SOLDIER DESERTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20278, 21 August 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

SOLDIER DESERTS.

SMALLEST MAN IN REGIMENT. FEELING OF INFERIORITY. Because he was known as the “smallest man In the regiment,” Private Thomas Ferguson developed an Inferiority complex, says the Dally Mail. For some time he bore the banter of smaller men in the Prince of Wales’s Volunteers In which he had enlisted. But his smallness preyed so much on his mind that lie ran away. 'He pleaded at an Aldershot courtmartial, charged with desertion, that being with so many tall men had given him a sense of inferiority. “During manoeuvres,” he said, “I was handicapped by lack of height and weight.” No Vacancy In the Band. At the court-martial Ferguson said he was a keen amateur musician and enlisted after being told by a recruiting officer that there was a good chance of becoming a bandmaster. There were no vacancies, however, in tlie band; and it was after an absence of 16 months that he gave himself up. “Inferiority complex.” Is a phrase coined by Dr. Adler, the psychologist, who collapsed and died in an Aberdeen street recently. And although small men have made history, psychologists are agreed that tremendous suffering is endured by them. “Small men undoubtedly suffer from a great sense of inferiority, especially when they lead lives in which physical excellence is desired.” an. expert of the National Council of Mental Hygiene told a Daily Mall reporter. Sir Stephen Tvillllc, the small man who became Lord Mayor of London in 1934, said; “The fact that T am a small man in stature has not. affected me at all. I went in for long-distance running, when I was at school, with some success, played tenn's. and. In fart, any game I wanted to take part i in.” •

“Great beauty, ugliness or great stature can all contribute to this feeling of futility,” a Harley Street psychologist said. “Some of the most unhappy people are giants. “Because they do not conform to the average, such people feel not so muoh Inferiority as a great futility. The small man may have the power of compensation—and he becomes great or merely ‘cocky.’ If a very small man has this failing, one may be sure that he suffers a great deal mentally because of his lack of height.” Brigadier-General Sir Henry Page Croft, Gft. lin. M.P. for Bournemouth, who commanded Bantam battalions during the war: “The Bantams who came to my battalion could never be accused of inferiority complex. “Their height laid them open to a good deal of ragging, but I always found them quite ready to hit a large man on the jaw. When it comes to bigness of heart t lie little man is as good as anyone.” Bobby Howes, famous little screen and stage star: “My stature has never worried me—lf. has perhaps been of art-ranUKf. in mr career. The little fellow has only to show some Krtt and (ho man who looks down on him physically ‘looks up to him.’ ”