The Psychology of Handling Men in the Army by JOSEPH PETERSON, Ph. D Asst. Professor of Psychology University of Minnesota and QUENTIN J. DAVID, LL. B. Lieutenant in A. E. F., France The manuscript of this book was submitted to the War Department and permission for its publication for distribution among Army officers and soldiers was obtained under date of May 14, 1918. The authors, however are solely responsible both for the general subject matter and for the specific content of the book. THE FERINE BOOK COMPANY, MINNEAPOLIS. P4- Copyright THE FERINE BOOK COMPANY, MINNEAPOLIS. 9* PREFACE This little book is not to be regarded as a treatise on psychology; its purpose is frankly a practical one, and the plan out of which the work has grown originated in the army camps. The experience of the junior author (Lieut. David) in different training camps in which men are being prepared for the various duties of warfare led him to see the need, as he interpreted the situation, of a simple, rather practical presentation of the under- lying psychological principles of handling men, one which should be especially designed to aid the newly commis- sioned and the non-commissioned officer. Consultation with various experienced army officers and a number of prominent citizens strengthened his conviction that a little book of this kind would render very real service in the present crisis, which has forced war upon us on so large a scale that officers must be prepared for their important duties in a comparatively short length of time. The field covered has been defined in general by what we have regarded as of most practical importance in view of present conditions. Since this is the first book of which we know that deals entirely with the psycho- logical aspects of the training and handling of men in the army, it is necessarily incomplete and tentative in many respects, but it was thought best to begin with the more general and probably the most important aspects of the subject and to leave for later special studies and develop- ments the problems relating to various particular phases of the field, most of which will have to be worked out under experimental conditions for which special provi- sion is necessary. The book is not a mere theoretical discussion based on certain established psychological principles useful to 383078 ii PREFACE the trainer and leader of men, but it has been given shape and direction largely by the actual experiences of a con- siderable number of army officers who have kindly aided us in various ways, experiences in some cases extending over a period of more than twenty years. The general plan has been to have each chapter, with a few excep- tions, made up of three parts: the first by the junior author, an army officer, in a popular and somewhat per- sonal style, to influence the young officers in the principles to be discussed ; the second by the senior author on the psychological bases of the subject considered, this to con- stitute the main part of the chapter ; and part three to em- body phases of more immediate application and also quo- tations, experiences and opinions of army officers which would be useful to those persons for whom the book is especially prepared. Some of the chapters, however, consist of only two parts. In putting out this work we have been guided by the conviction, strengthened by many aspects of the present world conflict, that the psychological aspect of war is far more important than it is usually supposed to be. It is hoped that the book may be serviceable and sugges- tive in the training and in the handling of men, and that it may prove to be useful and stimulating to various army men not included in the class for which it has been es- pecially prepared. To this end we shall welcome most cordially further suggestions and specific criticisms on any part of the work, which may be of value toward making later editions more useful. Communications on such matters should be addressed to the senior author, and they will receive mose careful consideration. Finally, without in any way making others than our- selves responsible for shortcomings or errors in the chapters that follow, we wish to express our hearty appreciation to the War Department for detailing Lieut. David to the University of Minnesota for thirty days to PREFACE Hi co-operate in this work; and to the following officers, who directly or indirectly gave us valuable assistance at a time and under conditions that drained heavily on their own energy: Major General George Bell, Jr. Brigadier Generals S. M. Foote and Robert N. Getty. Colonel H. B. Crosby. Lieutenant Colonel Chas. E. Kilbourne. Majors W. C. Baker and E. S. Adams. Captain S. Y. Britt, Professor of Military Science and Tactics in the University^ of Minnesota. First Lieutenants John Ayotte, Thomas G. Bond. James T. Brazlton and James E. Allison. JOSEPH PETERSON. QUENTIN J. DAVID. CONTENTS. Chapter Page Preface - i I. Introduction - 1 II. Competition - 18 III. Play - - 38 IV. Teamplay - - 51 V. Leadership - 71 VI. Principles of Learning - - 88 VII. Habit and Discipline - 110 VIII. Loyalty ------ 125 Index ------- 143 The Psychology of Handling Men in the Army CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION i The big world game before the war was commerce and in this game the United States led the way in many respects. She has been the life of the "party", as it were, among the nations of the world. Her gigantic com- mercial enterprises and organizations have evoked the interest and admiration of all foreign nations. However, her success in business has been measured by the in- dividual successes of a few captains of industry. The point is that we have all worked and built to satisfy our individual needs and desires. There has been no general plan, no uniformity, no element in our commercial ef- forts that tended towards national unity; and great manufacturing plants, efficient railroads, vast stretches of cultivated lands do not make a great nation. A nation's strength, other things equal, is in direct proportion to the degree of co-operation among its people, and that nation is the strongest, and can stand the severest tests which has the greatest amount of teamplay. Popular opinion labored at first under the delusion that we can transform over night, as it were, our accom- plishments of yesterday into the sinews of warfare, and this opinion was strengthened to a great extent by our physical accomplishments since entering the war. Peo- ple pointed with no small degree of confidence and pride to our millions of able-bodied young men in the draft, 1 2 -HANDLING WBtf IN THE ARMY whom they supposed we could readily equip for actual warfare against the well-disciplined German soldiers. But the leaders among military men agree, and past his- tory and the present European struggle have proved, that while nations can command men and arms and can purchase munition plants, the most important factors in a successful army spirit and discipline can not be handed to an army like some concrete thing, but must be developed through efficient and long training. Major General George Bell, Jr., in a valued letter* to the senior author, emphasizes the importance and neces- sity of thorough and efficient training of the men of the army, in the following words : "In the first place, men must be impressed with the fact that the safety of national existence is dependent to a large measure upon the military and naval forces being able to maintain that existence against external attack. For a military and naval force to be efficient, it must be so organized and disciplined that it can be handled by its commander ex- actly as he desires, in conformity with the general plan of the campaign. This means that each individual must respond instantaneously to orders. Such a response can only be obtained where men instantly and willingly sur- render their personal inclinations for the welfare of the organization to which they belong, the Army and the Government. This is the fundamental form of discipline. Men do not realize until they have actually fought, the imperative necessity of instantaneous, willing and thor^ ough discipline. A recent example of this truth is to be found in the Canadian forces which, through their lack of discipline, suffered totally unnecessary losses losses so great that they quickly awoke to the realization of the necessity for discipline, with the result that today Cana- dians are quite as well trained, or disciplined, as any other part of the British army." *Dated Feb. 8, 1918. INTRODUCTION 3 While the people of the nation at first had their inter- est centered upon the kind and the number of rifles, ma- chine guns, etc., that our army is equipped with, and the spotlight of the newspaper publicity played steadily upon this feature of our preparations (matters important enough in themselves), comparatively little was said about the training our men are receiving. As a matter of fact the men who are drafted into the United States army are receiving good training considering the shortness of the time available. However, the present crisis neces- sitates not only good training, but, on account of the im- portance of the time element, the taking of every possible step to expedite training under our present system. Mili- tary men early pointed out the peril of a lack of training. We were handicapped at the beginning by reason of the fact that our citizens have not had the years of training and discipline that those of Germany, France, and other European nations receive. Today millions of our citi- zens are leaving the office, the bench, the farm and the factory to take up the pursuit of warfare. The process is not only a great transition that changes the men's modes of living, their habits and even