St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 20, 1917

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A Special Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. 1 HIS is pre-eminently a war of scientists. WORCHESTER, Mass., May 19. Its greatest battles have been fought not on the Marne, or Arras or at Verdun, but in the universities and laboratories of Europe and America. Joffre, urg and Jellico have not had so great a part in its direction as t e Wright brothers, Marconi and Simon Lake; and these gentlemen were dependent upon those anonymous Generals of modern warfare » scientists,’ mechanics upon which all their inventions were based. who laboriously worked out the principles of physics More and i has beeome apparent that the decisive factor in war today is the to mobilize the nation’s knowledge. If democracy is to win this r against autocracy it must press into service not only our Edi- ind Burbanks and Fords, but the masters of many seemingly abstract ; whose practical application has hitherto been almost overlooked. are some vital problems of war which only the psychologists can vas a “pure who D | ist” ö G. Dr. ay Hall, pro- of psychol- gna president k Univer- Woroester. Hall has this eity for 28 mown psy- in has tical life bas thrown Influence as ‘educator. the ten- - universities * tome utilitarian and tectinical N He was educated in Ger- when German was the home s science. He loved Germany ‘the German system then; and *, in subsequent years, that won- system seemed to merge itself ry nation-wide laboratory of ap- ‘science instead, he hoped that ta might succeed to the work which ny had apparently laid down. iption of Brains. war has shattered “Whether we like jan aim. The brains of Amer- gust now be conscripted for prac- *ervice. We must win the war; ore that necessity all peda- dreams must be abandoned.” : keeping with the new system n of pure science has just ed a quarterly Journal of Ap- One of the most ng features of the first num- an article by the editor on Relations Between Psychology War.“ There is scarcely a Roof the war, he pointed out, in the problems with which psy- Mists have been wrestling in the fact do not concretely enter; and on for the superiority of the h and French armies in the ages of the war over those o mand of England was in large matter of applied psychology. France and Germany,” he told Te is not only a definite un- Mding of the effects of differ- f “itary operations upon differ- of soldiers, but there is a Ne System of psychological tests a which the officers may know Vance just how much to expect each individual in the ranks. Mas been learned that only a cer- pe of man, a type easily rec- dle, can ever become an avi- and no time is lost attempting Others. It has been learned certain type of men, with be@les and exceptional phys- esGurance, will collapse com- on the final order to charge, Weaker men recruited from the desk and other sedentary em- frequently take on a new life. on of Panics. been learned how panics in are caused and how they ™ &voided, perhaps by the elim- fa time of a single soldier. It i why soldiers go in- that | and in a measure prevent this insanity. Many a man, it has been discov- ered, has become a nervous wreck for life because he was removed to some quiet place when he should have been allowed to recu- perate within ac- tual hearing of the guns. A man removed too abruptly from the infinite earth. quake of a mod- ern battle is apt to carry the whole battle with him— It is possible, on the sane, great how to in his head. other hand, to let go of it by letting go a little at a time.” I wanted to know what the psy- chological tests were by which the modern army selects its men for spe- cial service. “So would I.“ said Dr. Hall: “I’m trying to find out, but there isn’t any likelihood that the ones who know will voluntarily give up the secret. It is evident that there are such tests, and it is evident that they have been formulated by the greatest psychol- ogists of Europe. Psychology,“ Dr. Hall explained, “has largely discredited the so- called systems of phrenology and physiognomy, but that does not mean that it denies a relation between the physical development and mental characteristics. There is no doubt that psychological selectien used in the French army involves in part a practical application of the discov- eries of Sigaud, Thoris and Sturel, and later MacAuliffe and Chaillon, who definitely classified the human race into four distinct physiological, morphalogical and psychological types. 5 Types Found in Armies. The first type to boͤ sharply dis- criminated was the alimentary or digestive type. Physiologically they are characterized by a predominance of the abdominal section of the body and similar predominance of the lower third section of the face. Men and women of this type are slow, sure, intense lovers of home, but very dependent on their food and impaired in their health and effectiveness by slight deprivations that would not af- fect others. In military life their great forte is defense; they are the most dogged and tenacious against at- tack, “The second somotological type, the respitatory, with broad heads in the region of the nose and ear, with a high vital index of great lung capacity, and rather a long thorax and very often with a hexagonal face, seems now pretty well established as a type in itself. These have some traits in common