Average Americans Part 12

Now that the work of fighting was over, uppermost in everyone's mind was the thought, "When do we get home?" The minuteman wanted to go back to ordinary life and his family. Time and again when I first returned to this country people would ask me what I thought the soldiers thought of this or that public question. I always replied truthfully that the men were so busy thinking about what a good place the United States was, how much better in their opinion than any of the European countries they had been to, that all they were interested in was, when will that transport leave.

In January I was ordered to Paris on sick leave. Shortly after, I sailed for home on the _Mauretania_ and saw the ma.s.s of New York lift on the horizon, where my three children, who had practically forgotten me, were waiting. So ends the active partic.i.p.ation of an average American with average Americans in the war.

CHAPTER XII

AFTERWARDS

"When old John Burns, a practical man, Shouldered his rifle, unbent his brows, And then went back to his bees and cows."

BRET HARTE.

The war is important to us in this country for what it accomplished directly: namely, it crushed the brutal military power of Germany, which threatened our ideal of civilization. We are, however, primarily civilians, not soldiers, and we are now going back to our "jobs,"

whatever they may be. For this reason I consider more important and more far-reaching than the military victory the lessons that it taught us and the effects it had on our citizens who partic.i.p.ated. We must profit by these lessons and preserve the impulses that have been given to our people. If we do this the war will not simply be history, a past issue, a good job well finished; it will be a force that will be felt in this country through the generations to come for righteousness and a truer Americanism.

The first and most evident lesson taught us was the effect of being ill-prepared. We permitted in the past a policy which subst.i.tuted fine words for fine deeds, the pen and the voice for action. We, in the past, contented ourselves with sounding plat.i.tudes; we allowed our sloth to approve them under the misnomer of idealism. We allowed ourselves to be switched from the hard realities by glittering phrases. We sowed the wind and we reaped the whirlwind. As a result hundreds of millions have been spent to no purpose and blood has been shed unnecessarily. Those who were in this country saw daily the evidences of inefficiency and the coincident waste of the public moneys. Those who went to Europe saw blood shed unnecessarily through lack of supplies, inefficient organization, and untrained leadership. At no times did our equipment compare favorably with that of either of our major Allies. At all times in Europe we were to a greater or less extent equipped by them.

Much as we are to blame for permitting these conditions to arise in the past, we will be doubly so if in the future we let half-baked theorists and sinister demagogues lead us again into a like neglect. We will be guilty of bringing down upon the heads of our children the same punishments that we have suffered. Indeed, we will probably bring down more upon them, as we by pure good fortune escaped the maximum penalties that were due us.

It was our good fortune that we were permitted, under the sheltering forces of the Allies, slowly to prepare ourselves after we had declared war, until, after about a year, we were in a condition which enabled us to join in the conflict. Next time in all probability there will be neither England nor France standing between us and the enemy armies and giving us nearly a year leeway before we have to fight. I am proud to be an American, I am proud of the actions of the citizens of the country, I am proud to be a citizen of a country which has fought a war, not with the aid of, but in spite of, its national administration. My pride in the actions of the rank and file of the country is offset only by my shame at being represented in the world by the present administration.

As is usually the case, those who are responsible in a large measure for conditions have suffered least. The average American man or woman has borne the brunt and paid the price. Those nearest and dearest to the men mostly responsible have been, like the Kaiser's sons, too valuable to risk near the battle. A prominent Socialist deputy of France who had advocated disarmament went with the first troops. He was wounded, and when dying said he was thankful it had been permitted him to atone with his life for his errors in the past. I admire a man of that type of honesty and courage.

Honor where honor is due. Honor to the people of the United States for their actions after the beginning of this war.

Blame where blame is due. Blame to the citizens of the United States for their easy indolence which permitted them to support for their high offices men who neither thought straight nor were manly enough to share in the penalties for their mistakes.

We had the lesson of unpreparedness ill.u.s.trated so that we all can understand it. We must not now content ourselves with admitting we were wrong. That does not get us any further forward. We must adopt measures to see that it does not occur again. The policy that I believe is necessary to this end is compulsory training. This is not, to my mind, simply a military question. It is an educational question, educational in the broadest sense of the term. The question of most vital importance to a democracy, and for which we always work, is to create equal opportunity for every man and woman; to raise in every way possible the type of the average citizen. It is from this point of view that I believe most strongly in universal training.

We have adopted in this war the policy of compulsory military service.

We have used it as a military war-time measure. To get the peace-time economic value we should have its complement, compulsory training in time of peace. One of the obstacles to this, in the mind of the average citizen, is the creation of a military caste. This is no doubt a danger, and a real danger, but it is not an insurmountable danger. In France and in Switzerland it has been surmounted. There is no military caste in either country. There is no desire for war among the citizens of these countries. No one can say that France by her aggressive action drove Germany to the war. No one can say that on account of military training Switzerland plunged into the war. The first country saved herself from the domination of the German military caste by compulsory training. The second country by the same means saved herself entirely from war, for unquestionably Germany chose Belgium to rape on account of her defenselessness. Both France and Switzerland are democracies, real democracies in deed and thought.