their point of view, but it must also be a sudden transition ; they must quick- ly take on their new duties if our armies are to arrive in time to bolster up weakened France, and perhaps take over the brunt of the war. The men who are entering the army today are dif- f erent as a class from those who compose the bulk of the army in peace times. In times of peace our army has not as a rule attracted the most energetic, resourceful young men into its ranks, excepting, of course, the com- missioned personnel. On the other hand, the best man- hood of the nation is being drafted into our present armies ; that is to say, the native ability of men now entering the army is of a higher type than we have had in peace times. This fact and the increased demands for 4 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY expediting the process of training make it necessary that additional attention be directed to the methods of train- ing, both to save as much time as possible in safety, and also to take into account the individualities of the men entering the army from all walks of life. The problem the War Department has faced since our entrance into this war has been and will be that of teaching the drafted men the greatest possible amount of soldiering within the short period of possibly six months. Not only will the lives of the men themselves depend to a considerable extent upon the training they re- ceive, but the outcome of this war will probably be determined by the relative efficiency of the armies in- volved. So it becomes incumbent upon the directors of military training to leave no stone unturned in their search for those methods and means in military training which will produce the quickest and most efficient results. These results can probably be obtained in actual practice not so much by radical changes in the general system of training as by speeding up and making more efficient the present methods. At any rate the War Department has called upon European officers of experience in the pres- ent war to assist in the instruction of modern warfare methods, and there is every assurance that our soldiers will be trained in the latest improvements of the game. Our particular problem, here has, of course, nothing to do with suggesting what sort of training is to be given and what implements of war are to be used; it narrows down to a speeding up process, to that of how to get the best results in the things to be learned and in the disci- pline to be given the men, in the shortest possible time. The greatest efficiency of all the men is the ideal for which we are striving ; in many respects it is of more im- portance than the question of how to get the greatest number into the service, though the two problems are supplementary rather than opposing considerations. INTRODUCTION 5 Two important considerations for those who train the recruits and who lead the men in actual warfare relate to the extreme individual differences of the men drafted from all walks of life, with various kinds of training and ideals, and to the utilizing of the natural instincts in the men for the attainments of their best effort. It is common knowledge among military men that the students of the officers' reserve training camps learned practically as much in three months as the aver- age enlisted man has learned in the course of a year or two during peace times. This difference is to be ac- counted for by the high rewards held out to the former class of men, by the fact that these student officers were mostly all college men and were apt pupils and by the efficient system of intensified training evolved for them. The training of the men who will make up our national army has not all these advantages. In the officers' re- serve training camps the West Point system of sink or swim was used in a measure and the rewards were high enough to arouse the keenest competition. It would be a mistake to assume that all the drafted men will arrive at our training stations brimming over with enthusiasm and a desire to learn everything pos- sible about the new work. On the contrary, a consider- able percentage of these men have claimed exemption, and they will probably, at first, have only a passive in- terest in their work at the best, characterized by an attitude of resignation. One can see how important it is, therefore, that at the beginning the officer should de- velop in the new recruit the right mental attitude. It is necessary for our national safety and for the safety of the individual soldiers themselves that he change this lukewarm attitude into active interest and a keen desire to become as efficient as possible in the great struggle before the nation. In bringing about this transformation in the recruit every just appeal to natural or instinctive ^ 6 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY dispositions and every means of utilizing the psychological principles of learning should be brought into play. The young American of today is doubtless just as willing to "do and die" for his country as were those of former years whom we commemorate in song and story, but the situation is more complex now, and the appeal instincts of self-preservation is not so direct as formerly, even though the danger to national and common welfare is probably greater. When the situation is properly p. presented the well disciplined American soldier will just .^j as immediately surrender himself to the commands of i, his leader without demanding reasons why as did any soldier of an autocratic system that suppressed individu- ality, and he will show far greater efficiency and re- sourcefulness and judgment within his proper limits. An intelligent co-operative attitude on the part of the soldier and of the officer, with thorough training in the war game, is one of our main assurances of success in the present crisis. How to bring this attitude about and how to secure this training in the short time available is largely a problem of how to manipulate human nature or how to handle men. ii Nature has provided well for the life of each normal individual. All the vital processes looking after diges- tion, circulation, breathing, oxidation, and so on, are made to go on automatically, one part of this whole vegetative system stimulating others and in turn being stimulated by them. These life processes are put wholly beyond our voluntary control. A person may hold his breath a short time, but soon the stimulus to breathe becomes so intense as to overcome his efforts. If he should become unconscious the mechanism would run it- self and revive him. Nature could not trust us so direct- ly with the preservation of our lives, so she has provided innate mechanisms to do all these things for us. INTRODUCTION 7 But this is not all. If something threatens the eye it winks immediately; if a foreign body gets into the trachea we cough automatically or reflexly; if irritated in the nostrils we sneeze; if confronted by some great danger we instinctively have impulses to flee. Obstruc- tion to our movements and our purposes angers us and we resist even to the point of fighting if necessary. When food is withheld from a man a short time his thoughts dwell more and more on food and the means of obtaining it, and he finally gets desperate and will do almost anything in his power and run all kinds of risk to get food. Stimulation for such food-getting thoughts and acts come from the changes within the organism itself. All these acts go on as naturally as water goes down the gutter, and can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy when the individual and the circumstances are known. If they are not interrupted they run smoothly and mechanically in the main ; but interfere with any of them, and they surge over their bounds, as does the stream, and take the next course open to them. Usually these and other instinctive acts are pleasur- able, and intense emotion frequently arises on their ob- struction, such as fear and rage. It has often been held that our conscious acts seek pleasure or avoid pain and that the aim in life is to get the greatest amount of pleas- ure possible. This is now generally known to be wrong in the main. The error of the view becomes most ob- vious from a careful study of certain conscious reflexes and important instincts. Who sneezes or falls in love for the pleasure of it? The young ~ ma.r]~Jatt* jn love with th^beautifuijnaiden because he cannot help_.it..under-the. circumstances, .and gradually the universe conies to re- volvejor him about the object of his affection. Many rationally directed acts result, preparing for the com- fort of the family ; but these come rather as a secondary consideration and must be done because of the general 8 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY circumstances brought about, whether pleasant or other- wise. Reflective thought is by no means master of the human machine. A good sneeze is surely pleasurable, but the act is not done to get pleasure; it simply must take place when the conditions for stimulating it are ful- filled. Recently a magazine story reported that a French scout when right under the enemy's parapet was seized with an irresistible impulse to sneeze. To sneeze there would almost certainly mean death, so he took advantage of the situation the best he could ; taking the enemy by surprise he sneezed and attacked before anyone could get ready for defense and got off victorious ! The sneeze, however, had to come. True or false, this in miniature is the way nature works in us. Given the appropriate stimuli, the innate tendencies must express themselves. In complex situations, however, and under the effects of training, inhibitions may be effectual or the impulse may be directed into other channels. Man has at birth, or expressing