T

HE average American citizen honestly believes that if high school boys can be taught to present arms they are thereby quite prepared to go forth and fight any number of ferocious enemies. We shall all of us, before very long, become painfully aware that military training is an exceedingly complex affair, requiring so much physical and mental maturity that the very idea of giving real military training to boys under military age will seem preposterous. We shall then understand that, while the manual of arms does develop "precise and soldierly movement ... and that prompt and subconscious obedience which is essential to proper military control," as Captain J. A. Moss says in his excellent manual, it is, after all, a very small part of the training necessary in producing an effective soldier, who mast be a most versatile person, acquainted with the characteristics of various materials of construction, from timber to cement. And he must be able to look after himself in many ways. He must know what to do about a blister, and how to cook a meal, and I don't know how many other vitally important things. And he must have a first-class physique and almost tireless endurance. And all this, let me assure you, is not to be achieved by giving high school boys a little of the arms manual plus a few setting-up drills.

It will be found, obviously, that many elements of real military training are beyond the powers of immature lads; but one thing is certain. Here it is. Boys under military age can receive a comprehensive training which will provide a firm and efficient foundation upon which real military training can be built later to great advantage, and while the arms manual may be a part of this foundation-an essential part, in fact its position will be a very modest one.

First of all, as the most essential part of "pre-military age training it will be necessary to make each lad as perfect physically as possible. This does not mean that large groups should be put through setting-up exercises and the matter supposedly settled. Group exercise has its important value, but this should be a more specific and individual affair. Physically speaking, growing boys are very flexible, and it is not a difficult matter to so interest any normal boy in the matter that he will work, as an individual, to bring up to standard any part of his physique capable of improvement. Let us see just what this means, for physical efficiency is one of the most important questions we have to consider.

For many years physical trainers have been faithful to the idea that with a certain height and age there should be approximately a certain weight, not to speak of certain girths. Now this theory might be all right if there were one ideal type of physique which all of us could be brought to resemble. But the fact is that it is quite as normal and proper for some of us to be slender, and others to be stocky or "thick-set," as for still others to resemble the general average.

Many individuals, to their great disadvantage, are described as being "under weight" or over weight" merely because they are more slender or more stocky than the average. And yet their types of build are usually hereditary, sometimes through family heredity and sometimes even through racial heredity. If an individual is well muscled and in good health, we may be quite sure that his weight, whatever it is, is his own proper weight. In other words, if a man or boy is to be judged phys ically with any degree of fairness, it must be on a height-weight basis, and not on a height-age basis, for we can demand that an individual of a certain height and weight approximate certain girths and strengths. In fact, tables have been constructed on this very basis, so that when an individual's height and weight are known one can find the measurements that should go with a well-developed individual of this height-weight combination.

So the first thing we should do, then, with our lads under military age is to bring each one up to standard for his own type of build. This can be done readily on a large scale, and is

BOY

the first essential in preparing a foundation for real military training.

Along with giving a boy a first-class physique should come the giving him a corresponding endurance. This is merely a matter of training. With growing boys long-continued violent exercises do not serve the purpose at all, but may work a very real damage. Long-continued light exercise, however, serves the purpose well, and of such exercises few are as excellent as hiking I mean real hiking, with long distances gradually led up to through steady, progressive training, so that eventually boys are made capable of days of steady tramping, carrying light packs and caring for themselves generally along the way. And that brings in another fundamental matter.

Under military age boys can be taught a great deal concerning the care that they must give themselves and their belongings. They can be taught the principles of personal hygiene and of first aid. They can be taught elements of camp sanitation, and also how to prepare simple meals for themselves. All this can be brought in naturally by means of the long hike and the camp -and the camp should become an invariable adjunct to the school. The camp has other services.

Under military age a boy can become practically and effectively acquainted with the characteristics of many materials used in the various kinds of construction which have become an essential part of the soldier's work. A boy can learn how to make corduroy road, to put up impromptu mess-halls, not to speak of putting up his own tent and manufacturing his own cot. He can do all this, and more, acquiring a practical knowledge which would be of real benefit to a soldier, and at the same time, through this varied handwork, acquire characteristics suspiciously like those necessary for efficiency, success, and even happiness in life itself. In fact, when you come to look at it, all this "foundation work" I have been describing comes very Lear being a foundation for many excellent matters not at all connected with things military, and is much more valu

able on that account.

So, you see, for boys under military age, an efficient military training has precious little of what most of us call "military about it, possessing all the while elements that make for the allround development of character itself. With this programme, however, there must be a touch of the formal military exercise, for, though its value has been magnified beyond all bounds, it is sufficiently great, nevertheless, to command no little attention. Besides, this furnishes the romantic element, so effective in boy training, providing the motive which, for the boy, turns into play what would otherwise be considered mere work. We must consider the boy view-point. Boys are not men in miniature, but quite different creatures, with very different points of appeal.

And this formal exercise may contain some of the manual of arms, some of the marching exercises, some extended order work, and some activities that develop alertness and accuracy, such as signaling of various kinds. Not only this, but boys of fifteen and sixteen can begin rifle practice to advantage, not necessarily with the heavy service rifle, but with lighter bolt-action rifles, such as the Belgians have shown us how to make.

