12 
Land & Water 
April 4, 191 8 
Citizen Soldiers : By The Editor 
THE power of the Press is a far older topic of 
disputation than many realise. There are those 
who have always regarded it as anathema 
maranaiha, while others have gone to the opposite 
extreme, and inasmuch as they deem a newspaper 
vox populi, worship its writings as vox del. Both these views 
are strained ; a man's a man, whether his daily duties be 
journalistic or connected with any other profession ; and it 
ma J' tend to steady those who still hold extravagant ideas on 
this subject to learn that one of the most distinguished 
generals in the Canadian Army is a newspaper proprietor, 
a man who until he joined 
up, in the autumn of 1O14, 
was actively engaged in 
the production of a daily 
newspaper, f^nd who, when 
the war is over, looks for- 
ward to returning to the 
same duties. Major- 
General Sir /David \yatson, 
K.C.B., C.M.G., command- 
ing the 4th Canadian Di\'i- 
sion, is the principal pro- 
prietor of the Quebec 
Journal. He was in his 
forty-fourth year when war 
began. Since a boy, he 
had belonged to the 
MiHtia — or to the Volun- 
teers, as we should call the 
force in this country. This 
he had done not from 
miUtary ardour, but be- 
cause he held it to be part 
of the duty of every honest 
citizen to be prepared to 
defend his country if occa- 
sion arose. 
True to his principles, he 
was among the earhest to 
volunteer for active service 
in France, and he landed in 
England wi th the first Cana- 
dian contingent on that 
memorable October morn- 
ing of 1914, in command 
of the 2nd Battalion, ist 
Canadian Division. He 
commanded this battalion 
in the second battle of 
Ypres, has since taken 
part in many hard-fought 
engagements, been wound- 
ed and gassed, and is at 
the moment in command 
•of the 4th Division. His 
business experience has 
served him well ever since 
he put on khaki ; for he 
was one of the founders of 
the Valcartier Training Camp, and has been able to utilise 
in other ways those qualities on which he relied for success 
in civilian life. 
It has been argued that since the war of positions began, 
all soldiers started even ; that is to say, that the training, 
experience, and special education of the professional soldier 
were of slight service in trench warfare. There is, no doubt, 
much truth in this saying ; for since the battle of the Marne 
so many unforeseen factors have been introduced into warfare 
that it signified little, so long as a man understood discipline, 
what his position in life might have been previous to the 
autumn of 1914, provided he was thoroughly fit in body, of 
an alert and adaptive mind, quick to form a decision or to 
seize an opportunity, and possessed of the subtle and indefin- 
able power of being able to handle men This truth has 
been more fully realised by the French nation than by our- 
selves, with our strongly conservative notions. One may 
regret it, but there is no occasion to be surprised at it ; it is 
a defect of our quahties ; were you to turn to Kipling's 
Departmental Ditties* you will find exactly the same spirit 
prevailing in the management of Indian State railways forty 
♦ The ditty is called Public Waste. • 
Major-General Sir David 
commanding 4th 
years ago. But war is a high explosive ; it looks as if even 
the reinforced concrete of professional ])ride and prejudice 
(which applies to all profesr-ions alike) is, so far as the Amiy is 
concerned, to be shatti red for all time. Certainly tliis is true 
of the Canadian Army, entirely a civilian force to-day. 
If the civilians, gathered in from all sorts and conditions of 
life, bring to the Army fresh ideas and new standards of 
value, let it be remembered they take from it gifts at least as 
precious. And the best of these is discipline. Find the 
civilian soldier, no matter of what rank, who lias fought at the 
front and been through tlie hell of battle — that hell which has 
been raging .so furiouslyTor 
the last two weeks — who 
will not extol the power of 
discipline. As General 
Watson remarked:' "It's 
discipline, discipline, dis- 
cipline, all the time, and 
the men themselves take 
as great pleasure and pride 
in the smartness and effi- 
ciency of discipline, once 
they realise all it stands 
for, as does any officer." 
When these civilian 
armies are demobilised, 
they will take back with 
them to their homes 
throughout the Empire a 
different standard of life. 
No soldier will be able to 
eliminate from his being 
the influence and lessons 
of these months of war. 
Ihis is bound to declare 
itself, and there is no pro- 
blem which the civilian 
soldier ponders over more 
deeply than how it will 
work in the future. At the 
front, he has been receiving 
object-lessons in that in- 
discipline which was a nor- 
mal part of his former life. 
Strikes, labour disputes, 
political wranglings, public 
intrigues, and calumnies — 
all thi,s turmoil disturbs 
and disgusts him. Why, 
he asks, cannot every man 
do his job in the same spirit 
as do the fighting men ; 
why cannot men lead in 
thejx)Iitical arena with tlic 
same clear purpose and dis- 
regard of self as they do on 
the field of battle ; why is 
a man in civil life per- 
petually slandering and 
Isackbiting his fellow-men 
and is unable to see good even in his friends, while the soldier 
takes life as it comes, knowing at any moment it may end, and 
can find good even in his enemies ? Few realise how deeply this 
questioning cuts into the heart of the civilian army. What 
its effect will be in the future it is impossible to forecast, taut 
it may lead to startling surprises — socially and politically. 
There is certainly a strong feeling among the men who 
have proved themselves leaders of mcri in warfaj-e not to 
lose their grip on their fellows in peace time, but to guide 
them to higher ideals and a better use of life than in 
the past. 
It is good to have a talk with a man of one's own profes- 
sion, who, laying aside temporarily the pen, has gone out to 
defend all he holds anost dear. As one discusses the ordinary 
topics of life, tliose little intimacies which similarit\' of work 
creates, one gets a glimpse between the spoken words of the 
new outlook the new life has given There has been no 
attempt here to put General Watson's views into print ; the 
opinions are those his conversation, often on very different 
topics, awakened. But it was brought home to the writer 
with new force what a marvellous power for good is the bond 
of British blood, the common ideals which can move men to 
the same sacrifice in their delence in all parts" of the world. 
Watson, K.C.B., C.M.G., 
Canadian Division 