themselves later in life, an abundance of innate tendencies, which in gen- eral we may call instincts; they are clasping, sucking, carrying things to the mouth, crying(^iaughing, sleep- % ing, specifi^jooethods olUocornoti pro- ceed, utilizing his own faculties in case of any diffi- culties encountered. This is a very different opera- tion from taking by the hand and leading one along. However, in case of some men it is necessary in the early stages of their development to lead them by the COMPETITION 37 hand. * * * With the men that have to be formed into an army in a short time considerable as- sistance must be given, but at the same time my idea has always been that even in those cases the men should be impressed with the idea of self-re- sponsibility. So much is being done for the men in the army that I am afraid there will be instances of 'Molly- coddling' which is the last thing on earth we want. So I think it important to impress upon them all that ef- forts that are made in their behalf are made to assist them to attain a higher standard and not to take the place of their own effort." CHAPTER III PLAY 1 i Years ago there was a tendency among a great many people to consider the time spent at play and recreation as time lost, but now it is generally recognized that play is one of the main means of human growth and develop- ment, both physical and mental. The War Department has recognized the value of play by authorizing the es- tablishment of athletic departments in the various train- ing camps so that each camp has at present its athletic director, boxing instructors, football and other athletic coaches. It took some time for the large industrial enterprises employing thousands of men to recognize the importance of play. The old theory was to get as much work as possible out of the men between morning and evening and to let them shift for themselves so far as their recreation was concerned. Then a few of the larger firms awoke to the fact that if their men received proper recreation they would work more efficiently and be more contented. They also found that by providing opportunities for recreation and by developing their own teams for contests with other organizations and institutions they could develop bonds of good fellowship among their men and a strong esprit de corps; by such means the men would iden- tify themselves with the interests of the firm and would work for its success and prestige. So now we have a corporation like the National Cash Register Company, employing thousands of workers, with a full recreational equipment, including baseball diamonds, a stable for horses for the employes to ride, vast stretches of fertile soil for them to use for gardening, swimming pools, bil- J, PLAY 39 Hard rooms, and many other means of recreation. The firm has found that the men are more enthusiastic and do better work as a result of these conditions. Many other companies are learning the same lesson. It is after all nothing more than showing a larger human interest in their employes and in their general welfare, and in return they are getting the sympathy and the teamwork that such personal interest and attention are bound to stimulate. That play goes hand in hand with strenuous work is illustrated by observing the life of ex-President Roose- velt. His memoirs show that the more strenuous his work at Washington was the more he felt the need of tennis playing, and this form of play fitted into each day's program. His many hunting expeditions have given him the double distinction of being not only a leader in politics, but also a leader in a large sense among sportsmen. Indeed, it appears generally in life that the individual who plays most heartily is usually the one who thinks the best and fights the hardest. A short time ago I had occasion to drill a number of new recruits, none of whom had ever received any pre- vious military training. At the end of three days, during which time I had been teaching them the elementary prin- ciples of the squad movements, facings, etc., I was struck by the rapid progress made by some of the men and the backwardness of others. This condition aroused my curi- osity to find out the reason for the great difference in aptitude exhibited by the men; so I took a list of those men who had displayed the most progress, and then I asked all the men who had ever had any training in ath- letics or who had taken part in such games as football and baseball to take one step forward. Although I had expected something of the kind I was surprised to find that the men who stepped forward were those men who had exhibited the most aptitude at drill, almost to a man. Another illustration that occurs to me shows the effect 40 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY that play has toward easing off a mental strain, and thus toward leaving the individual better fitted for the task at hand. During the summer of 1914 I happened to be a member of one of the crews representing the Minnesota Boat Club at the Northwestern regatta held at Kenora, Canada, on the Lake of the Woods. The regatta lasted three days, and the first two days were gala days for the Duluth Boat Club. They had made a clean sweep of all races. We had only one crew left that had not been de- feated, and their spirits were so low on the morning of the last race, and the mental strain of the first two days had wrought such havoc with them, that optimism was at a low ebb. Our coach must have realized that what the men needed was mental relaxation, for that morning he allowed us to go swimming for a short time, which was against all rules of training. One could see, however, that the men benefited by it. Everybody's spirits seemed to rise, and that afternoon our junior four won their race. These may of course be mere coincidences, or selected cases, but they seem to be common enough to have signifi- cance and valuable suggestions to the leader of men. From reports we get from France, it appears that the English have encouraged the playing of a number of their national athletic games behind the lines. A British officer told me that a game of rugby was the best means of get- ting one's mind off his work and of thus securing com- plete mental relaxation while resting behind the lines. There is little doubt that baseball will be on the bill of fare for our soldiers while in France. Now while our training camps are equiped with ath- letic directors, the officer will find as a result of his in- fluence over the men while in close touch with them, that he will have many opportunities to direct the play activities of the men and to encourage them to participate in the games. In order to encourage play at the proper times and to apply the proper stimulation for play it is desirable that the successful officer understands the the- PLAY 41 ory of play and the psychological principles underlying it. II It seems, and is now generally agreed, that the im- pulse to play is not only innate in man, but that it has its roots well established in the animal kingdom. Practi- cally all animals have their plays, which occupy no small part of the life activities. This being the case, play must have some important function in the life of animals and man ; for nature is not so wasteful as to implant in animals of all kinds so generally as play appears, im- pulses to a large amount of useless activity. There is objection to calling play an instinct, for play activities express themselves in almost all conceivable ways. Often young animals are seen playing as they must later "work" or fight for the preservation of their lives. Nevertheless playing in many respects is much like such other unques- tionably innate dispositions as express themselves in sneezing, mating, caring for offspring, getting angry, quaking with fear, etc. There can be no question that nature has fashioned man so that he must play under cer- tain circumstances just as he must sneeze under others. What then may the function of play be? Careful studies of play have shown that play affords exercise and develops physical strength, alertness, skill in defense and attack, endurance, leadership and subordination, or divi- sion of responsibility, and detailed acquaintance with one's fellows beyond that which can be obtained in most any other manner. A quotation from Baldwin, who has given much time to the study of the social bearings of play, is pertinent: "Dogs in their play at fighting often set numbers against swiftness of force, and exchange parts in the midst of the game, the chaser being chased, etc. Birds in the same flock will unite to storm a tree where a fancied [ ?] enemy is perched, just as they com- bine against a real enemy when he has the tree to himself. * * * 1^ extended 'make believe' of animals for example in pretending to bite one another, with the 42 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY elaborate responses of pretended [ ?] anger and attack shows invaluable practice in varying and understanding quasi-social relations and situations. Mock fighting, sometimes very elaborate, is widespread in nature ; ducks play at fighting on the water, birds in the air, animals injure one another in their playful zeal. The remarkable phenomena of leadership show just the results to be ex- pected from game exercises. In certain packs of dogs, in the words of Hudson, 'from the foremost in strength and power down to the weakest, there is a gradation in authority; each one knows just how far he can go, which companion he can bully when he is in a bad temper * * * and to which he must yield in his turn/ " (Social and Ethical Interpretations, pp. 150 and 151). All this can be applied to the human animal with only slight changes in the applications. Even in the case of man play is still a prime educa- 'tor and