America's Fighting Stocks 



437 



In Europe at the present time, a 

 much larger proportion of the fightinp; 

 men belong to the Nordic race than 

 is generally supposed. Of course, the 

 Scandinavian peninsula, where the Nor- 

 dic is found in the greatest purity at 

 the present day, has up to this time 

 kept out of the conflict, but Nordics 

 are to be found extensively in the 

 fighting forces of most of the nations 

 at war. Practically all the men from 

 the northeast of Great Britain are 

 pure Nordics, while the rest of the 

 population is predominantly of Nordic 

 iDlood, mixed with Mediterranean blood 

 in the southwest. North of Paris 

 France is largely Nordic, with the 

 central region populated by Alpines, 

 and the southern border by Mediter- 

 ranean stock. In Belgium, the divi- 

 sion is made between the Nordic 

 Flemings and the Alpine Walloons. 



The Central Allies depend no less on 

 a strong fighting force of Nordic extrac- 

 tion. German}^ is Nordic along the 

 northern plains from whence come the 

 Prussian militarists, and Alpine along 

 the southern uplands. Austria is pre- 

 ponderantly Nordic, although Cevan- 

 olia and Anatolia are populated by a 

 large percentage of brachycephs who 

 are probably of Alpine origin. Hun- 

 gary is peopled largely by pugnacious 

 Magyars, who are nearly all dark, 

 short and brachycephalic, and are 

 mainly of Alpine blood. 



In Russia, the Letto-Litlumians are 

 entirely Nordic, and form a large part 

 of the superior fighters, while the 

 Poles, White Russians and Little Rus- 

 sians are Alpine. The Cossacks are 

 now mostly Alpine in stock. Through 

 the Balkans, the population is preva- 

 lently Slav and consequently Alpine. 

 In Greece, the race was formerly com- 

 posed of Mediteranean stock led by 

 Nordics, but this has been almost en- 

 tirely overlaid b}^ a people of Alpine 

 extraction. 



The Mediterraneans are found in 

 their greatest purity in Spain and 

 southern Italy. In the north of Italy 

 the Alpines form the majority of the 

 population. 



While these races have blended to a 

 certain extent in almost everv country. 



yet they are still distinguishable. But, 

 it may be asked , can any real differences 

 in fighting ability be shown among 

 them? 



It seems reasonable to believe that 

 there can; that fighting ability is in 

 part an inherent trait, of which one 

 race may have more than another. 

 This is strongly suggested bv a study 

 of wild animals, in whom wildness and 

 pugnacity are certainly germinal quali- 

 ties, and not merely the result of 

 training. 



At the same time, ability in modern 

 warfare is not wholly a matter of pug- 

 nacity. It requires likewise coherence, 

 obedience, and a great mass of traits of 

 mixed germinal and social nature. 

 Two nations may be equal fighters for 

 very different reasons: one excels in 

 dash, as the French, another in tenac- 

 ity and persistence, as the English. 

 This complexity of the qualities that 

 make up a fighting nation may again be 

 paralleled in animals. The fighting 

 dog is a specialized breed which is 

 constantly selected for two very dis- 

 tinct, inherent qualities — the ability to 

 take punishment and the ability to 

 give punishment. The former quality, 

 gamcness, is the more common, and it 

 is not difficult to get a dog which will 

 allow itself to be chewed to death with- 

 out a whimper and which will start 

 back into the coml^at after every 

 round of battle, until he falls from 

 exhaustion and loss of blood; and 

 which nevertheless can inflict little 

 damage on his opponent. On the 

 other hand, some dogs are born with 

 what the connoisseur calls a "long, 

 firm, even bite" but they are "forty- 

 minute dogs" — after a little fighting 

 they get discouraged and quit. It is 

 the rare combination of the two quali- 

 ties that makes the unconquerable 

 champion who gets his picture in the 

 Police Gaz'^ttc. 



In a similar way, it is certain that 

 races differ in their inborn fighting 

 ability, as well as in their training, 

 morale, and other acquired traits. The 

 directors of modern armies should take 

 this fact, into consideration. 



At present there are available six 

 distinct stocks in the United States, 



