The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, NOV. 22, 1919. EXPERIENCES IN ARMY-MAKING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3343, 22 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, NOV. 22, 1919. EXPERIENCES IN ARMY-MAKING.

With which its incorpomated ‘ ‘The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.”

Experiences in army-making from 1914, on to very nearly the close of the war have ltaughlt zthat the (greatest difliculty does not lge in training men, but rather in getting the number of men :to train. ‘The lesson from 81-itlain, in lNew Zealand, -and from all Allied countries, in fact, is not getting men ‘past ‘the ‘drill';ser.g{eant, but getting theni past the Military" Medical Boards. l\lere- common‘-sense ugshould ' have enabled the Governmentof ‘this country "to . have seen that‘ the ‘men ‘New Zealand could furnish caused ‘no’ ‘con-' cern in‘ putting thonrithrbugh the re-’ quisite niili-tary} training, for soldiers‘ were being ‘turned out in camps faster than ships could ‘be ‘made llavailable to take them -away. The main drawback to army-making ‘in this country was to get sutficient healthy “men plast the r\lredic—a‘.l ‘Examiners.’ and the '.)‘their_ greatest difiiculty was in «securing healllthful: transpox-t, adequately conveyed, to take the made soldier to where the Empire Inost“_re_qllir'eel him. To go on spending millions in" training the V few ~ llC'El.ltlly men‘ thxat are .m«il‘i'tar.ily fit "is working the training aspect to death, Whikl depriving -the vital needs of the nation of the serv.ices of those men in carrying on the, produetionand business of the country. It" is" apparent that the Minister of Defence has got into a military rut Where his.‘ common‘ judgment ‘and his reasoning faculties: have become bogged in the inilitaryj mud so deeply thatthey have becomel incapable of pointing the way out.; Experience has also made it verys obvious that long periods in militaryi‘ camps unfit -men for civil occupations; that one of the most dishearteningi aspects of repatriation is the militkiryi curse that still clings to the men, long after -the war is over, or they are‘ freed from the military shackles. Still,‘ Sir-‘James Allen persists in his mili-iy tary drunkenness, and says young men ' shall go into camp four months eaehl year. Of course, SirAJ.a.lnes will notr“ be allowed to proceed with his stupid folly, for the electors of this country are not going ‘to give him the opportunity to make himself so dangerous. to the country ’s best interests. News I papers continue to discuss the subject; candidates for Parliament are questioned about it, and the Labour people have been driven almost to» madness with it. Hitherto, we have not commented upon it because we realised] that it was inimical to the prosecwt tion land progress of production. throughout the whole country; because we saw it was fraught with ‘-disaster to the young men themselves, as well as to the various industries from which they were taken; but our chief objection to such stupid, barbarous, military lunlacy was -that; it did not commence at the right place. It seems -to us that Military Medical Boards made it very clear that the making of a larger and more effective army for this Dominion was not dependent upon training and doing to death the men good fortune has given, but rather upon transforming thewappalling number of military .1-ejects and derelicts into healthy men capable of bearing Mme in protection of their parents, fainilies, and countries. We thought that Sir James Allen would ulitmately arrive at an understanding that before this little country could permit him to play his dangerous game of soldiers to his heart’s desire, he must first set flbvut Stem-nlirng and recovering the hulnall‘”wa'st’.l-go that Medical Iv[ilita,ry' Boards disclosed were eating at the V Vitals of the community. Virtnal‘.y

alongside his military chimps ‘Sir James must have his hotbeds of dlSe=lSo,. Voll‘ -tuagion, and crime,-. but _why 11-04 I'o-' movc these blclts xupon» civi‘-.i:.a'ion; why not cleanse the “Augean ..‘stalucs” that continue to extend into every c.-‘rt-re of settlement, and CUIIVOIII the product. into men milit‘.lri‘.‘_V fit to defend the country upon Which they are now harnaclcs, pal'asites,".ln(l a menace -to the general lltf-fill-11? 1f the Minister of Defence would expunge every vote on the estimates, put there for mil-'ltal'_v purposes. and 3-PPl)’ the money to stopping the appalling human wastage Military Medical Boards have discovercdto us, there is scarcely a man or woman who would not appl'a.ud his action. It is agreed that some preparation -agaillsli 3ggl‘9s‘ sive nations is essential, but IllOSt 53110 people will contend that physical fitness is the first consideration; universal, general fitness, not half our young men healthy and the other halt’ diseascd human dis-fits, If this country is -to have an army to repel a JB«p’alleSe attack upon our shores, let it not be a puny thing, prcordalned to be destroyed, but let it be one in which the whole manhood of the country is part. To put what young men -there are available into camps is commencing the military job midway through it; first let the hotbeds of disease and Sllalllg be removed; let the roovkeries where old and young are packed iII’CO sleeping places, verily like sardines in a tin, be destroyed; let -the factories where human misfits are made, where contagion -carriers archred, and from whence they are let loose to carry their contagion amongst those reared in more healthful conditions and surroundings be wiped right out of existence; let the Reform Adlninis'tration first make fit, and marshal all the military material this country-is capable of providing before "it connnences ‘upon withdrawing the little it has from industry and turns it into military camps. Government. -should make it practicable to draw upon what are new the idle arid incapable in those rookeries and dens of disease, rather than upon the only healthful human nrateriul that is necdful for carrying on the countries’ industries. “But,” say these militaris‘s."‘l: is not fif.” Then let their first duty be to make it fit; let them spend the rniliio-ns they would throw away upon playing soldiers in recover-ing_ the wastage that is now a idlanger-ouspnparasite upon the ‘ industry offlthe healthy; let them. make military material‘ out of that great army Military- Medical‘ Boards sc‘.a.l'(led as usclcss,_- before permitting them to seize, upon, hustle, and. harass our altogether insuflicient healthy young men;‘ before , 37.1!-2y’, are allowed -to sacrifice the few healthy lads left to- us -to the M_oloch. of War. But at new d-'.-Ing(‘.r is _bcing insinuatingly unfolded; the mothers and fz-I.t,llcrs of this country are to be called upon to devote their sonslto a navy. The lads are to be ‘utilised in building up anothcrlfighting machine tlrat New Zealand cannot afford. There are fools who want this and that who never consider where ‘the money is to come from. Farmers are now fully aware just what. ordinary administration rcquires of them by way of taxation. but do they realise what the junkers would extort from them for the upkeep of their great military army, and a money-eating navy? Let, us say again, experience of the war has demonstrated that the great-3st, difliculty in army-making is not in training the men, but in getting enough healthy men to train; not get-1: ting men past the‘ drill sergeant, but getting them past Military Medical; Bbards. Let healthful conditions be} established for rearing healthy men, before we gacrificc the few lads we} have left from that hellish orgy, Arme- l geddon, to the Moloch of ‘War. It is! well understood that science is render- l ing obsolete even present war methods Greatest naval‘ authorities say the warn [ Ship Will‘ be la deatlltrap in futurel wars; that the supreme danger will be 4 in making large concentrations of men. l ‘This is true, then why‘ waste millionsl upon an army and a navy, that can! only be used to gratify the unnatural PloilSlll'os of a gang of military junkers? ‘Ne say, Why? '