trainer in the practical and social affairs of life. As Baldwin so well shows, it develops resourcefulness of mind and body with self-control ; it overcomes awkward- ness and ill temper and supplants them with well bal- anced co-ordinations and control of the emotions in criti- cal situations ; it affords capital opportunity for the train- ing in initiation and in devising new modes of attack and defense, and in the manipulation of other persons and of materials ; it compels careful observation and imitation of the more successful methods and means of superiors, and affords ample opportunity for the- constant practice on others of new ideas gained ; it affords one of the very best means known of a proper understanding and esti- mate of one's self, both of the strong and the weak points as well as of the possibilities. Furthermore, it takes the mind of the adult man, pressed with business and pro- fessional worries, from his cares and loses him wholly for the time in absorbing mental and physical activity. It thereby releases inner tensions and distressing con- flicts and gives the most wholesome and varied exercise PLAY 43 and practice in skillful performances. A short time daily devoted to play not only safeguards one against various common mental and physical ills, but it also implants a bouyant spirit, an optimistic bearing expressive of effi- ciency and confidence. To the soldier it is of prime im- portance ; it makes not only good citizens but good, effi- cient, optimistic and moral soldiers. That play has a survival value in the biological struggle for existence, there can be no doubt. Those ani- mals which in their youth play at various kinds of ac- tivity gain strength and efficiency, as well as adaptability, which enable them to out-do animals with different ten- dencies. The result is that they live to reproduce their kind, and so play impulses become innate. It is not as- sumed, of course, that specific effects of play are trans- mitted in heredity ; only that individual variations in the germ plasm, due in the main to yet unknown causes, pre- dispose certain animals to play more than others and that these animals are favored, as they obviously must be, in the struggle with their fellows. General effects upon health and energy may conceivably be transmitted, how- ever. Even in our own civilized race, where the weak are protected, those who play most regularly and whole- heartedly doubtless escape many diseases and ills which eliminate others. In time this "natural selection" even in the human race amounts to not a little. There are, however, as has been mentioned, objections to calling play a specific instinct, because of the wide vari- ation in its forms of expression. Any kind of activity can under favorable circumstances take on the consciousness or attitude of completeness in itself without considera- tion of ulterior ends or results, which characterizes play as distinct from work. While in a sense there is a wholesome feeling of "don't have to" about play, it can well be contended that in other respects play is even more serious, more soul-absorbing and earnest, more whole- hearted and genuine, nay, more nearly "real life" than is 44 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY work. Children are more concerned about fairness in play than in work. Fortunate is he who makes of life it- self a big, cheerful game played absolutely on the square ! We shall speak of play as an impulse, an impulse to do various things without the direct compulsion of neces- sity or of reason, an impulse to assume with respect to most any kind of activity the true art attitude of satisfac- tion in the activity itself. Think again of the sneeze which is pleasant and satisfying in itself, complete without the consideration of bringing about certain results, done simply because under the conditions of 'stimulation it is the most natural thing in the world to do, justification for which is unnecessary and the thought of or request for it absurd. When several individuals play together, play usually takes on the form of games, involving either individual or group competition. The mere play impulse furnishes an excellent motivation to competition, along with self-as- sertion, and possibly rivalry, as we have already noted in the previous chapter. It is in group-play contests espe- cially that various of the socializing and developmental in- fluences of play appear at their best. As would be ex- pected from the biological utility and origin of the play impulse, play frequently takes on the form of combats and of hunting. Fighting plays are noticeable in animals of nearly all kinds, and have been carefully studied by Groos in his interesting book, The Play of Animals. Teasing and bullying, scuffling, biting, chasing and being chased are noticeable as chief and absorbing play activi- ties among animals on every hand, birds, kittens, rats, puppies, colts, monkeys, and so on. Hunting plays take on the form of playing with real living booty, as kittens with mice, the latter trying of course to save themselves ; with "inanimate play booty"; and with "play living booty". In the last two cases the play booty taken in the game is imagined as inanimate and as alive, respect- ively. All these forms of play are, of course, represented PLAY 45 in human games. In addition to them various kinds of contests (backed by impulses of self-assertion, rivalry and pugnacity) occupy a large part in the human program of plays. There are also among children plays of caring for offspring, plays with dolls and plays that some members of the play group themselves are children of certain play parents, and plays of caring for the sick and helpless. Here, of course, imitation and experience are influential ; but this only shows how adaptable this play impulse is. how it is influenced by acts going on about the individual, making him copy and practice in play the acts which are later in life to be serious work for the preservation of the individual and race. In plays children assume the role of various classes of adult workers about them, as when a boy plays police. In such cases they necessarily be- come very careful observers of the behavior of those whom they represent and so make valuable additions to their own experience and knowledge, additions which are bound to serve them well in future years of respon- sibility. Thus in the higher types of animals, especially man,* whose life extends over a long period through changing seasons, all the important acts for the preservation of life are represented in play. Play develops and strength- ens the plastic individual for the exigencies of the life struggle as probably no other educative agency can do. The person who has not taken a normal part in the plays of childhood usually shows abnormalities that more or less seriously hamper him later in life. While these defects are not necessarily the results of lack of play they show at least that play tendencies are found at their best with the highest individual efficiency, and few indi- viduals would dispute the assertion that a normal child deprived of play with the social contact, the exercises, and the various types of training that it affords would be seriously handicapped in adult life among his fellows. 46 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY It is unfortunate that most people think of play as only for the child. In the animal world adults do not cease to play. Old work horses may often be seen playing when free. The all-too-prevalent view that one's work supplies the necessary exercise reflects a narrow attitude toward play that is not found among the men taking the bigger burdens of life's duties. Play affords much more various and whole-hearted exercise than does work, which usually settles down to more or less of mechanical routine; but, as has been shown, play does many things for the individual besides exercising him. The most important effect of play on a person is psychic, and consists in release from deadening worries and a general increase in optimism and love of the game of life. The adult person, even the soldier, is prone to fall into a more or less apathetic routine. Play tends to keep him adaptable and to prolong the characteristics of youth, the results being greater self-confidence and effi- ciency and an air of contentment that undoubtedly makes for health and prolonged life. The over-strains of trench life and the general anxiety and nerve exhaustion brought about by the war have re- sulted in the appearance of frequent cases of a new men- tal disease typified by what is known as "shell-shock". The soldier is worn out by the persistence of the diffi- culties before him ; they allow no real relief, no complete relaxation. He cannot see his way through the terrible obstacles, strains, and unrelenting anxiety. His life im- pulses are dammed up, impeded, with no good prospects of relief in the near future from the fearful task. The end of it all cannot often be seen through the hardships. This unyielding situation, with the strains and exhaustion of the soldier's life in the trenches, results not infrequent- ly in certain disorganizations of the nervous system, in "shell-shock" and other neuroses. Now, as a prophylactic against such an unfortunate condition, as a safety valve for the pent-up impulses to PLAY 47 express themselves in more natural life activities, as a relaxation from the terrible anxiety of trench life, and as a stimulus to optimism and courage, play stands su- preme. Our ordinary work and our righting activities are all performed for the attainment of some desired end; they are not indulged in for their own sakes. If this end eludes us continually, proves to be difficult of attainment, we are put under strains of anxiety. This is particularly