This danger of fostering a military caste, in my opinion, can be met by a proper handling of the scheme. The whole matter of training should be directly under the control of a general staff. This general staff should not be composed, as in Germany, simply of military men. Military training, to my mind, is only a part of the training necessary. On the general staff the military should be simply an element. In addition to them there should be prominent educators, representatives of labor, prominent employers of labor, representatives of the farming interests, and members of our legislative bodies, the House and Senate. Such a staff would prohibit once and for all the question of a military caste.

Such a staff would obtain the correct balance between the purely military and the obviously more important educational side. The complicated adjustments of interests would be safeguarded. The economic question would be properly handled.

Some of the benefits are obvious. First, when the country is called upon to defend itself, competent, trained men will step forward into the ranks. Over and above them will be a mechanism conserving the sacrifices, making possible the just reward in victory of gallantry and self-sacrifice. Your boy will go out and you will feel that what can be done will be done. You go yourself and you know you will get a show for your white alley. You don't mind sitting into a game where there is an even break, but you hate to be forced to draw cards when you know they are stacked against you.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THREE THEODORE ROOSEVELTS Copyright, Walter S. Shinn]

Second, the physical welfare of our young men would be immeasurably helped. Let us face the cold facts. In this war nearly half of the men of military age were refused admission to the service for physical defects. They were below par from the standpoint of the physician.

Compulsory training should be organized in such a way as to pay particular attention to just this feature. No man would be exempt from compulsory training on account of physical defects. Special organizations should be created to handle men of this kind. Specialists should be put in charge. These specialists year after year would devote their entire time to working with men of just this kind and would add enormously to the country economically by this work.

Third. The knowledge of sanitation and simple hygienic rules, to be concrete, the care of teeth, the feet, the digestion, and a thousand and one things of this nature, should be taught to the many men who up to this time would have had no opportunity to learn. For the person who lives where every modern convenience surrounds him it is difficult to believe the conditions which exist in sections of the country. Let him go to the poor sections of any great city, let him go to the mountain districts of Tennessee or of North Carolina. He will see at once that the men from these districts will be infinitely benefited by this education.

Fourth. The democratization would be very beneficial to all alike. All would receive the same treatment, and all cla.s.ses, all grades in society, would be mixed. The educational value from this alone would be very great. Everyone would get new ideas, a broader outlook on life, and a more complete understanding of this country. Our public schools do not embrace all cla.s.ses and do not cover the situation as generally as they should. It is a rare thing for the sons of the wealthy to go to the public schools. Compulsory training would be a very real benefit to them.

To sum up, from an economic standpoint alone, compulsory training would be of untold benefit. The economic unit of the community is the individual. By training and developing the individual you develop the economic a.s.sets. The small loss in time from a money-earning aspect would be ten times compensated by the increased efficiency after training. From a moral standpoint the individual would be broadened by contact, trained in fundamentals and self-discipline, and have one of the surest foundations of clean thought and clean action, a healthy body. So much for the lesson of unpreparedness and what I believe we should do to remedy it.

One of the first effects on the men who served was democratization. By the draft call all cla.s.ses and grades of society were drawn into the service. After reaching the service, in so far as possible they were advanced into positions of responsibility without fear or favor. The effort was directed toward finding the men most suited for the individual job. The result was, in most instances, as close a reproduction of a real democracy as is possible.

In my regiment there were many instances of this fact. One of my lieutenants, a gallant young fellow, was a waiter in civilian life, a captain was a chauffeur. On the other hand, many men serving in the ranks came from professions ranking high in the scale in civilian life.

A lieutenant once spoke to me after an action saying that when he was leading his platoon back from the battle one of his privates asked him a question. The question was so intelligent and so well thought out that the lieutenant said to him: "What were you before the war?" The reply was, "City editor of the Cleveland _Plain Dealer_."

Another private, serving as a runner in one of the company headquarters, was an ex-state senator from the State of Washington. These are isolated instances of what was taking place the army over--the waiter and chauffeur as officers and the lawyer and newspaper editor as privates.

Ability to take responsibility in the present, not previous conditions, was what they were judged by. Surely a.s.sociations of this sort will breed sympathy and understanding for the future. Surely these will aid the country to approach its problems without cla.s.s bias.

