THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



438 



A HIGH ORDER OF MAN MATERIAL 



The selected men, as a rule, are far 

 above the average in intelligence and ex- 

 perience and education of the class that 

 formerly drifted into the regular army. 

 Without any disparagement of the older 

 branch of the army, the present recruit, 

 brought into service under the selective 

 law, will improve the tone of the whole 

 service. He is not attracted to the mili- 

 tary life from motives of excitement or 

 other motives not so worthy, but he is 

 brought into the army through the op- 

 eration of a law that does not omit 

 church members from the selected quotas. 

 In the old regiments, church members 

 were the exception rather than the rule. 



The tone of the new army can be 

 judged from the interest shown in it by 

 such organizations as the Young Men's 

 Christian Association and the Knights of 

 Columbus. 



The captain of the regular army, ac- 

 customed to the class of recruits received 

 during the last few years, looks at the 

 present selective army "rookies" with 

 envy. Take a typical company. The age 

 of the 150 men who have already re- 

 ported averages 24 years and 8 months. 

 The first six squads — that is, the first 48 

 men in the company — are all over 5 feet 

 1 1 inches. Nearly all the professions are 

 represented ; a lawyer, a hospital attend- 

 ant, and a tutor answer the roll, as well 

 as storekeepers, clerks, salesmen, me- 

 chanics, artisans, and farmers, not to 

 overlook that very important member of 

 army life — cooks. 



One company boasts six cooks, an un- 

 heard-of situation in the regular service, 

 where the feeding conditions had become 

 so unsatisfactory under the old system 

 that a professional school of bakers and 

 cooks has been organized of recent years. 

 Graduates of this school are on duty at 

 the camps in order to help out the new 

 men, and I have seen a recently arrived 

 "selected" recruit cook showing a grad- 

 uate of the bakers' and cooks' school a 

 new wrinkle in frying potatoes. 



EVERY TRADE REPRESENTED 



With good fortune a captain may find 

 an expert stenographer and typist drafted 

 in his company, who will serve as clerk; 



carpenters, barbers, tailors, all those use- 

 ful members of society, will go to make 

 up the quota of 250 men in a company, 

 and it is not rare to find telegraphers, 

 train dispatchers, builders, painters, and 

 workers of all kinds. 



When the selected men are mustered 

 into the service, it is the duty of an officer 

 to make a record of their professions and 

 special qualifications, so that by a simple 

 turning to the statistics the suitable men 

 for any work that arises may readily be 

 found. Out of 150 men questioned in 

 one company, 105 could drive Ford auto- 

 mobiles. 



The captain of a company is not, as a 

 rule, fortunate enough to find the work- 

 able proportion of the qualified men he 

 needs for the smooth administration of 

 his organization, but through the aid of 

 this statistical record he can exchange an 

 extra cook for a stenographer, a super- 

 fluous barber for a mechanic or carpen- 

 ter ; for you must understand that a com- 

 pany must be able to maintain an inde- 

 pendent, self-contained existence. 



MAKING A SOLDIER IN SIX MONTHS 



There is an army proverb to the effect 

 that the non-commissioned officer is the 

 backbone of the service, and in the for- 

 mation of his company the captain first 

 looks for material that promises to make 

 these important soldiers. In this regard, 

 results that seem startling to the old-time 

 regular are sometimes accomplished in 

 the National Army. I have seen a com- 

 pany commander lucky enough to find the 

 raw material for a first sergeant, mess 

 sergeant, and supply sergeant at the first 

 sifting of his selected men ; these were 

 men who had held responsible positions 

 as section boss, steward in a hotel, and 

 small storekeeper in civil life, and their 

 training fitted them, with a few weeks' 

 study, to enter on the work of non-com- 

 missioned officers in the army. They are 

 far from knowing the niceties of the drill, 

 but their progress is rapid, and out of 

 their experience and innate ability they 

 quickly fall into the roles of authority. 



That the average American can be 

 turned into a good infantryman with six 

 months' training has long been a theory 

 of mine, and I look forward with con- 

 fidence to seeing: this theory confirmed out 



