THE HUNTLY PRESS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1916. English Treatment of “The Failure,”

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 4, 14 January 1916, Page 2

THE HUNTLY PRESS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1916. English Treatment of “The Failure,”

IT is proverbial that the English treatment of “ The Failure ” is, to say the least, drastic. Usually it is to wipe him out altogether. We see it in every department of life, but in war-time it stands out with especial distinctness, and many officers have lost their reputations and have been put aside, for failing to do what was asked of them in different places. It is believed that only by this means can efficiency be obtained, and to that end, as soon as a leader fails in an enterprise, he has critics of all sorts on his track at once. We agree that when an officer fails from incompetency or lack of sufficient interest in his work, the end of his career in his particular office cannot come to quickly, and it is well, also, that his offence and its punishment should be made public, as a warning to his brother officers, but it seems to.us that sometimes people are careless about seeking the cause of the failure. The fact of the failure is sufficient, and the man is treated almost as though he were a criminal. The fact that the man may have been provided with insufficient means to carry out his task, oreventlpat the task assigned was an impossible one. is not considered, and even when, in aftertime, it is found that the failure has not been the fault of the man, people still seem to feel, that, no mattei what the circumstances, the matter should have been brought to a successful issue. It seems then, that in the British Army, men are sometimes asked to do the impossible, and it would appear that sometimes they accomplish this startling feat, but at the same time, it seems hard that, when a man attempts the impossible he should be disgraced if he fails And yet this is what we see quite frequently in these days, and one cannot help.feeling sorry for the unfortunate man who has staked his all on accomplishing a great feat, and is disgraced because he has failed.