the case when the desired end is very important as is the case in the winning of a war for freedom. Everything else in life to follow the attainment of the great end sought is conditional. It is like expecting needed money day after day with no clue as to when it may come ! No clear way is open before one. This causes inner conflict of impulses, strains and worries that are exhaustive to the nerves. Worry is made up of conflicting impulses, confused and opposing tendencies to do several things. Try for about five minutes, as you read on, to push gently but steadily with the right hand against the pull of the left, and see how exhausted the arms will feel. Note how much the sensations resemble those experienced in extreme anxiety and worry, except that the former are more localized. Against such strains of anxiety there is no relief but sleep and play. The mind will otherwise not cease dwell- ing on the situation. The pull and push will not abate. Often sleep is entirely impossible. "The man who has ceased to play is to be pitied." (Seashore, Psychology in Daily Life, p. 14). Play brings relaxation; it finds an outlet for all pent-up, repressed impulses. It seeks no ulterior ends, but makes life here and now self-sufficient and complete as the moments go by. Even in a game by amateurs the "results" are not important ; the competition goes on not for the results per se for the consideration of "who beats?" but to enliven and stimulate the acts themselves, to give zest to the game. In the play itself as it goes on we have the reward ; play, like art, is self- 48 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY sufficient, self-satisfying. He who does not know how to play does not know what real life is, life as nature "in- tended" it to be ; to such an individual life is always some- thing ahead of him, something for which to work and to sacrifice immediate pleasures. Not so with the per- son for whom life is a fine, big game; for him every moment is rich and full in itself. Play banishes for the time all thoughts of worry and anxiety, all occasion for this future longing. It does more than to make the nega- tive contribution of affording relaxation from strain. It unifies and mutually inter-stimulates the various organic impulses. It fills one with an indescribable feeling of youthfulness and fulness of life that cannot be a failure. The habit of play results in permanent attitudes of ela- tion and contentment, and it gives fortitude and endur- ance against hardships. The whole soul is thrown into play without any reservation whatever, when it is real play. That is sportsmanship ; not the kind of play that glories too much in victory as such or that retrospec- tively regrets defeat. When a real game is over, it's done for, once for all. This is the kind of activity that makes against shell- shock and other nervous diseases and anxieties in trench life, against "mental break-down" of the various sorts and lack of self-confidence and efficiency in the busy whir of life in the civilized world. If there is a "fountain of youth" it is play, for play not only brings relaxation from drudgery, anxiety and ennui and prevents mental dis-ease and depression, but it undoubtedly prolongs many youth- ful, care-free attitudes. Play habits and tendencies are synonymous with versatility, sociability, personal influ- ence, optimism, vigor and courage. Play brightens life and makes it unnecessary to ask what it is all for or what is the highest aim of life ; it shows its effects in one's gen- eral bearing, giving a quickness and decisiveness of step and movement even to old limbs. The incentives to play are the cry of nature in us to varied activity, the call away PLAY 49 from too long concentration and anxiety, and it is cer- tainly desirable, both from the standpoint of efficiency and from that of humanity, that the soldiers who are compelled by the interests of their country and of democ- racy to endure hardships and monotony, to pound away at almost unyielding obstacles under danger and severe exposure which try them to the extreme, should not only be privileged but encouraged to play frequently and whole-heartedly. in To our question, "Do you encourage play and ath- letic contests among your men?" every answer from dif- ferent army officers was in the affirmative. Here are some typical replies : "I have always encouraged participation in athlet- ics by the members of my company. Where a gymnas- ium has not been provided, I have purchased apparatus for instruction in the barrack or on company play- grounds, providing for boxing gloves and ring, base- ball and football equipment and any other articles which I found were desired by the men. I have always found that money spent in this way gave very good re- turns." "Play and athletic contests are encouraged and to some extent are compulsory. A play period is part of the daily schedule. During this period the men take part in various games fitted to give quickness of mind and body under the supervision of their non-commis- sioned officers and one commissioned officer who is designated as athletic officer of the battalion. Also each company has its hour in the post gymnasium where the men wrestle, box, play basketball, etc." "Games and athletic contests in the army are hav- ing more stress laid on them now than ever before. Each company is supplied with an athletic box which contains all the paraphernalia for all the leading Ameri- can athletics. There is great rivalry between the dif- SO HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY ferent regiments and even the different camps, and it is encouraged in every way possible." Appendix IX of Major F. R. McCoy's Principles of Military Training (Vol. Ill of Collier's National Servcie Library, 1917), gives a form for an "Order for Athletic Competition and Other Amusements," which bears out these replies and shows that the forms of amusement and recreation not here considered are various. There can be little doubt that officers who fully appreciate the importance of these aspects of the soldier's life will find them great aids in improving the general morale of the army. It is important to note that athletics, like other forms of training, must have a purpose and must develop snap and alertness in the men that will carry over into their more serious performances. CHAPTER IV TEAMPLAY i Closely related to competition and play, both of which are agencies of developing it, is teamplay, or teamwork as some persons prefer to call it. Every one knows some- thing of what teamplay is and has at some time or other participated in the teamplay of some group or organiza- tion, but many individuals do not fully realize the great importance of teamplay in all forms of group activity. Recently in conversation with an old experienced army officer I asked him if he laid any emphasis on team- play in training his men. "No, I can't say that I did," was the reply, and it somewhat surprised me. Then he began relating some of the methods he has used in train- ing his men. He said that when a new recruit came into the company he would place him in a squad and impress upon him the fact that he was Number Three, for in- stance, of that squad ; that he must execute all the steps and movements required of Number Three; that no one could do it for him ; and that if he did not do it correctly he would spoil the drill of the entire company. He made it plain to the 'recruit that the entire company was de- pendent on him to make certain movements for the ef- fective co-operation of all. It is plain that this officer, while not explicitly realizing it, was impressing upon the new recruit from the very start the importance of team- play. Lieutenant Colonel Lincoln Andrews, U. S. A., in his work on the Fundamentals of Military Service says : "In battle, and in the preparation for battle, there are but rare occasions for 'individual plays'. Success may be obtained only through the most unselfish playing for the 51 52 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY team. And not only must the elements of each organiza- tion thus work together, but the different arms, infantry, cavalry and artillery, must often sacrifice brilliant op- portunities and even meet local defeats, loyally working for the common good of the whole team. Thus each unit, from an army down to a squad, is considered and trained as a team, each under its own .team captain." \/ Teamplay has always been one of the predominating features in the best armies. History bristles with illus- trations of where individuals, carried away by the enthu- siasm of teamplay, have made brilliant personal sacrifices for the good and welfare of their companies, and likewise where companies have attempted the impossible for the sake of the reputation of their regiments. Success in any line where groups of men are em- ployed depends mainly on the teamplay developed. This fact is quite apparent to one who has played football, baseball or basketball. Football perhaps furnishes us with the best example of this principle. We know that in the well-drilled football team, you have the physical strength and mental alertness and ingenuity of eleven men condensed into one unit, the team. Who has not observed the working out of this principle in a football game, wherein one team was composed of star players who had had little practice together as a team and the other team had had the benefit of a season's drill, with the teamplay that it brings? A visit to the gymnasium during a blackboard talk on football, will illustrate how each play is planned out, how each player has a certain thing to do at a certain time. Our great American industrial enterprises that em- ploy armies of workers have recognized the need and im- portance of developing teamplay