What America did

by Florence Finch Kelly

The democratic ideals of America have never had a more searching trial or a more triumphant vindication than was afforded by the swift and efficient making of this Army of Freedom. Columbia stretched out a summoning finger, saying, “I need you!” and there came to her service millionaire’s son and Chinese laundryman, descendant of generations of Americans and immigrant of a day, farmer, banker, merchant, clerk, country school teacher, university professor, lawyer, physician, truck driver, yacht owner, down-and-outer, social favorite—from village and country and town and city they came, representing every occupation, every social grade, every economic condition in the republic. On the democratic level of service to the country they gathered in the barracks and without a whimper or a word of protest the millionaire’s son cleaned out stables, the young man reared in luxury washed his own mess kit and served on the kitchen police, and all of them worked at their training and their drill as hard as day laborers from dawn till dark.

Fourteen tribes of American Indians were represented among the soldiers of the National Army, as the forces formed from the Selective Service were called for more than a year, to distinguish them from the Regular Army and the National Guards. Then all three were merged into the single organization of the United States Army. Among the most efficient soldiers were several regiments of negroes. Every civilized nation on the face of the globe, every language, and every important dialect were represented in the ranks of the soldiers of freedom who carried the Stars and Stripes on the battle fields of France. Through the office of the base censor of the American Expeditionary Forces passed letters in forty-nine languages. Chinese, Syrian and Dane, Persian and Irishman, Japanese and Italian, Latin American and Swede, vied with the New Englander, the Kentuckian, the Texan and the Kansan in loyalty to the United States, in enthusiasm for our ideals and willingness to defend them with their lives. In the September registration men of fifty-two different tongues were listed in New York City. In the first draft men were called and accepted who claimed birth in twenty-two separately listed countries, while a contingent from Central and South America was not credited in the official report to the separate nations they represented and nearly two thousand men from scattered and small countries were lumped together under the designation of “Sundries.” But all of them zealously fought for America.

A great many of these foreign-born men already spoke English. And the education of those who did not began as soon as they were inducted into the army and was continued along with their military training. In every cantonment to which came men who did not understand English schools were established in which they were taught to speak, read and write the language. All the training and all the life around them were in English and this constant association and the daily lessons soon made most of the men fairly proficient.

Along with the training in English went instruction in American ideals, in the reasons why America was in the war and in what the war meant to them individually. The aim was to give to these foreign-born men the kind of training in patriotism and in democratic ideals, condensed into a few weeks, that the American gets by birthright and surroundings. Many, varied and ingenious were the ways by which this was done. There were short talks on war news, on American principles of government, on why America was in the war, on why it was a war for freedom, and similar topics. The special days and the heroes of nations that have their own traditions of revolt against tyranny were celebrated by “national nights” to which came all the sons of that nation in the camp and as many others as could crowd into the auditorium. There were music and speeches and national songs and the hymns of the Allies and in all the talking the speakers would link up American democracy, its mission in the world and the reasons why America was in the war with the traditions of freedom, the heroes of liberty and the sacrifices for democracy and justice of the nation whose celebration was being held. Pamphlets and leaflets, written by men of their own nationality, in English usually, but in their own tongue for those who could not yet read English, which explained the causes of the war, the aims of the combatants and America’s motives and outlined American history in a simple and readable way, were circulated among the men. In a word, these foreign-born soldiers-in-the-making were educated and broadened and so imbued with democratic principles and American ideals that in spirit they rapidly became good Americans, even if they elected to continue citizens of their native land.

But all who wished could be naturalized during their military training. In every cantonment was a court of naturalization and by a special law it had been made possible to shorten the time ordinarily needed for this process. Any man who was going forth to fight the battles of civilization in the American army could become an American citizen, even if he had not previously declared his intention, while he was being trained. In one day at one of the cantonments men of fifty-six nationalities were naturalized. At this camp sessions were held from eight till five o’clock and were often continued until midnight, so many were there who wished to become citizens. The majority of the aliens in the selective service did so choose and the great bulk of the foreign-born part of the huge army that was ferried across the Atlantic had acquired American citizenship. Aliens who did not wish to serve could, and some thousands did, claim, and were granted, exemption on that ground.

