NATURE 



THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1920. 



The Universities and the Army. 



MORE than a year ago — on February 20, 

 1919 — an article on " Education in the 

 Army " was published in these columns in which 

 urgent reasons were advanced for a new policy. 

 During the intervening period, numerous contribu- 

 tions have been made to various newspapers and 

 reviews on the same subject, and book has suc- 

 ceeded book animadverting on the educational 

 defects of the Army organisation as revealed by 

 the war. Great disappointment will be felt that 

 these sincere representations have so far produced 

 no more useful result than the Memorandum on 

 the Army Estimates of 1919-20, recently published 

 by the War Office "in amplification of the speech 

 olf the Secretary of State in introducing the Esti- 

 mates." That speech, delivered by Mr. Churchill 

 on February 23, was able and serious within 

 somewhat exiguous limits, but it contributed 

 nothing to the question of educational reform in 

 its military aspects. We are forced, therefore, 

 to turn to the amplifying Memorandum in the 

 anxious hppe of finding the question discussed 

 on broad lines and in a scientific spirit. It proves 

 to be a Mother Hubbard cupboard containing 

 only a schoolboy essay freely embellished with 

 mixed metaphors. Thus : 



" One of the important lessons of the war has 

 been the extent to which the Army is dependent 

 on the Universities. Great strides were made in 

 this direction before the war, with the result that 

 the Universities responded to the call for help in 

 a splendid manner." 



This belated recognition of the valuable work 

 <'f the Universities in connection with the war is 

 well and fair so far as it goes, but it affords no 

 guarantee to the British public, whose ears 

 are still attuned to the sad diapason of the war's 

 tragedies, that the reorganisation of the Army 

 on its educational side is to be taken seriously 

 in hand. The fact that the Secretary of State, in 

 his speech, found the subject unworthy of even 

 a passing reference is surely disconcerting. 



We pointed out recently that the Memorandum 

 deserves to be commended for the proof it affords 

 of the recognition by the Army of the import- 

 ance of scientific research conducted both under 

 its direct supervision and in our Universities and 

 colleges. Every science and every scientific 

 NO. 2632, VOL. 105] 



15/ 



worker can make some contribution to national 

 defence. 



To give Mr. Churchill his due, he appears to 

 realise the economy of men and money which 

 may result from new applications of science. He 

 quoted in his speech, as an example of the possi- 

 bilities of the Air Force, the case of the recent 

 Somaliland campaign, which, at a cost of 30,000/., 

 achieved much more than an expedition before 

 the war which cost 2,500,000?. ; and he described 

 a new form of tank, which, so far from damaging 

 the roads, actually improved them, and possessed 

 an engine which, instead of overheating the 

 interior, exercised a refrigerating effect. But 

 what we ask, and what we shall insist on- know- 

 ing, is whether this new spirit is to permeate the 

 whole Army, or whether, when the wounds of 

 war are healed and its bitter memories pass into 

 subconsciousness, the Army will revert to its old 

 traditions. 



Fortunately for the Army and for the nation, 

 one of the root causes by which these traditions 

 were fed has been effectively removed. Before 

 the war, officers were not paid a living wage, 

 and that system was deliberately perpetuated in 

 order to maintain the tradition of the officer as 

 a gentleman of means and leisure who did half 

 a day's work for half a day's pay. As a writer in 

 the Ne-vo Statesman observed (January 25, 1919) : 



" It is no use pretending now that the system 

 gave us an efficient Army. One does not gather 

 grapes from thorns. The ablest boys in the 

 country's schools went almost invariably into 

 other callings. Some few officers, with the 

 German menace before their eyes, did indeed work 

 with most praiseworthy, unpaid energy in the 

 years immediately preceding the war. But no 

 gratitude to the ' Old Contemptibles ' should blind 

 us to the fact that, however devoted their 

 officers were, they were clearly outclassed as pro- 

 fessional men, both by their German opponents 

 and by their French Allies ; and that in spite 

 of the unique opportunities afforded by Colonial 

 and Indian war experience." 



Under the revised rates of pay of Army officers, 

 a junior subaltern receives pay and allowances 

 amounting to 320I!. a year if unmarried, or 394/. if 

 married, and is able to look forward to generous 

 increments on promotion and to an adequate 

 pension. It will be a breach of trust if, under 

 these conditions, the Army Council does not pro- 

 pose far-reaching reforms as regards standards 

 of education and training for the commissioned 

 ranks. 



G 