and co-operation among their men. No better examples of this modern tendency are to be found than the Ford Automobile plants, the Harvester Industry and the Bell Telephone System, all of which have placed their employes on a profit-sharing TEAMPLAY 53 basis, which in turn awakens in the employe a desire to do the best he can for the welfare of the company. These companies constantly point out to their men the necessity of each doing his part without a hitch. Teamplay, however, means something more than the concentration of effort. It leads to a fine spirit of friend- liness among the men, to cementing together the bonds of good fellowship, and in the army to fighting spirit popu- larly known as esprit de corps. The leader is fortunate indeed who recognizes the im- portance of teamplay and bends every effort to develop it among his men. In our army especially, which is com- posed of so many races of men from all walks of life, teamplay should be harped upon continually. Statistics show that a certain percentage of the men who are being drafted into the army have been taken over their exemp- tion claims, and the best that one can expect on their arrival in the training camps is a passive state of mind, so it becomes incumbent on the officers to develop group enthusiasm and co-operation in the men as soon as pos- sible, and there is no doubt that one of the best ways of doing it is to get each interested in his own particular company. One of the first and most important duties of the leader or officer is to develop teamplay in his organiza- tion. President Wilson, on the entrance of the United States into the war, realizing the value and necessity of teamplay, called upon Congress to lay aside all internal differences and party lines and act as a single unit for the sake of the Country. It was teamplay that strength- ened that small band of Belgians, making it possible for them to withstand for days the onslaught of the largest army that history had ever recorded. ii A good way of stating the differences between a normal, efficient man and one that is mentally defective is to say that the co-ordinations of the former are better. 54 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY Let us think of co-ordination in the larger sense of the term. The normal man recognizes the demands of many conditions and prepares himself for them so that all his acts fit in together as a functional unit to bring about the ends desired and demanded under the larger circum- stances. If, for instance, a pedestrian must get to some place at a given time and is hard pressed, this is the dominating factor in his adjustments. If a street is to be crossed on the way and he sees two or three automo- biles in close succession that will get to the crossing just in time to stop him even for a few seconds, he speeds up to get over first and thus to save the needed seconds ; if the sidewalk is crowded sufficiently to impede his prog- ress, he takes another course even though this may slight- ly increase his distance. Every condition affecting his reaching the goal is thus quickly sized up and met in a manner to yield the best results for the end in view. In the narrower sense, too, the normal, efficient man shows superior co-ordination to the defective. His bal- ance, for example, is more finely adjusted. In walking and running he steps in such a way as properly to keep his balance and to interfere with his momentum as little as possible ; too long steps and excessive swinging to the sides are automatically and unconsciously avoided, for these conditions bring about loss of energy in the re- sulting up-and-down and right-and-left changes of mo- tion. His steps are uniform in length and rate and are properly gauged for the greatest efficiency, and each step is properly counter-balanced by appropriate arm move- ments and body adjustments. If he unexpectedly steps on something slippery, as a bit of banana peel, compen- satory arm, leg and body movements so adjust the body reflexly and almost instantaneously as to keep the equi- librium and prevent a fall. In both the wider and the narrower sense, then, co-ordination implies making each act fit into the whole system of acts in such a manner as most effectively to bring about certain desired results. TEAMPLAY 55 Insanity, and mental deficiency on the whole, may be regarded as a kind of inco-ordination. This characteriza- tion of such defectiveness will hold with reference both to the larger aspects of consistency of adjustment to the physical and social world about one, and, in the narrower sense of the term, to bodily equilibrium and adjustments of finer movements so that they fit into the larger acts performed. This is strikingly brought out in play. The defects in both kinds of co-ordination referred to make the feeble minded unfit for play with normal children, and even among normal children there are enormous dif- ferences in these respects. On the playground a child soon finds his proper place. Defectiveness shows itself so plainly in play because play usually assumes the form of games, the operation of one group against another; and the conditions of the games are such as to make obvious any superiority in either team or group. That is to say, the results are easily measured as the game progresses. Such plays, as we have already seen, demand a high degree of skill in subordination and co-operation. Accuracy and quick- ness of movement is demanded of each member. A fail- ure of any one to play his part in any critical situation may lose the entire game. Who has not seen such pa- thetic results in baseball, basketball, or football ? In play each individual soon gets a strong group consciousness. He becomes aware that he is a member of a group that must act as a unit. Success means success for all, and failure means that all must go down together. This makes each player intensely interested in the success of every other member. Each player is cheered if he makes an unusually successful play and is "bawled out," and pos- sibly even dropped out of the team, if he makes an inex- cusable failure. In the latter case the man is sacrificed for the good of the group. Such a condition and such esprit de corps compels each to train up to his very best. He comes to take a pride in his group or team and to 56 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY feel a very close identification of himself and his own in- terests with it. Under such circumstances inefficiency is easily discovered, and it amounts to failure in co-ordina- tion, as described. Just as co-ordination in individuals makes the main difference in efficiency even against odds of greatly su- perior weight and strength, so teamplay is one of the chief measures of efficiency in group contests. It may indeed outweigh greatly superior individual training in other respects. For an organization of men, with pos- sibly machinery of various sorts, to be most efficient as a unit, each individual's acts must be so carried out that they will develop the least friction for the whole team and will allow of the most perfect co-operation of all the individuals and sub-units. Unified effort in such circum- stances is what counts. Effort involving maladjustment between units may be very harmful and dangerous to the success of the group, even though taken in itself it ap- pears to be intelligent and most efficient. Unorganized effort of many intelligent individuals un- der unexpected circumstances makes these facts plain. A rush of such individuals in a frantic effort to do some- thing in an exciting situation illustrates just the opposite of teamplay. In attempts to save themselves from a fire, for instance, or from a sinking ship, or to protect them- selves against an invading enemy, the most surprising blunders are often made. Each person may be intelli- gent and even show self-control of a high type, but under such circumstances each one reacts directly to the situ- ation as he himself sees it, so that one gets in the way of others and does what they are trying to do. Besides this, each person over-emphasizes his own personal interests in the situation. The result is fatal inefficiency, harmful to all. A body of well trained and well directed soldiers can hold its own against vastly superior numbers of strong men not trained to act together. This is par- ticularly true today when warfare is carried on by means TEAM PLAY ( 57 v^^*-* of various kinds of highly specialized machinery and in- struments of war. Each soldier must get to look upon himself as a mere part of the great machine ; hemustjiearn to use his own judgment and initiative only within the limits allowed him; for the entire war machine in all its workings must be under the direction of some one commander who has constant and as nearly direct information as possible of the entire changing situation, including the movements of the enemy. Any assumption by a subordinate officer or soldier of the freedom of acting beyond the limits prescribed, even though made with the best of intention and with great personal patriotism and bravery, might lead to maladjustments and to the failure of the entire project, as well as to self destruction. One must learn to play according to the rules of the game just as is true in the case of football. Sometimes what one is ordered to do may seem unwise, but one must learn to respond to commands immediately and with the full force of one's own will. Only such an attitude will make for the gen- eral efficiency of the group, and enable the commander to do with the army just what he understands from his position of superior knowledge and information to be necessary. War is war, and when it is forced on a de- mocracy every one's safety and good depends on the effi- cient operation of the entire