582 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the fact that the individual is only a cog in the wheel of the big ma- 

 chinery. The few illiterate recruits from the most easterly parts of the 

 country receive instruction in reading and writing; those recruits who 

 have neglected to develop their bodies owing to lack of exercise improve 

 in physique during their time of service, and in this respect the time 

 spent in the army is of as much benefit as membership in an athletic 

 club. The lessons learned are not forgotten by the soldier after his 

 return to civil life, and order, discipline and the necessity of physical 

 exercise become indelibly impressed on his mind. 



It thus follows that the workingman who has had the advantage of 

 a training in the standing army must be of especial value in the indus- 

 tries. An artisan who is cleanly, orderly, punctual, exact and dis- 

 ciplined, cannot fail to be an invaluable acquisition to a factory of any 

 kind, and undoubtedly the success of the German industries in every 

 branch of human endeavor is due to this class of well-trained laborers. 

 This is a well-recognized fact in Germany, and similar views were ex- 

 pressed as early as 1893 by Dr. Caro, one of the greatest technical chem- 

 ists of all times, who, in his classical description of the development of 

 the German coaltar industry, published in the Berichte der Berliner 

 Cliemischen Gesellschaft, ascribed German superiority to the character 

 of the workingmen who had served in the army. 



German militarism early recognized the fact that the life and health 

 of the laboring class are an important factor in the resources of the 

 country, and consequently legislation for the protection of industrial 

 workers has been evolved, which has become the pattern for all nations 

 of the world. Even our own country which we think so free from mili- 

 tarism, has benefited by this German legislation, and when Governor 

 Glynn of the state of New York, in becoming a candidate for reelection, 

 reviewed what he had accomplished for the people during his term of 

 office, he considered the Workingmen's Compensation Law as the most 

 important of the measures passed during his incumbency. These com- 

 pensation laws, together with the old age, accident, sick and death insur- 

 ance laws, safeguarding and improving the economic conditions of the 

 workers, are directly due to German militarism in its endeavor to hus- 

 band the strength and earning power of the individual members of the 

 industrial army. Even Lloyd-George, the arch enemy of Germany, 

 copied these legislative measures of German militarism for the benefit 

 of the laborers of England. To this constant care for the individual 

 health and betterment of the working class are also due the establish- 

 ment all over the Empire of government and provincial homes for con- 

 valescents, of homes in which persons suffering from incipient tubercu- 

 losis are treated, and of many other institutions with the object in view 

 of promoting the recovery of those stricken with sickness. 



These in a general way are the benefits which the industries of the 



