Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1881 — The German Private Seldier. [ARTICLE]

The German Private Seldier.

P The soldier’* efrntation commenees t from the moment when he sets foot in the barracks. As he is a mere boy, and might feel cock-- -whoop about his uniform, he fa not allowed to ro and swagger about the town alone. i During ux weeks he remains in charge of who aets as h’s i monitor. The ofl/Vtfrs Is either a corporal or an okr soldier—that fa» one who has served at least tWo years, and is known for his steadiness, Four recruits are pat under him, and he fa required to In’tmct them In regime ntal customs, etiquette, rules;, to show them how their cots are to be made

up. to point out and name the officers to them—ln fact, to do them al! the friendly offices possible. When the day’s duties are over the pe/rette generally takes his pu Ils out for a walk in the town, warns them of what places they must avoid, tells them where .they may go, teaches them how to walk, whom to salute, etc,, and prevents them from squandering ihair money. His services are given quite gratuitiously, They are a token of the confidence which his superiors place in him—and he must not acce 4 so much aa a glasi of beer in remuneration for them. All these provisions are most wise, and the necessity for them will be well understood. Germany is apooroountry, anfl it is hard enough for persons of the lower classes to see toeir sons compelled to serve in the army without their having to feel that these boys will learn extravagant and vicious habits in the regiment. On the contrary, German parents have the great comfort of knowing that their sons will learn nothing but what is good in the army. Anyone who haastan German soldiers walking about the streets must have been struck with their invariably good conduct, their gentleness, civility, and sobriety. Buch a think as a drunken soldier is no more to be met with than a drunken clergyman. Night brawling, riots in houses or illfame, ruffianly impertinences to women—things common enough in some armies—meet with no indulgence at the hands of German officers and sergeants. The French officer fancies he has no business to supervise the morals of his men*; he would, indeed, be laughed at by hfa brother officers if he attempted to do so, and improper intimacies with the other sex are regarded by him as the most venial of peccadilloes. The consesequence is that in the streets round every French barrack teem a whole population of loose women, who are the soldier’s ruin, driving him to drink, extort money from his friends on these false pretenses, break rules, and sometimes steal. There is nothing of this kind in connection with

the German barracks. A German soldier who is known to have contracted blamable intima, ies is pulled up short by his sergeant before the mischief can go very far. If the lad Is not to be -cured of his folly, very strong measures will be taken with him, and perhaps he will be sent off to a garrison hundreds of miles away. In sum, the whole object of the German officers is to place themselves toward their men in toco pareniit, in order that when the soldier returns to his home his friends may be able to say that he has vastly improved in every respect. The veneration for the uniforms is inculcated with such care that a recruit becomes penetrated with It almost at once, and dismissal from the army is accounted a moral disgrace which leaves the delinquent no option but to So away from his country. Thieves, eserters. mutineers, incorrigible drunkards, are sentences to stiff terms of imprisonment, but aYe never permitted to serve again when their terms of punishment have expired; nor is any lad who has been sentenced to imprisonment by the civil courts before the age of 17 allowed to enter the army. The recruit who joins must have a blameless record, besides being sound of mind and limb. .As to this, it must be remarked that the medical examination of intended recruits takes place before the conscription, not after it, as In France'; and the doctors are very particular in passing none who, from physical infirmities, would be likely to make poor soldiers. This may serve to explain why lads who have gone into the army are held in somewhat undeser i ed contempt. Although there are plenty who have escaped military service simply by drawing exemption numbers at the conscription, it is too readily taken for granted by the people that a man who has not served must have done something wrong or have some blemish in bis body. Young men of good education and social position never escape service, as they invaribly volunteer at 17. In 1879 there was not a single soldier of superior education who had been enrolled in the service by conscription.