with the old ‘sanguine’ type of the phrenologist. They are won- derfully capable in getting their sec- ond wind, and that makes them very effective where men must be erethic. Hence, in war, they make the best aviators and cavalrymen and are great in a charge. They are best as sentinels and for service at distant posta. They are dependent upon their Continued on Page 11. How 2500 Civilians Are Being Converted Into Officers in High Pressure War School at Fort Riley From Desk Jobs to Commissions in 90 Days, Their Hope “We Do Not Expect to Turn Out Finished Officers,’ Says the Commander, “but We Do Be- lieve We Will Get a Large Number of Men Who Will Do in the Emergency’ Among Those Gather red There Are 350 St. Louisans. By CLAIR KENAMORE. A Staff Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. FORT RILEY, Kan., May 19. HE rifle in the hands of the infantrymen in 7 the foremost line of battle is the deciding factor in war. It is to help perfect such infantrymen and to make them potent when their great hour comes that 350 young St. Louisans are being made into soldiers at Fort Riley. The St. Louisans are part of the 2500 men from Missouri, Kansas and Colo- rado, and the Fort Riley school is but one of 16 of similar size in the country. Each camp is expected, when the chaff is winnowed from the wheat, to provide officers for a division of troops. Col. Tyree R. Rivers is commandant. He is a cavalry officer and loyal to his branch of the service, but he is teaching civilians how to be infantry officers with the same energy that he followed Villa in Mexico. The principles of war are the same, viewed from whatever arm of the service. The business ot a soldier is to kill. That is not the protest of a patifist, but the understood, agreed statement of students of the ethics and theory of arms. A mad dog is careering up and down the world, spreading death and wounds. He must be killed. The men at Fort Riley are a few hundred of the millions who are willing to stake their lives that the world may be made safe for democracy. The proposition needs no defense, and here at Fort Riley the only thought is of how best to fit the men for their work, for these men are to hear the bugle blow across the wasted fields of France, They are to be our gifts to armageddon. Men Mostly From Offices. | — — This great school is to last three months. The experiment of making officers before the army is raised, or even authorized, has never been tried before in this country, and never in any country before this war. Canada and England did as we are doing soon after the war began. The task of the instructors here is to take men between the ages of 21 and 45, coming from almost every peaceful walk of life, and in the short time avail- able transform them into officers. The students here are mostly out of offices. They have sufficient education, acceptable physical qualifi- cations upon which to build, and possibly a quar- ter of the number have had some meager military experience. They are, for the most part, the men who woke at 6 or 7 or 8 o' clock, ate breakfast, went to work, took an hour off for lunch, worked till 4 or 5 or 6, knocked off, went home, ate dinner, went to the movies or elsewhere, and finally to bed at 10 or 11 or 12. Their ambitions were to hold their jobs or get better ones, to find entertainment, to advance their personal interests and to live their own lives. It is all changed now. The bugle takes the place of the alarm clock. They rise at 5:15 a. m. and they are in bed at 10 p. m., today, tomorrow and every day, and in the hours between, their every action is regulated, and it takes place promptly almots on the tick of the clock. They live and work out of doors. They have again become acquainted with the forgotten sun- rise, and their hair is full of dust. They are be- ing made into soldiers and they are to acquire a soldier's viewpoint along with a soldier’s muscles. First Lesson in Discipline. N | —— Sen” The first thing to be inculcated is discipline. Officers of the regular army who are instructors at the big school have found that this essential of a soldier is the one thing almost universally lacking in the American from civil life. Discipline cannot be “told” to the student, but it most come by training “at attention.” This means the drill, whether by squad, platoon or company, in close order, with the shoulders almost touching, and all muscles tense. Who discovered or developed this is now forgotten, but it is one of the old rules of the ancient game of war. Drill in open forma- tion comes later. ' The army presumes discipline to be that qual- ity which will cause a man to devote the last ounce of his strength to carry out a given order, or a known duty. Equally disciplined, there is little difference between the efficiency of the quiet, retiring man and the most pugnacious, when they are in uniform. These men must now acquire discipline, not only to make them valuable to their superior officers, but that they may inculcate it in their own men when they are officers. While they are acquiring discipline, the first esseiitial, they are learning the infantry drill. Here on the pleasant Kansas hills these men who are to be officers must develop and demon- How Men Were Chosen; | Another Camp to Follow AJ. LEWIS M. NUTTMAN, senior M instructor of the Fort Riley School, said that many unavoid- able mistakes were made in selecting the students who