an absolutely democratic army, it has been much Impaired by the poor work of the Russian republican army. The scheme of submitting each plan of attack to the soldiers before it is ordered cannot be said to have proved effective. The question of discipline in the American army is complicated by many factors. Before the war there was a gulf between officers and men fully as wide as that in the English army. It was not due to lack of democracy. It was a gulf founded on fundamental differences of character and education. On one hand, there was the officer class, carefully selected and carefully trained, and on the other hand, the enlisted men, haphazardly accepted from the floating population. Professional armies the world over are recruited largely from the Industrially inefficient during times of peace. An American regular bf no great promise was bewailing the fact that an officer had hopped him because he executed a command imperfectly. “Well,” his companion answered, •‘wouldn’t the farmer bawl you out if he told you to feed the horses and you didn’t give them as much as he told you?” It was the typical point of view of the old type of professional soldier. He was drawn from the “bawled out” class and he could be governed only by “bawl out” methods. Things are largely changed now. More than half the American army in is made up of men who joined after the declaration of war. They were not jobless or inefficient. Multitudes of reasons sent them into the ranks. A few- wanted to make the world safe for democracy. Many more desired adventure, an ocean voyage and a trip to Paris and perhaps Berlin. “I was marching my men along the other day,” said a young captain. “When I heard a private give the cheer of the' University of Nebraska. I ran up to him and said: ‘You didn’t do that very well.' I’m a Nebraska man myself. Let’s do it together.’ All SOrta of Officer*. There are then men drawn from many classes in the artoy and there will be more. Already there are all sorts of officers. There is the regular from West Point, the occasional regular from civil life, the officer who came

through the Fort Leavenworth training school, the reserve officers and. a number of former “non-coms” recently elevated to commissions. The greatest sticklers sot discipline are the reserve ; officers. “I was talking to a soldier in the i street,” said an old West Pointer, “and he was telling me he had too much money to spend. ' *1 can’t use half of it,’ he said, ‘and I waste it on things I don’t want. Look at the bunch of cigars I bought. Take a handful.’ I took three, but I was mighty sorry afterwards, because I had with me a young /fellow, just commissioned second lieutenant, and he was almost shocked to death that I should take cigars from a soldier." The officers who rose from non-coms are also somewhat stiff and formal in the exercise of their new-found honors. All have been transferred from their regular regiments, so that they shall not be associated with the enlisted men they knew before the_y held commissions. Some officers believe in leading their men, while others in driving them, while still a third class combine the two methods. One of‘the best young I have seen in the army is absolutely Informal with his men at times. He comes to their concerts qnd hands cigars to the quartette and consults with them as to what song they shall sing. “Captain, do you like ‘Cathleen?’” the big soldier who sang tenor would ask, nnd the captain would answer: “Does it go like this?” humming a bar, and then add: “Yes, that’s a good one; let’s have it.” He could be stem enough upon occasion, and he had the best bombers in the army, but liked his men to know the reasons for things. He was fond of' get his point of view about things. Thus, when he found some soldiersdrinking too much, soon after their landing, he called a conference and told them that it had to stop. If the Whole Army Drank. “Some of you men are spending all your money on booze,” he said, “and getting stinko, pinko, sloppy drunk. It won’t do. A few old privates get drunk, but don’t copy them. It’s just because of that they’re old privates. I’m going to choose my non-coms from you, but not the men who drink. You’ve drunk yourselves out of a commission, sergeant. I was going to recommend you, but how can I do it now? Just look at the way I see it. If I took my pay in a lump I could buy every saloon in the town and stay drunk for two years. (“I had to exaggerate a little,” he confessed when he told the story to me afterward). What do you suppoise would happen then? Suppose the majors and the colonels and the generals and tl\e whole bunch got drunk, what would happen to the array? Don’t forget that this anny as much as it is ffliae. —That’s all today.” The chief and most able member of the ’ English school of discipline is General Pershing. He puts the drive in the army. His inspections are masterpieces of thoroughness and he is exceedingly stem with all inefficients, whether they are officers or soldiers. Slouchy bearing annoys him fearfully and he takes an active and penetrating Interest in shoes, buttons arid bright metal. He is exceedingly chary of praise. Probably nobody in the army will ever call him Papa Pershing, but for ail that he is a Roman father to his men.