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 classes, 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 classes 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 assets. 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 classes 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."