were to take the course. Ne had instructions from the War De- partment to select and train 2500 men,’’ he said. ‘‘There was a fear that the num- ber of applicants would not be sufficient and we made heavy drafts on the early comers. “The local examiners were instructed to mark each card A, B or C, according to the examiner’s opinion of the applicant. We numbered each card as it came to us, and ignmediately called upon all A and B men up to 3300. By that time it was ap- parent that we were going to have plenty of applicants. In fact, we recetved more than GOOO approved applications. * “When we reached 3300, which gave us about 2500 men by throwing out those listed as C, we received örders from the War Department to reserve room for cer- tain men from the national guard, the Officers Reserve and other organizations totaling about 430. over our capacity, withdrawals, men who have found at the last moment that they could not come or who became sick before leaving home or who, for any reason, could not take the course. “We have also found among the stu- dents several who had physical defects which barred them, and these have been sent home. We will probably be down to 2500 next week. “The War Department in several tele- grams has assured ua that other camps will be heltd- The plans are not matured, but the department is anxious that all those men not called for this camp be kept in line for the nezt school. The nert school will be a better one, for we will take advantage of all the mistakes made in this one. Everything was done with such a rush this time that errors were in- evitable."’ . strate the physical strength and fitness which they will after while require of their men in times of stress. They must know the drill and be well drilled themselves, that they may drill others. They must march their 15 miles a day, and carry their packs and rifles now, so that they will know just how much their men can stand. “Success in battle is the ultimate object of all military training.“ This is the first sentence in Infantry Manual on Combat. New Ideas on How to March. To be efficient in battle the soldier must have the power to march to the scene and have enough left to fight when he is there. These students are acquiring the facilities that their men must have. All ever the parade ground, in squads of eight, they are driving reawakening muscles to fitness. They are hurrying themselves to that degree of training where the articulation of ear and brain and muscle is so complete that orders are obeyed without thought. Soon they will train the men they will command tothe same efficiency. The young bookkeeper who danced so well is finding another suppleness of muscle and lightness of foot. The things he had learned he can for- get for a while, and the things he is learning he must learn well. He js being made over, recon- structed and readjusted for one particular end, to wit, that he may de effective and sure when the time comes that he will leap across the parapet and show his men the way through the dawn on No Man’s Land. The book learning of the officer is minimized at the beginning of the school. The physical end of his instruction and development is allowed the gerater part of the time, because the phys- ically unfit can more quickly be weeded out, and the percentage of intelligent, educated men who are mentally or temperamentally unfit for the service is very small. Not every man will make a Major-General, but almost every one can be made into a Second Lieutenant, and the further and higher advance is in a future beyond this school. Learning to Handle Men. The training of a soldier, however elaborate and prolonged, looks only to the one end, his day of battle. What the outcome of the battle may be is in the lap of the gods, but the training has the one aim of making the man fit and ready. When the great day comes there must be no doubt about what he will do, and there must be no doubt that he will do it well. Behind the soldier with his rifle on the firing line there are many men, his supports, high offi- cers, transports, commissary, supply and the in- numerable aids that are never seen. Technically, this is known as depth.“ Whether the depth is six men or 10 men, the soldier on the line is the capstone of the pyramid. Any one of many things ) behind the barrage fire in Belgium or France. This put us badly ’ ity, but the situation has been saved by a considerable number of : manners of the army. Those in Authority Prefer the Average Man as a Candidate Over the Man Who Has Spec- ialized in Some Branch of Athletics and in Doing So Probably Has Developed Some Super-Normal Physi- cal Characteristic. may be required of him, and it is not possible here at Fort Riley to know which of these things will be wanted on that day when he marches So he must be equipped to do any of them. He must know how to handle himself and handle his en. Here on the Kanses hills his judgment of distance is trained, because it may be that he will have to kneel behind a line of prone men in Flanders and speak of range and windage. Battles are won by infantry on the offensive. He must be able to run and carry the weight of pack and rifle, so here among the dandelion of the parade ground he does the work that will profit him some day in the vineyards of Cham- pagne. — — en eee Personality Is. Submerged. An army is a machine and only in acting as a unit does it gain its