to understand it. In doing this he classifies it by reference to some past experience. When classified, various solutions arise in his mind according to the richness of his former experience. The solution which occurs to him and which harmonizes best with all the facts of the present situation is accepted by him. The professional attitude is only possible to an officer whose past experience has been enriched by solving problems, and whose mind has in this way become organized to classify and solve new experiences that he meets in battle. If an officer is so trained, it is possible for any problem so to engross his attention that he becomes immune to the ordinary sensations causing fear and panic. At the fall of Syracuse, Archimedes was said to have been so intent upon solving a problem in Greek fire that he was killed in the midst of his study, not having noticed that the walls were breached and that the enemy had entered the city.

XII

SON

PREPAREDNESS AND THE MILITIA

OME years ago Lieutenant General John M. Schofield told us why we always have been unprepared for war. Speaking of the necessity of general military education in a country having a popular government he said:

"No man can be fully qualified for the duties of a statesman until he has made a thorough study of the science of war in its broadest sense. He need not go to a military school, much less serve in the army or in the militia. But unless he makes himself thoroughly acquainted with the methods and conditions requisite to success in war, he is liable to do almost infinite damage to his country. There is no possible remedy for such evils as this country has suffered except general military education. In my opinion no man is fit for a seat in Congress unless he has such an education.

"The most serious questions upon which a free people can be called to vote are, a question of war, a question of preparation for war, and a question of approval and support, or disapproval

and condemnation, of an an administration on account of the mode in which war has been conducted. Can this highest duty of the citizen be intelligently performed without military education? A sovereign individual regards this as demanding the highest education and the ablest counsel he can possibly obtain. Can sovereign millions do it wisely without any education whatever? I believe no proposition could possibly be plainer than that general military education is indispensable to good citizenship in this country, and especially to all who may be intrusted with high responsibilities in the legislative and executive departments of the national government. If there is one offense in this country which ought never, under any circumstances, to be pardoned it is ignorance in those who are trusted by the people to manage the affairs of their government."

We can apply this to our practice of filling offices from heads of departments to junior subalterns with untried men. We are chiefly concerned in these lectures with the education of company officers. The time period necessary to create officers, develop a system of training to turn out soldiers, and create an army is not so generally understood in this country that there is a public opinion demanding appropriate legislation. We hear a great deal said about a brave American people rising overnight in defense of their liber

ties. Public opinion is in a formative process. It is your duty as a citizen to help create a healthy tone and a demand for the application of correct methods. You have learned in your short experience that it is easy to teach the routine of drill and the use of weapons in a comparatively short period, but that it takes time to create self-reliance, the spirit of faith, good comradeship, and the confidence which is the soul of an army. Most men must be born again before they learn to forget self and acquire the will to be subordinate. A revolutionary adjustment of values is necessary. Much time must be consumed in the process of character building, organizing experience, and developing an initiative coordinated with subordination.

Kipling has intimated a belief that it takes three years to turn a "gutter snipe" into a soldier. Recent training in England suggests an unwillingness to trust recruits in the trenches until they have something more than a year's training. In a time of public stress and enthusiasm the period of training can be somewhat reduced, because conditions increase interest, energy and enthusiasm to make ready.

We vie with each other in extolling the character of Washington. We say he was preeminent for clear insight and just judgments. He began a war with untrained levies, and he brought it to

a close with a small body of trained Continentals helped by French regulars and a fluctuating mob of militia. No military leader ever had a richer experience or was better qualified to judge how long it takes to turn our citizens into soldiers able to stand against the regulars of a military power. He says, "To bring men to a proper degree of subordination is not the work of a day, a month or even a year." Speaking out of the fullness of his experience he gives the following reasons as the grounds of his belief.

"To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill (which is followed by want of confidence in themselves when opposed by troops regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, superior in knowledge and superior in arms), are timid and ready to fly from their own shadows.

"Besides, the sudden change in their manner of living, particularly in their lodgings, brings on sickness in many, impatience in all, and such an unconquerable desire of returning to their respective homes that it not only produces shameful and scandalous desertions among themselves, but infuses the like spirit in others. Again, men accustomed to unbounded freedom and no control can