army. Without such an at- titude of whole-hearted surrender on the part of the sol- dier and subordinate officer, the commander cannot be held responsible for results. The present war has shown a tendency, it seems, to depart from the reckless, fool-hardy individual courage, or mere bravado, toward greater surrender of individual responsibility to the commander, who then is held rigidly responsible to the people for results. Ferrari, an Italian writer who has investigated changes in courage in the present war, finds that, "It is only the novice in the trenches that shows bravado. In the first months of the 58 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY war, when an officer called for volunteers for a specially dangerous task, there were always twice as many as were wanted. But now the men prefer that the officer desig- nate who is to go ; all are prepared to go without hesita- tion, but only within the limits of the needful as deter- mined by the officer ; and the soldier prefers that the re- sponsibility for special exposure rest with the officer rather than with himself. Courage has thus taken a less impulsive, more rational form." (Quoted from a review by R. S. Woodworth, Psychol. Bull., 1916, 13, 420-421.) This change is toward better teamplay, as mere bravado, to be brave, could in no way add to the strength and effi- ciency of an army. To do readily and willingly what one is directed to do, employing in the task all the indi- viduality and personal judgment at one's command, is less likely to interfere with the efficiency of the whole operation of the war machine than to attempt extra feats of bravery just to show one's courage. The change has evidently been forced by the necessities of the war con- ditions, and is in line with the putting of all one's indi- viduality and personal judgment at the command of the leader who sees more clearly the entire situation and the individual's relation to it. There are of course many circumstances still in which one is justified in exercising initiative and judgment and in assuming great risks on one's own responsibility. But the general principle of not allowing individual initiative to transcend the limits prescribed by the superior officer is important for the best teamplay, and it is not to be re- garded as inconsistent with the principle of encouraging each soldier to show as much individuality and judgment as possible under these restrictions. The two principles work together in all successfully carried out group con- tests, such as football. Teamplay involves specialization of function just as co-ordination in the individual requires eyes, nerves or impulse transmitters, muscles, circulatory system, lungs, TEAMPLAY 59 etc. First of all, when each man is well trained, there must be means of communication between all parts. It would be wasteful and confusing for each individual to transmit to his neighbor instructions coming to him by such channels. The better plan, of course, connects lead- ers of each unit with those of larger groups, and these again with men of still greater responsibility, so that the commands can come down from the centers of informa- tion about the entire situation. On the same plan re- flexes and the similar individual acts of the human or- ganisms are all under the control more or less directly of impulses from the cerebrum, which depend upon what the person sees, hears, etc. Teamplay, then, implies sub- ordination of some individuals and groups to others, and of all to one head. In democracies this head represents the authority of all the people combined. But the main thing to emphasize here is that each unit must play its part so well as to work perfectly in the entire war ma- chine. This condition is imperative and, as will be seen, is not incompatible in defensive war with the ideals of democracy. Each leader should as far as practicable have full freedom of operation, of opportunity to express his indi- viduality, within the sphere of his own command and of the program of co-operative action given him by his su- periors, and should in turn allow the same privilege to his subordinates. Thus freedom is compatible with subor- dination in all ranks down to the private, each officer and man being, however, held strictly responsible for doing his part well. For the best interrelations of all units or individuals, opportunity for individual drills and criticism should exist in so far as they do not conflict with general drills and co-operative action or interfere with the pre- scribed program. This system. of freedom within units encourages individual efficiency and initiative and affords the very best opportunity for competition among co-or- dinate groups both in training and in actual warfare. 60 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY But such competition is profitable only inasmuch as it applies to co-ordinate units having similar functions. It becomes questionable in value if it is allowed to interfere with the necessary specialization in function of certain units, or, in actual warfare, with any of the outlined op- erations of the entire army. This freedom within the limits necessary for the entire army mobilization, more- over, affords means, according to the individual genius and initiative of leaders, of keeping up the spirits and of stimulating the loyalty of the soldiers. These matters will receive special treatment in other chapters. The leader of each group must know thoroughly his subordinates and some elementary principles of the psy- chology of incentives to action. Even when men are well trained and efficient their response depends largely on the kind of stimulus they get and their personal attitude to- ward the situation. Attention is selective; it emphasizes some things to the neglect of others. To the cat a small moving object a piece of yarn, perhaps, dragged by some one is far more stimulating than are larger mov- ing objects in the room. Nature has predisposed it to be sensitive to such stimuli ; they may mean food, a mouse. Even in the case of man the selectiveness of at- tention leads to errors of view, to the exaggeration of the importance to the individual of matters relating immedi- ately to himself ; often it results in the neglect of remote opportunities and of activities making for the common good. One's effort, enthusiasm, and patience in the face of obstacles and danger, one's tenacity and general effi- ciency, these things are determined largely by the par- ticular manner in which each unit or individual is ap- pealed to or stimulated, by the emphasis each aspect of the situation receives and not simply by the mere inten- sity or clearness of the commands. Right here comes the opportunity for the leader of each group to show his best teamplay. In severe compe- tition under critical circumstances, as in actual war, TEAMPLAY 61 where every muscle is to be exerted to the utmost to ful- fill the task assigned the particular group, the leader or commander has it in his power to a considerable extent to decide the issue. A failure on his part may throw extra burdens on other groups and cause them to give way, and an entire battle of importance may thus be lost. Let no subordinate individual in the great war machine therefore regard his own part too meanly. The leader must keep mindful of the fact that men are not to be regarded as so many physical bodies each of so much weight and momentum; men are not things or machines in the sense that the pulling of a lever or the mere giving of a command will bring out their best effort. They are not to be thrown together and shuffled about as so many inanimate objects. In each human being energy is so stored, however perfect has been his training, as to be released and used under stressing and critical circum- stances according to the effectiveness of the arousal of his instincts and his acquired attitudes and habits. Each individual is stimulated not only by what he sees and is told, but by how it is presented to him, by the implications of the situation as he gets it, by the attitude of others about him, by the amount of training he has had in the performance of the act under the given circumstances, and by what the act promises to him individually. The most efficient response is the one that can be made en- thusiastically and whole-heartedly, with one's good will. In view of these facts it not infrequently happens that to get the most out of a temporary opportunity leaders and directors of groups "play unfair," slightly misrepresent, make promises which they cannot fulfill, and so on. If such an attitude occasionally seems to bring good immediate results and thus to justify itself, this is only to short vision ; for the temporary successes collapse in discontentment, jealousies, criticisms, conflict and final failure. The largest business corporations know this ; they have learned by costly experiences that the ac- 62 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY cumulation of stimuli that are harmonious among them- selves in the large, and consistent with a far-sighted and straight- for ward policy, inevitably brings the best results in the end. Under such circumstances friction and con- tradictory incentives are reduced to a minimum, and each succeeding act strengthens the next by an accumulation of stimulus effect, called in physiology the summation of stimuli. Pretentions and promises which cannot be ful- filled arouse sporadic effort, which under the conditions cannot be sustained. Wavering activity results, contra- dictory impulses are set up, and waste of energy, even to collapse, results. Teamplay demands not only enthusiasm and energy in well trained individuals, but for effective results it re- quires much practice in the interplay of the various co- operating units. Great