ends. So the young man who was quite somebody back home and whose personality had often been the subject of com- ment, must submerge himself in the sea of khaki. He is no longer the promising youth, he is an olive green spot in a line of soldiers. The student who has never had any difficulty in expressing his thoughts or transferring his words, now must learn new ways of speaking. So now he stands on the base of the Wounded Knee monument, a maple branch in either hand, learning the semaphore alphabet: When the great day comes he may have to give his orders that way. All these things have been well impressed upon the students. They doubtless knew most of it when they came, but their instructors have made it very clear, and the students proceed with en- ergy to fit themselves for their work. It is not a schoolboy lark. These are very earnest and intense young men, trying to get all they can out of the short period of schooling. There is not much time for the ethics and theory of war. The practice is too essential and it cannot be read out of a book. A liberal sprinkling of old noncommissioned officers among the students is serving well to teach the new men the etiquette While the minor things will matter little in the pinch, they are part of the training. et et D ——ů— — — — Month of Infantry Work. en ww The first month of the school will be devoted exclusively to infantry work. Then the instruc- tors will select the men for other branches of the service, and their subsequent instruction will be specialized. “We do not expect to turn out finished officers,” said Maj. Nuttman, senior instructor of the school, “but to turn out men as well fitted as we can fit them in the time allowed. It is generally be- lieved in the army that it requires a year to make a good private soldier, and our course at West Point is four years. In three months we cannot équip a man thoroughly, but we can give him the toundation on which to build, and we can put him in physical trim for a campaign. “Certain of the men doubtless will advance much more rapidly than others. Men who in civil life have been accustomed to the direction of num- bers of men and who appreciate the value and virtues of discipliné, and who are quick thinkers, quick at decision, are the men who will make the best officers. know of no rule by which one man can look at another and discover whether he will make a soldier. We must try them out. The recom- mendations as to which should be commissioned will be made by the instructors from their ob- servation. I am afraid we won’t have time for final exams and that sort of thing.” ien Average Good Physically. | Men Average Good Physically. S Geek en: «| Lieutenant-Colonel Paul F. Straub of the med- ical corps, surgeon of the camp, considers the physical average of the men very good. “We have a few who will have to be sent back. Maybe more than I think. Their defects will de- velop as the work becomes harder. “The man, whether his work bas been indoors or out, who is fairly fit, is the kind we can handle best. His physique may not be up to standard, but it can be built up all around. I much prefer him to the athlete who has specialized in some one thing. Too frequently the specialist has an en- larged heart, and his overtrained muscles, which can do wonders for half an hour, are no good tor the long trudge of 14 hours under a heavy pack. The well-balanced man is much better than the weight lifter or the high hurdler. “The doctors who examined these men were not as stringent as they should have been. We will have to examine all of them before they take Continued on Page Nine. 3 Sz 7 SS ee Vo Great Offensive in the Balkans Probable Writes Smonde Now, - oe — . War Critic Believes Present Fighting Is Only an Allied Demonstratiot: Since No Hope of Con- quest Remains tothe Army at Saloniki. 8 has been unusually quiet. By FRANK H. SIMONDS. INCE the collapse of Rumania laut year the situation in the Balkans The» offensive of Sarrail’s army, which was designed to aid the Ruman fans, failed utterly in its larger pur — * as pose, and the capture of Monastir pro wed to be its sole success. Nor was this success even locally of great valite, because the Bulgarians and their Teutonic allies continued and continue ‘to hold the heights to the northward which dominate the town. The death of Field Marshal Viscount French's sister, as a result of shell fire dur- ing .the winter, and also the death of the head of a section of the American Ambu- lance, were minor indications of the perilous condition of Monastir in allied hands. A number of times during the winter there have. been rumors of an attack by the central Powers, and it has been an open secret at all times that the allied hold on the Macedonian town was of the slight- est, and that an allied evacuation of it has been several times ex- pected. We have in the last few days, the report of new al- lied activities in Macedonia, with the suggestion that there is some larger strategic purpose behind the new opera- tions of that poly- glot army which Ais based on Sa- loniki and com- manded by Gen. | „Allies Gold m Moment in the HE alkans Is Goine.” HE golderi moments in the Bal cane, so far f as the a ilies are con- cerned, seem t.