That wise advice was not understood for a long time. It was his own practice, as we now know, but the added importance of the study of military history in the curriculum of the war college is a recent idea.

It would be easy to adopt a course of study, filled with the military pedantry of our own and other ages, and this is a common error with those who attempt military study. Likewise, as all arts and sciences are brought to assist in modern warfare, we might supplement our previous studies by technical work, which would undoubtedly be of use. But none of this would fill the greatest void in our education, and practice us in the hardest duties of our office, or prepare us for the exercise of our wisest and soundest judgment. Military study must include not only the direction of troops as fighting bodies, but all the arrangements concerning their marching, rest and safety, their organization, equipment and supply. It involves the translation of these ideas into proper orders, it covers the collection and record of all operations. Not the least of its objects is the preparation of problems, the conduct of field maneuvers, and the duties of umpires. Our goal is the leading of troops; our ambition is to learn the art of commanding

men.

The wars of our day have changed in character. No longer waged in the name of religion or to satisfy the jealousies of reigning houses, they now result from great national movements, aims and ambitions. The consolidation of nations on racial lines makes greater the national interests involved, and probably adds to the bitterness of war. The advance of civilization may not be an unmixed blessing to humanity. It makes new conditions necessary to national existence. Such are a market for surplus products, work for all workers, room for the overflow of population. In meeting these conditions, diverse interests will clash and war will result, with ever increasing skill and ever growing armies and navies. Whether the wars for the rights of colonization and trade will reach us in our day, is hard to say. We may be sure, however, that greater efforts than ever before will be made to attain the ends of war, and that the problems of military men will be correspondingly great.

THE ARMY AS A FACTOR IN THE UPBUILDING

OF SOCIETY.

BY MERCH B. STEWART.

[Merch B. Stewart, captain U. S. army; born Virginia, June 24, 1875; appointed from New York to the United States Military academy, upon graduation in 1896 was appointed additional lieutenant to the 11th infantry, second lieutenant, 8th infantry, 1897; first lieutenant, October, 1898: captain, June 12, 1901; has written several articles for military journals.] Copyright 1905 by Military Service Institution

To many the superscription of this article may come in the nature of a surprise, for while the people of the United States are not inappreciative of their fighting forces, they have not as yet been educated up to the point of regarding them in the light of agencies of social improvement. When we consider that the soldier's sphere of action is ordinarily so remote as to preclude anything like intimate contact or association with the great mass of the people, it is not surprising that such should be the case.

In time of peace the work of the army is conducted in a manner so unobtrusive as to escape comment except on those unfortunate occasions when its internal discipline brings some offender temporarily to the notice of the press. It is for this reason, primarily, that the popular conception of the army is less flattering than the work of that body would seem to merit. Unfortunately, too, the army has for years labored under the burden of a popular theory which relegates to it the function of a dump ground for recalcitrants and derelicts, a theory which owes its origin, if such there be, to the days of other, and happily past, epochs.

With the rest of the world the army has advanced, and in its advance has lost none of the worthy traditions inherited from a sturdier if less erudite generation, and therein it possesses an advantage over contemporary society, for, controlled by the same civil restrictions, where society is but indifferently governed by a loosely constructed fabric of convention, the moral atmosphere of the army possesses the additional safeguard of a code whose transgression means disgrace and ex

pulsion. Succinctly the atmosphere of the army of to-day is one of cleanly lives, honorable dealings and enthusiastic devotion to country, an atmosphere enforced by a system of rigid discipline whose object is the correction and encouragement rather than the punishment of the individual.

The effect of such an atmosphere on the young man who enters the service can but be beneficial and it is in this influence which it exercises over the characters, often during a formative period, of those who from time to time form a part of the service, that the army plays an important part in the upbuilding of society. As a vocation, it offers none of the brilliant opportunities to be encountered in civil life, a condition which limits the sphere of its influence to a class deprived of many advantages. That such is the case does not in any way detract from the meritoriousness of its achievement. For the civilian, improvement of any description is to be obtained only by an extra expenditure of time and energy over that necessary to his maintenance, while in the army, whatever of improvement may accrue to the individual, comes to him as a part of his routine labor for which he receives compensation.

