"POPULAR" OFFICERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 257, 18 July 1918, Page 5

"POPULAR" OFFICERS

(By "Tabs," in the "Daily Mai!.") There was something in this page the other day about "objectionable" officer?. I should like to say something about officers of tho opposite description. There are moro of them, and it is a pleasanter subject. ' A "popular" officer-is a little difficult to define. I will, however, begin by remarking that, contrary perhaps to tho general belief, such a one is not necessarily of the "slap-you-on-the-back-and-have-a-<lrinfc-old-top" variety. As a matter of fact, this type is rather a nuisance. Tho special qualities that make an efficer popular among his comrades are merely those commensurate with the dictates of ordinary good breeding. Bulldog courage, marked tactical skill—and Onida-csqno attributes generally—count for very little. f!ourte3y and consideration towards subordinates, scrnpnhun fair-mindedness, and a sympathetic attitndo aro far more esteemed, both by tho members of tho mess and the rank and file. ' "Mr, —, he's a proper sort,' I have ■ often heard a man declare. "Ho noes round thf billets when we come off march ard fees that we're fixed uu before hi looks after hirwelf." Or again: "I don't mind getting .Tankers from Captain —. If" always hears what » chap has to say first." There is a strange theory m enmo quarters that an ofiicer cannot bo a suecess if ho does not ha mien to come from what are called the "governing classy T have never discovered on what this ilieory is founded. The private soldier is emphatically not a- snob. Far from it. This, then, being the ease, he does not \ care twopence whether his plitloon comin airier is tho son of n Poor or the son of a pork butelipr. What hedor's care about—and very sensibly, too—is thai Ins officer is somebody in whoiti he lias confidence. A commandiusf officer wi«lds a tremendous power For a = Kelt as for evil. He sets the "tone" of the mesjL and on him devolves Ihe responsibility for whether his unit is a. "happy" one or not. A pliasant word and a cheery manner go a long way towards smoothing out tbn rough plaoos in Army life. A gentle hint in conclusion: Bo not refer to private soldiers as "Tommies." It is a pieco of importinWO9 Trhloh la doonlj icsonted, .