—» have gone. The chance of interrupting communication | between Berlin and Cn ended last fall when the collapse of Ri manta gave the central P owers other lines of coment wication be- sides Sofia and its ‘theoretically at least, open to an attack by an army coming up out of Saloniki. ‘The situation in Greece is uvorth paasing notice, because, unless all signs fail, we « haul present- ly see a new ef fort to upset King Constant te It is an open secret th at he would have been dez osed by the allies but for the objections of the Czar, who was sup- ported rather apathetically by the British royal family for a time. With the con ting of Lloyd George the BriVish attitude changed utterly. From that moment the British Govern- ment was satisfied to see Constantine cilecithroned, as was the French Government, but the veto of the Czar pre- vented this la M year. Now that the Czair has gone, there te strong r cason for be- lieving that wp may see a new revolutio} in Greece, the establishme pt of a Greek republic and fhe eventdal passing of tht control of Greek affairs from the hands of Co patantine to those of Veni izelos. This would no loner have a great meaning in the war, but it might nvean the aal- vation of Greece from many of the evils wht. th may ober- that w.kich passes through Betgrad e, Nish and been sent along the Danube to attack the Ru- manians both in the Dobrudja and south of Bucha- rest . This ermy reached Monastir after desperate fighting, in which the Servians chiefly distin- guished them- selves. But by the time Monastir had fallen Ru- mania had col lapsed, Bucharest was in German hands and the German advance had gone far north to the line of the lower Dan- ube. There was then lacking to the Serrail. Conceil» ably this is true. FRANK wise follow in consequence of her course. Sarrail army the strength to push It. SIMONDS. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize how changed is the situation in the Balkans now that Rumania has come in and been eliminated and Russia has temporarily or permanently collapsed. There have been, during the pres- ent war, many situations and aj num- ber of crises in the Banlkans. In 1915 the allied prospects were more hopeful than at any time since’ Servia was then defending her Danube fron- tier. Bulgaria was neutral. Turkey was hard pressed at Gallipoli, and Rumania seemed on the point of join- ing the allies. At this point allied diplomacy endeavored to enlist Greece and Bulagaria and failed com- pletely. Bulgaria joined the central Powers. Germany sent Mackensen southward and opened the Constan- tinople-Vienna-Berlin railroad. The Servian army was driven into Alba- nia and temporarily off the European mainland, and the French and British forces arrived at Saloniki too late to serve any useful purpose. Sarrail’s Desperate Effort. Thus in the closing weeks of 1915 the allies lost any last chance of dominating the Balkans, and Greece, through its King, quickly demon- strated a solidarity of feeling with the central Powers which led ulti- mately to a revolution and to a state of anarchy. There are two Hellenic Governments now—one headed by King Constantine, ruling at Athens and serving the German interests in so faf as it is possible; the other headed by Venizelos at Saloniki and devoted to the cause of the allies. Last fall there arose a new crisis in the Balkans coincident with the en- trance of Rumania into the war. For many months Gen. Sarrail had been pushing northeast and northwest from Saloniki and had carried his lines approximately to the Greek frontier, between the Struma River and Lake Presba, which is southwest of Monastir. Still further to the west- ward an Italian | further north in the face of the German reinforece- rents which could be safely detached fim om Rumania, and Sarrail’s situa- tie n was made still more difficult by tub maneuyers of King Constantine, wk o seemed to be planning to attack the Saloniki army in the rear. CH ance for Balkan Drive Ended. 1% far as one can see now, the cha nce of a great strategic operation in the Balkans ended with the col- lapt e Of Rumania. Before Rumania enta:red the war the German and Aus- trian communications with Turkey and the Near East depended upon a sina le line of railroad between Vien- na, Belgrade and Constantinople and upon the Danube River as far as Bul; rarian territory, a line which was alwi 1ys subject to interruption by Ru- mat lan artillery. In this time a successful allied drive norm hward up the valley of the V dar to Nish would have completely seve red rail communications between the central Powers and the Buigar'- an and Turkish allies. In all tbis tinge the raflroad was in a sense the lif‘'gliine of the Mitteleuropa empire ani the objective of the Selontki ar Wy. But today the situation bas com- pletely changed. All of Western Ru- mi inia is in Austro-German hands, as | are. both banks of the Danube from its soulrce almost to its mouth. A sue cen ful advance to Nish, which ree sulied in cutting the Pelgrade-Con« vitinople railroad would only cut ont of the several avenues by which German troops, German munitions and German guns can reach Turkey ane Bulagaria, and would therefore se. sve only a limited end. Aim to Hold Teuton Troops, I seems, therefore, unlikely chat the present operation in the Balkans has any such ambitious purpose or an such large possibility as that of 19M: or of 1915. Nor should ft be fort rotten that the submarine war- fari; has very greatly handicapped the Saloniki army, because this army force based upon mut draw its supplies by water, and | Valons Was moving out to join the,”