In order to properly evaluate the benefit of army influence over society in general it is first necessary to establish some standard whereby to measure the worth of man as a citizen, and to identify the results of army training with these standard characteristics. Every race, indeed almost every age, of man has established for itself some such standard. These standards have of necessity been functions of the philosophy, enlightenment and necessities of the particular ages to which they have pertained, and obviously, have been ever variable and ever varying. A study of the various standards of welldefined ages, however, reveals the possession of much in common, and it is from these more enduring characteristics that we should form a standard for the evaluation of the desirable citizen.

In no age of the world has physical perfection failed of appreciation. Greece was unstinting in its devotion to its culture and rewarded its successful attainment with extravagant honors. With Sparta it assumed almost the proportions

of a religion. Rome delighted in the prowess of its gladiators, while feats performed in the tournament typified the ideal sport of the early European courts. Bodily vigor and strength wrested this country from savages, defended it in rebellion and against invasion, and has made it whatever it may stand for to-day.

With the dawn of civilization came its necessary concomitant-law, and obedience to the law has been recognized as essential to domestic and foreign relations from their inception. Love of country, to the credit of mankind be it said, is an almost universal characteristic of every people of every degree, and the pride with which each nation honors its defenders is sufficient to fix the place of patriotism in any standard of character. These three characteristics, physical perfection, obedience to the law and patriotism, may be said to have received the sanction of ages as fundamental characteristics of the valuable citizen. It is doubtful if these attributes, sterling as they are, would to-day be accepted as constituting the full measure of good citizenship, but, as furnishing the fundamentals for all true development, they must be recognized as virtues to be prized in the citizen of any day. If we admit the truth of this assumption, the influence of the army becomes apparent when we consider the transformation which the raw material undergoes in the making of a soldier.

From the moment that the recruit enters the service the responsibility for his welfare is shifted from his shoulders to those of officers trained in the art of subsisting and maintaining troops. By them he is properly fed, clothed, housed and attended in sickness, and, in return, he has but to lend his will and energy to his instruction. In this he becomes the immediate object of attention of at least one officer and a dozen non-commissioned officers, all of whom add to their natural professional zeal a pardonable pride in the organization to which they belong. His instruction is given all the care bestowed by the artisan on a delicate part of a delicate mechanism for on the perfection attained by the individual depends the degree of perfection which may be reached by the company and theron depends the professional reputation of its officers.

He is taught that cleanliness is essential to health and

decency, and by constant cleanly association with others he comes to regard it not as an occasional luxury but as a necessary adjunct of his comfort. He is given substantial and becoming garments and is supervised in their care and preservation until such supervision becomes unnecessary. By instruction and example he is made to understand that nattiness and neatness in personal appearance are essential elements of respectability. By judicious restraint he is taught the distinction between order as inspired by fear of the law, and order induced by pride and love of moderation. His life is ordered and arranged for him after the manner best calculated to benefit him and at the same time subserve the interests of the military service. To this end he is subjected only to that restraint necessary to the observance of discipline. In the end he becomes habituated to cleanliness, order and moderation to the degree that the absence of any one of them is a source of actual discomfort to him. He grows to recognize that discipline is aimed as much at the misbehavior of others, whereby he may be discomforted, as at his own shortcomings. He learns to respect it as a protection rather than a menace, and in this knowledge he becomes possessed of the fundamental principles underlying all law.

In the meantime his physical welfare is the subject of careful consideration on the part of those responsible for his training. He is accorded much the same inspection a builder gives the material he puts into a structure, and, his defects once detected, he is given judicious exercise to remove or alleviate them. His food, plain and wholesome, is prepared in the manner best calculated to nourish him and his habits are so regulated as to build up his physique. Almost imperceptibly and perhaps entirely unconsciously, he is physically remodeled and developed. His rounded shoulders are straightened and broadened; his narrow, flattened chest is deepened and widened; his legs and arms are trained to respond with the minimum effort and maximum grace to every impulse of his will; his careless carriage and unnatural gait have been replaced by the healthy upright posture and easy swinging stride that distinguishes the soldier the world over, and it may be that what he has regarded as a mere recreation has been the saving