Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1902 — Soldiers as Automatons. [ARTICLE]

Soldiers as Automatons.

To convert a man physically into an imitation of u machine is, we know, no difficult task. Long distance athletes clearly prove this. Soldiers, again, afford instances. During the last army maneuvers of one country a batch of foot soldiers was specially trained for long distance marching. After traveling a prodigious number of miles they were commanded to halt and fire, says Cassell’s Magazine. Not one man could bring his riffle to his shoulder and take aim. Yet at the word “March I” all of them, tottering and unsteady as they were, started promptly to limp on again. They could not perforin a fresh action, but their marching had become automatic.