instance, after three years service in a cavalry regiment as a farrier, the soldier receives a certificate, which practically assures him a good position in civil life as the result of the training he has received in that branch while in the army. The same applies to tailors, bakers, carpenters and so on. For those to whom the military life is agreeable, particularly non-commissioned officers, as mentioned before, special courses of instruction are available to enable them to develop still further in their military career as well as in general education. Lessons and lectures are provided for the study of languages, mathematics, geography, etc. When they desire to retire into civil life to positions in the postal or railway or revenue services, preference is given. After twelve years of faithful service, a premium of 1,000 Marks is given to enable them to start independently in business in civil life. We now come to the men of whom you no doubt have heard as Einjaehrige or one year's service men. This institution is of great importance from a practical as well as a military standpoint. It originated at the time when the army was not yet large enough to accommodate all eligible men, and recruits were drawn by lot. In order to enjoy the rights of a one-year service man, a young man has to provide his equipment, and receives no pay to support himself. Likewise proof must be given of a superior education, by means of school testimonials or on the basis of a rather severe examination. The one-year voluntary service, then, is in no sense a privilege of wealth, but rather a privilege of education, for whereas the examination may never be remitted, assistance is given to young men of superior education or exceptional ability in their trade who lack the means for supporting themselves throughout the entire year. The one-year service, which was introduced by Minister of War von Boyen in 1814, together with the duty of general military service, has two striking advantages. In the first place, military service for only one year interrupts but slightly the general training of the young Germans. On the contrary, it is regarded by many as a great advantage that young men, whether merchants, students or farmers, interrupt once in their life their civil employment and become familiar with an entirely new world. In the second place, these one-year service men provide the indispensable material for replenishing the body of officers in time of need. After one year of service has rendered the sifting possible, the superiors select those suitable for the position of officers, who are then called to the colors twice for a period of eight weeks, thoroughly trained, and become eligible for a commission as officers. In the event of mobilization, these reserve and landwehr officers are intermingled with the regular officers in such a manner that a great number of reserve officers are drawn into the line regiments while regular officers are assigned to the reserve and landwehr regiments, especially in positions of command. Asquaintance with officers' corps in time of war shows that a large proportion of them are judges, state's attorneys, teachers, professors, artists, writers, farmers, merchants, engineers and officials of all kinds. The military spirit in the German army is chiefly represented in its corps of officers and the education which they impart to the youth of the land. When the decision is reached by the German youth who desires to embrace the military career as a life's work, he makes application, when becoming of military age, to the colonel of the regiment he intends to join. The choice of selecting the branch of service, and the particular regiment is open to the candidate. If the applicant possesses the necessary qualities, mentally, physically and morally, in a degree sufficient to appeal to the regimental commander, he is accepted and enters the regiment as a private, where he does the same work as the other privates, but in addition thereto must practise and study for his profession. After one year's service in the ranks he is sent to the "Kriegsschule" or "Military Academy", where he spend nine months in patient application to military studies. Thereupon he takes an examination to show his eligibility to become an officer. If he has successfully passed this examination he is proposed for admission by the regiment's officers and, to be acceptable, must receive an unanimous vote in his favor. Before being admitted to the officer's rank, the facts are placed before the Emperor, who thereupon presents to the office his commission. As to the broad aspects of compulsory military service, with reference to its advantages to the individual as well as as to the nation, it is universally conceded that the two years' military service is of great benefit. It broadens and educates; it gives mental and moral support; it provides a physical foundation of a superior order; and, last but not least, it inculcates the highly desirous disciplinary features, which have proven to be so necessary. In peace times, the same moral force has been a powerful factor in instituting social reforms. Contrary to general belief a two years' military service does not imply any disadvantage whatsoever in a country where every male individual is placed under the same obligations and where preference in any industrial pursuit as well as in social life is visible to the man who has served his country faithfully. In conclusion, I quote from a leading military authority of the present period, Major Deutelmoser. In a statement written several years before the present war, he characterized the ideals and achievements of true military training as follows: "An army fit for war is not a great machine in which, if it is properly constructed throughout, the motive power proceeds from one point and by automatic compulsion sets the most distant wheels in operation. Each element of which an army is composed is an individual being, has its own world of thoughts and feelings, with an individual will, which may just as easily express itself against the operation of the whole as in agreement with it. Herein lies the principal difficulty in the leading of great masses. If the highest plane of agreement is to be reached, it is needful that the many thousands act together, not under mechanical compulsion, but as independently thinking and willing units. Formerly this was quite different from today, since the close rank formations of the past left but slight latitude for the individual. King Frederick's Grenadiers fought shoulder to shoulder, closely knit in serried ranks. The battle formation of present-day infantry fighting, on the contrary, is that of the deployed firing line. "Thus the individual, at the very moment when brought face to face with the immediate danger of death, is deprived of the influence of the word of command. He must furthermore, seek cover in order to offer the smallest possible target to the enemy. As a result, he disappears from the supervising eye of the leader more than might be desired and he is in a higher degree left to himself. The danger is herewith created that the expediency and uniformity of the action be lost, and that the will to victory give way to the consciousness of the continuing presence of death, calculated to undermine the morale. There is but one counter measure for this: to so develop in each man in time of peace the independent power of decision so that he may know how to act correctly without any constant direction, and above all to train him to honorable feelings and strength of will which under the stress of necessity and danger by their own force overcome the instinct of self-preservation." (644) I COLLEGES AS TRAINING CENTERS FOR AN EDMUND J. JAMES President of the University of Illinois SUBMIT for your consideration at this time only a few suggestions upon a fundamental element in this whole question of military preparedness; namely, the creation of a sufficiently numerous body of adequately prepared officers to man properly the armed forces of the nation. This is of course one of the fundamental problems in the creation of an army. Our own Civil War, like all previous wars, demonstrated that fact. It was further emphasized by our experience in the Spanish War, and certainly no war ever furnished a more complete proof of it than the present one. The statement by the distinguished ex-Secretary of State, Mr. Bryan, that in answer to a call from the president of the United States for volunteers to repel an actual invasion, a million men would answer over night, is not, I believe, in any sense exaggerated. Thank God for this fact. The existence of such a spirit is of course the best guarantee of our national salvation. But these million men would not be an army, but a mere horde, and to convert them into an army would require months of severe discipline under the tutelage of a trained and efficient corps of officers, and to produce such a corps of officers would require years. Let us make no mistake on this point. We see how true this is from the experience of England in the present world struggle. When the history of this war comes to be written, it will be found that the slowness with which England got into the real conflict on the land is not explained merely by a lack of ammunition or by the lack of volunteers, but in a still higher degree by lack of officers to 1 Read by title at the meeting of the Academy of Political Science, May 18, 1916. |