This, then, completes a brief outline of what might be considered a practical system for constructing with school-boys a foundation upon which military training in all its complexity may well be developed. Such a system may be beyond the capacities of high schools. But that makes no difference. Military training for high school boys is abominably undemocratic, anyway, bringing its benefits to but a small proportion of the boy population, and that the already favored class. To be democratic, and so worth while, such training as is given should be given to all boys equally, rich and poor; in private camps perhaps, for some, or in camps provided by the State, or by the Federal Government for those who could not afford the former. The institution of such a régime would mean not only much for a future democratic citizen army, but much for the welfare of all the men of these United States,

Reference: Pages 100-102.
Questions:

1. Tell what the British Government did as to the railways immediately upon declaring war upon Germany. 2. Explain her war system of railway management. 3. What were the difficulties against which the British railways had to contend? 4. Give several results of the taking of the railways under the control of the British Government. 5. Name and discuss five or six suggestions and lessons the United States might learn from this article.

II-NATIONAL AFFAIRS

A. Topic: Congress and the Periodicals.
Reference: Editorials, pages 91, 97.
Questions:

1. Explain and discuss the following statements taken from Dr. Lyman Abbott's announcement on page 91. "A free republic is dependent upon a free public opinion." "To destroy or impair... National publications is to destroy or impair National opinion." "The pending revenue bill... actually treats the United States for postage purposes as five different countries." "This proposal is unjust, injurious to the public, [and] unpatriotic." 2. Reproduce the line of argument found in the editorial of the New York "Evening Mail" (page 97) against the proposed postage rates on second-class mail matter. 3. Discuss each point found in. this line of argument. 4. Do you think the Committee of the House did right in refusing to grant any hearing upon this measure? What right have citizens to demand hearings by committees of Congress? 5. Is there anything that every adult citizen ought to do about this matter? What? B. Topic: Congress Lags; How Shall We Be Taxed? Reference: Page 92. Questions:

1. Discuss reasons why our Congress acts so slowly in passing bills which it is perfectly evident the country stands greatly in need of and wants passed. 2. Why, too, does the Administration act so slowly when it seems that the Administration must know what the country's welfare demands? 3. Discuss with care each one of the measures found in the Administration's Food Control Bill (page 92). Do you know the meaning of the terms used? 4. What are the main features of the Tax Bill? What features of this bill do you like? What features don't you like? Give reasons in each instance. 5. If the Tax Bill were enacted as

.

"Introduction to Economics," Chapter XIX; Laughlin's "Elements of Political Economy," Chapter XXVI; Burch and Nearing's "Elements of Economics," Chapter XXXI.)

C. Topic: Making Culture Democratic.
Reference: Pages 102, 103.
Questions:

Davenport's article. 2. What have been 1. Interpret the first paragraph of Mr. considered the "chief means of culture" by different peoples at different times? 3. Give reasons why such beliefs have been held about culture. 4. What does Mr. Davenport mean by "energizing the mind"? How is and can this be done? 5. What is the doctrine of "formal discipline"? Is Mr. Davenport right in calling this a "discredited misfits." Who and what are responsible old doctrine"? 6. Meaning of "vocational for such? 7. How can a child be fitted to "pull happily " his own load in the world? 8. For what reasons does "Latin and Greek culture no longer furnish more than a fragment of the experiences out of which the modern child must build his world"? 9. Would one get as much culture from the study of physics and politics as from the study of Greek and Latin? Give definite reasons. 10. What is the prime function of education in a democracy? The problem of education in a democracy? 11. What is What are its aims? Who and what are meant by "the new liberal education"? responsible for it? 12. What is it to be educated? Discuss at length.

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY IN

Let it be frankly confessed, domestic economy is not a distinguishing trait in the American home. We are so used to plenty that many a valuable food surplus finds its way into the garbage. And we have been rich for so long that lavish spending has slipped upon us unawares and hardened into a habit. With the years some American women have come to have a sneaking, unworthy shame of being detected in an effort to save money.

Relative to the American woman's extravagant spending and ways of thinking, some years ago a famous professor of economics at the University of Michigan made a startling statement. As the most potent cause he named one of the most widely known magazines for women in the coun-.. try. The kind of magazine emphasized pitches all its treatment of home problems. on the three thousand dollar a year or more basis, while the vast majority of the American population must live on one thousand dollars a year or less. The editors ignore the genuine efficiency article by the woman of the people who understands, because in catering to the rich they fear to cheapen their pages. And thus they inculcate the spirit of wasteful spending. The foolish woman who has not the means feels that she must keep up the three thousand dollar a year pace or be a nobody.

As a rule, Americans aim to buy only the best. The best, however, the unthinking mind is likely to confound with the most expensive. Yet the best is by no means invariably identical with the most expensive. The unthinking housekeeper will pay eighteen or twenty cents a pound for tomatoes out of season, raised and ripened under artificial conditions which make the natural flavor impossible. A tencent can of properly ripened tomatoes would serve far better as a wholesome food. Or she will pay a fancy price for California strawberries though, even when fresh from the plants, they have not the flavor of the Eastern-grown crop.

Many women do not know how to deny themselves the whim of the moment. If they want eggs for a pudding, eggs they must have, though these cost five or six cents apiece. Even at three dollars a bushel they must have potatoes with the accustomed frequency. Now, under the stress of circumstances, careful women have found out how to make very good pies, cakes, and pudding without the hint of an egg. And there are cheap and nourishing substitutes for potatoes, like rice and hominy grits. With the frequent use of these the gnawing potato hunger which will come can sometimes be satisfied without extravagance.

Now, in just these little matters, whether the housewife orders whatever she fancies or exercises discretion will make a surprising difference in the family expenses. And when this difference is spread all over the commonwealth it cannot but make a vast difference in the resources of the whole country. It could easily amount to enough to feed France, England, and Italy during a great war.

A high efficiency in domestic economy is not a gift out of hand. A woman must be able to think and to plan wisely. She must know how to do many things and be above, being ashamed of saving. The learning how takes much time and experience. The careful housewife buys good material for