Another effect was the idea of service to the country. To most of us, up to the time of the war, the country was a rather indefinite affair which had done something for us and which we expected to do more for us in the future. We had given but little thought to what we should do for the country. During the war every man in the service did something for his country. He now is in the position of a man who has bought a share of stock in a company. He is interested in seeing the country run right and is willing to give more service. The idea that we must endeavor to approach in the United States is to create a condition where as close to our entire population as possible has a vested interest in the country.

In a certain way this has been supplied to the service men by what they have done for the country.

The most important effect, to my mind, was the Americanization. Those who served became straight Americans, one hundred per cent. Americans and nothing else.

The regiment was composed of as good a cross section of the United States as you could get. The men came from all sections of the country and from all walks of life.

Selected at random from men who one time or another served at my headquarters are the following: Sergeants Braun, Schultz, Cramer, and Corporal Schwarz were born and educated in Germany, and no gallanter or better Americans fought in our army. Sergeant Braun was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Corporal Schwarz gave his life.

Sergeant Samari and Privates Belacca, Kalava, and Rano were born in Italy. Samari particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry, although all were gallant.

The Sergeants Murphy, mainstays of their particular organizations; Hennessy, of gallant memory; Leonard, Magee, and O'Rourke were, I believe, born in Ireland. All of the men reflected credit on this, their country.

Sergeant Hansrodoc, born in Greece, was promoted from private and served from beginning to end.

Sergeants Masonis, c.r.a.pahousky, and Zablimisky were born in Poland.

Sergeant Mosleson and Privates Brenner and Drabkin were of Jewish extraction. One of them is dead; each of the others has been twice wounded.

Sergeants Major Lamb and Sneaton and Corporals Brown and Glover were of straight English extraction. Corporal Le Boeuf is of French-Canadian extraction. These are only some of the names that occur to me. In the regiment at large the range was greater.

All of these men were straight Americans and nothing else. All of these men thought of themselves as Americans. Once I heard one of the men in conversation outside my headquarters. He had been born in a foreign country. He didn't like the way that country was doing in the war. He alluded to the citizens of that country, the country of his birth, as "them cold-footed rascals." It never even occurred to him that there was anything funny in this. He thought of himself as an American, the men to whom he was talking thought of him as an American.

An excellent soldier born in Germany was brought back to me one day as we were advancing into the lines. The officer in charge reported that the man had been caught talking to German prisoners, which was something strictly forbidden. He appeared before me. I knew him to be a good sort and said to him, "What is the matter, how did this come about?" He said, "Well, sir, I know I should not have done it and I won't do it again, but I suddenly saw in that batch of prisoners someone from the town where I was born." This man was killed in action shortly afterward fighting for this country.

I have been told of a leave train sent to Italy with American soldiers born in Italy on it in order that they might see their people. Doubt was expressed in the minds of the higher command as to whether it was an advisable move, inasmuch as it was thought probable that many of the men would overstay their leave or possibly try to desert and stay there. Not one man out of the 1200 did either. An officer who talked with these men on their return said that conversations ran much like this: "Cipiloni, have a fine time on your leave?" "Yes, sir." "See your family?" "Yes, sir." "Get back in time all right?" "Yes, sir, got back to the train fourteen hours before it left, sir. I was afraid, sir, if I missed this train, I might get left behind when the division started for home."

When replacements came to us, some of them could not even speak English. After they had been with the troops two or three months the same men would not only be speaking English, but would speak it by preference. I have seen two Italians, born in the same district in Italy, laboriously conversing with one another in English rather than use the tongue to which they were born, with which they were naturally much more familiar.

From these and many other reasons, the army is the least of this country's fears as far as Bolshevism and its kindred anarchies are concerned. All over the country you will find the service men keen to put down demonstrations of this sort. They are keen of their own accord, not prompted by anyone. The other day I was in a city where a Bolshevist meeting had been broken up by some service men. I knew one of the men who was concerned in this. I asked him how it occurred. He said. "Why, sir, it was this way. I was talking to some of the fellows down at the W. C. C. S. and a guy says to us, 'They've got a red-flag meeting on for to-night.' I said to some of the men, 'That ain't the flag we know anything about, or fought for. Let's go down and bust them birds up.'"

The service man feels that this is his country. His first and foremost concern is for the United States. He wants the inst.i.tutions of this country to stand. He has given himself, and where one has given of one's self the interest is deepest. He has bought a share of stock of the United States. As a stockholder he intends to do what he can to see that the concern is run properly.

In order to keep alive and active this spirit of st.u.r.dy loyalty, a vested interest of some type obtained by his own labor should be aimed at for every one of as many citizens as possible. This country will have to move forward with a program of sane, constructive, carefully thought-out liberalism.

It may be necessary in doing this to modify or change certain things in this community in the future, but the service man, I believe, intends, as far as he is able, to see that those changes and modifications are carried out in such a way as will not destroy or injure the national fabric and inst.i.tutions.

Again, first, last, and always, the service man is an American!