Now and then Columbia’s summoning finger brought to the training camp a slacker, or a religious or a conscientious objector. Patient and careful inquiry was given to every case and no effort was spared to make sure that each was receiving exact justice. The official report of the Provost Marshal General for the first draft reckoned that out of the more than 3,000,000 called for service no more than 150,000 of those who failed to appear on time were not accounted for by enlistment, transference or death. The reports of the local boards showed that the bulk of this residue was composed of aliens who had left this country to enlist in their own armies. Out of the remainder of 50,000 a great many of the failures to report were due to the ignorance or heedlessness of workingmen who had moved, between registration and the call, from one job to another in a different locality.

The exemption usually given to religious objectors was extended, after a few months, to include those who based their objections to sharing in warfare upon grounds of conscience even if they were not members of a religious organization. Out of the 3,600,000 men inducted into the service a little less than 4,000 were accepted or recognized as conscientious objectors. A large number of these were assigned to work on farm or industrial furloughs. Some entered non-combatant service and a few were allowed to join the Friends’ Reconstruction Unit. Several hundred refused any service whatever and were sent to prison. In the training camps the conscientious objectors were segregated and placed in the charge of an army officer who was often able by tact and persuasion to influence them to a different point of view. Some swallowed their objections very soon, took up the work of training more or less sullenly, and presently, seeing a better light and feeling the influence of the patriotism and enthusiasm surging round about them, became as good soldiers of Uncle Sam as any of their comrades. The problem of the slacker and the objector was a small one in the making of the great army that was sent overseas, but it was a vexatious one for the honest-hearted men who had charge of it and who took infinite pains to dispense even-handed justice in every case. “My company,” said the captain in one large cantonment under whose command were grouped the slackers, the religious objectors and the protesters for conscience’s sake, “is the most interesting one in the camp—and the most trying.”

Development battalions were established in nearly all the cantonments and did a good work in raising the efficiency of some of the men of the army by helping them to reach better physical condition. To these battalions were sent men who developed minor physical defects and the men sometimes received from the local boards who fell short of the physical standards set by the army. Medical treatment, courses of physical training and, if necessary, surgical operations brought many of them to so much better bodily condition that they could undertake limited service. Many were sent to the forests of the Northwest as part of the regiment that did most necessary work in helping to get out spruce lumber for airplane construction. Others were prepared for clerical and semi-civilian work in the army, thus releasing for active service those who had had it in charge. A goodly number improved so much under treatment that they were enabled to undertake active army service. All told, about 250,000 men passed through the development battalions, of whom nearly half were made fit for duty in either the first, second or third class. Educational work was also carried on in the battalions and many who were either illiterate or had had very little schooling received elementary instruction from former school teachers, of whom there were many in the ranks. Short talks on the duties of citizenship, phases of American history, public questions, and the causes and progress of the war and the encouragement of discussion broadened the outlook and stimulated the minds of the men.

The necessity of organizing and training a huge army in a few months made equally necessary a revolution in some army methods, a revolution that was brought about by the Committee on the Classification of Personnel appointed early in the war. For most of its work, which constantly broadened and became more and more important, it had no precedents, for, except a little experimenting in the British army, nothing like it had ever been attempted before. In scope and function and purpose it was one of those bold innovations upon army traditions and methods which the Secretary of War introduced into the training of this new army of democracy, with results so successful and important that when the complete story of them is known it will be seen that they put a new spirit into military training and were in no small measure responsible for the splendid record made by the American army.

The Director of the Committee was a civilian, a university professor and specialist in psychology who had won distinction by his ability to give that science practical and fruitful application in daily life. Its work was so varied and so well developed in all its phases that it is possible to give here only the barest resume of its achievements. By the methods it devised all the men who entered a cantonment, after they had passed their physical examinations, underwent psychological tests to determine the speed and accuracy of their mental actions, the quality of their native intelligence and the extent of its development. Then they passed on to interviewers who examined and classified them according to their education and training, their occupations and degree of skill. Afterward came trade tests to discover whether or not the men had truly reported their occupations and ability.