482 



NATURE 



February 2o ; 1919 



stricted to men ol means and leisure, and educa 

 tional standards had to be adjusted accordingly. 

 Sir Henr) Campbell-Bannefman acknowledged 



in the House of Commons on March 9, [903, thai 

 the crucial question of Army organisation was 

 whether this system should continue. In his evid- 

 ence before the Military Education Committee 

 v, iii. 1 1 n .is sel up after the South African War, Sir 

 Evelyn Wood said: "I am sorry to say that the 



.1 wanted in the \nm is only one who can 



command 150/. to 1500/. a year; there is no room 

 at all in the Army and thai comes before me 

 ever) da) for the man who has only 50/. a year 

 of his own. " 



Such was the position when Lord Haldanc 

 became Se< retarj for War in 1905. Unfortunatel) 

 for the nation. Lord Haldane preferred precept to 

 practice. His apologia during these crucial years 

 on high educational standards and democratic 

 principles was intended for outside consumption, 

 lie was either unwilling or unable to overcome 

 the vis inertiae of Army tradition. During- his 

 years of office educational standards for officers 

 of the Regular Army were actually reduced, for no 

 Other result could follow the lowering of the age- 

 limit for the Sandhurst examination from 

 seventeen and a hall to sixteen and a half — a 

 change which had the further vicious result of 

 interfering - with the proper work of our secondarv 

 schools. The position as regards the supply of 

 officers for the Army became so desperate that 

 the competitive examination for Sandhurst was 

 reduced almost to a farce as the number of candi- 

 (1 lies approximated to the number of places. Can 

 it be doubted thai .1 good many educational 

 "duds" gained admission to our largest militar) 

 college'-' Further, the immature youths who 

 joined the college were provided with an educa- 

 tional course which, judged by modern standards, 

 was 100 shorl and altogether inadequate in scope 

 and character. Training in scientific method was 

 entirely lacking. At one period, we believe, the 

 whole course only lasted for about nine months. 

 Much of ihc linn- available was necessaril) taken 

 up with drill, horsemanship, and routine militate 

 training. Those who know the facts can read Mr. 

 Thomas Seccombe's brilliant preface to "The 



L n of Youth " without surprise. The products 



of this system ol education were pitted in the war 

 against highb 1 ined officers of a nation which, 

 whatever its faili ma) he, has a profound 



respect for science and education. 



As we have alread] indicated, the Army has now 

 taken up with great enei the further education 

 of "Old Bill," that lovable figure who, by his 

 cheerful courage and self-sacrifice, has shown him- 



~?73, vol. 102] 



sell able lo Satisf) some ol the fligheSl tests of 

 education. We shall refuse to show any gnu 

 enthusiasm foi this work- until there is a complete 



change of heart at the War Office as regards the 

 higher direction oi the \imv. The old "caste" 

 theories have been shattered by the war. "Old 



Bill " asks primarily to be led by an offii er who 



knows his job, whatever his private income or 

 ancestr) ma) be. The Arm) musl he brought into 

 the- main stream of the nation's educational and 

 scientific life. Mr. Churchill's firsl lesson will l>, 

 to learn that an Ai Army cannot lie made with C3 

 brains. llis task at the \\ ar Office must be to set 

 up an Army, not inferior to the old Army in 

 discipline and devotion to duty, but immensely 

 superior in its respect for science and education. 

 1 1 should be a model organisation which other 

 great national institutions will aspire to copy 

 in its educational standards and the applica- 

 tion of science to all departments of its work, 

 in its conditions of employment, its belief in 

 equality of opportunitv, its standards of health and 

 discipline — an Army for which compulsion will be 

 unnecessary, because every public-spirited citizen 

 will desire lo take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunities it offers for educational and physical 

 training. 



We may add with confidence that, in accord 

 with the democratic conditions under which oui 

 national life will in future be lived, some system 

 will have to be devised for selecting men from the 

 ranks who have attained the necessar) educational 

 standard and for training them for commissioned 

 service. For this important task and for the 

 training of ordinary universit) students as Regular 

 and Reserve officers the establishment of resi- 

 dential military colleges within existing univer- 

 sities is clearly indicated. The success of the 

 universities in training officers for the Army 

 through their contingents of the- Officers Training 

 Corps, and through the exiguous scheme- for 

 universit) commissions in the Regular \rmy 

 which was in operation before the war, warrants 

 confidence in their ability to discharge the wider 

 functions suggested. Any such scheme would 

 have the further effect of bringing the Army into 

 closer touch with the educational and scientific 

 thought of the universities and with the- results 

 ol research in all departments of knowledge. If 

 the ancient and honourable profession of arms is 1 

 he made a real profession in a modern ser- 

 high standard of selection and training must be 

 demanded. Under no other conditions can the 

 reasonable demands of \rm_v officers lor I 

 pay and improved prospects he granted by a 

 grateful country. 