exactness is necessary in the car- rying out of orders so that no hitch will arise. Enough individuality in each unit is demanded to assure that if any part of the general plan miscarries as a result of un- foreseen conditions or surprises, the maladjustment will not be insuperable and lead to confusion. It is obvious, then, that teamplay cannot be effective among groups that work mechanically with a small degree of individual in- itiative and intelligence. The individual involved must know something of the larger aims and the means by which they are to be obtained. They must be intelligent units in the system, ready and willing to understand direc- tions and to adapt readily to modifications in the mode of attack or defence forced by the changing circumstances of an engagement, and able to act on independent judg- ment if by chance they become isolated from the main army. In a real engagement a few individuals of poor ability or of unfavorable attitude are serious obstacles to team- play. They must be eliminated. Mental tests and other means of selection by personal acquaintance and contact are great aids in the elimination of the unfit. Individuals TEAMPLAY 63 thus eliminated may prove useful in other capacities. Mental tests are now being applied on a large scale. The inspiring influence and bravery of leaders and of comrades are invaluable in the developing of proper atti- tudes for teamplay. The advantages of a real democrati- cally managed army, each individual fighting consciously for the common good, and content with the conditions under which circumstances understood by him compel him to operate, must be tremendous. Too much stress cannot be laid on these human phases of warfare. Armies driven against their own wills by autocrats, or hirelings not inter- ested vitally in the outcome of a conflict, easily go to pieces in adversity. They lack the psychological backing and the bracing effects of circumstances that support democratic peoples fighting for liberty against aggression. It would be interesting to attempt estimates of the im- portance of these factors in past wars. Sound education of the men in our armies of new re- cruits brought in by the draft is desirable. These men frequently come into the training camps with an attitude of passivity, in a few cases with actual inner opposition. Many of them have not had the associations and the edu- cation to bring them to a full appreciation of the democ- racy of their call to the colors. A large part of the prep- aration for good teamplay in the army will consist in bringing about the proper attitude in such men; not by direct instruction, of course, so much as by various indi- rect means, such as the effect of the general democratic atmosphere of the training camps and army life. Such atmosphere works gradually by indirect suggestion and reaches back by means of personal correspondence to the homes from which the recruits come, so that a general feeling of solidarity in the nation develops about the fight- ing men. Thus the attitude toward individuality and de- mocracy gets to be of prime importance not only for the army's own internal operation and teamplay but also as a 64 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY means of securing the backing and co-operation of the entire nation. Each soldier must be thoroughly and genuinely inter- ested in his company and be anxious to guard its reputa- tion, as a man works for the welfare of his own family. In games, as has been pointed out, the group interest and success comes out so strongly that each player becomes vitally interested in what every other player does, in how well he does his own part in the game. Enthusiasm de- velops when a successful move is made or a point is gained and the person playing the lucky role is cheered or encouraged by various other means. In the army this same idea of consolidating the group should be empha- sized, the idea of getting each member personally inter- ested in the other members and so bound up in his feel- ings and interests with the entire group that its welfare is vitally connected with his own welfare. Under such conditions each soldier takes a pride in keeping up his part of the game well ; he feels keenly the responsibil- ity of failures and the encouragement of individual successes. It is only when one's company is regarded as superior by one's self and by others that one is stimulated to the utmost effort to keep up its good reputation. Many a soldier who cannot be stimulated by the more remote appeals of patriotism to country or of loyalty to the cause in which he is fighting, re- sponds readily to the more local and immediate ap- peals of the group; his attitude of love of the com- pany and the identification of his own interests with its interests make him easily stimulated to his best effort by his immediate social environment. The de- sire to stand well in the estimation of his fellows about him, in his own social world, makes an excellent basis for control by group sentiments of honor and the esprit de corps, rather than by compulsion. Definite rules for teamplay cannot be prescribed. We have stated some of the conditions necessary for its sue- TEAMPLAY 65 cessful and persistent operation. Individuals who show ability in organization and in the successful application of principles favoring teamplay will find themselves in demand, just as good coaches are sought for football and located by their results when competition is keen. We add, however, some suggestions from army men of experience. in The safety of each soldier and of the country rests upon the co-operation of all. In the great offensives of the west European front every detail is planned so that the gigantic war machine with its numerous specialized agencies can work at its greatest efficiency. "The Ameri- can soldier/' says Major McCoy, "must be trained by appealing to his common sense, with an earnest effort to encourage individual intelligence and excellence. The common knowledge of the great efforts of the contending powers on the western front has borne in on every one of us the complicated and desperate nature of every at- tack. We all know that superiority of fire must be pre- pared and maintained. Where the artillery leaves off, the infantry and machine-gun fire and throwing of gren- ades and bombing must keep it up. The communications must be maintained midst terrible confusion and soul- racking noise. No commands can be heard. The at- tacking lines must be handled by signals which presup- poses absolute training and teamwork the thorough co- operation between all arms. For the infantry to gain and keep the superiority of fire, every individual soldier must handle his arm instinctively and rapidly and be con- trolled and directed by officers and noncoms. The team- work must function in the work, advancing and crawling by the unseen touch of training and discipline. The possibility must be attained of rushing forth from a line of shelter at a short distance from the enemy at any de- cisive phase of the combat. The sacrifice being resolved upon, it must be pushed through to a finish and the enemy 66 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY drowned under successive waves. It is our duty as offi- cers to train men, both physically and morally, so that the attacks will be pushed through." (Op. cit. pp. 215 and 216). Successive waves of assault are sent forward each to bolster up and protect the preceding fighters and to take and hold new sections of conquered ground. A more detailed account of one of these attacks will help the reader get a picture of the real struggle and the need of teamplay. The quotation is from a description by a foreign officer. We begin with the second line of attack. "With the enemy all in disorder [after the wrecking of their trench systems by the artillery fire and after the first line has hit its blow], the batteries flee at a gallop before the tide which has carried away all the obstacles prepared long ago and judged impregnable; all confi- dence disappears; the adversary, feeling the resistance giving way around him no longer dares to hold out des- perately, from now on the least thing induces him to turn tail. However, on some points reserves have come up, have manned their positions of the second line and have attempted some timid counter-offensive. Machine guns, rapidly brought up, are installed and fire with all haste to prevent access to the open zones of the defender and to gain time. The tottering resistance tries to hold on ; now, one more great brutal push along the whole point like the attack of the first line, and then will come the desperate rout. "It is then that the second line appears ; starting out in its turn from the parallel, it advances by immense and successive waves of thin lines, calm and unshakable among the rafles of shells and spent bullets. "Already numerous detachments of machine guns and light cannon have preceded it. Creeping through, fol- lowing up the first line, they have been able to unravel the situation and take account of the points where the re- sistance seems to be desperate and needs to be imme- TEAMPLAY 67 diately swept. The light cannon orient themselves di- rectly on the rattling of the machine guns, which they endeavor to overwhelm with a shower of their small shells. "The accompanying batteries have started as soon as the first trenches are taken; they are soon oriented by the signals of the special agents of liaison artillery men who follow the infantry. The remainder of the artillery cuts off the approaches by a barrier of asphyxiating shells and carries its fire on to the second line marked out according to the directing plan. "Thus the second line arrives close up to the advanced elements of the first line under cover of sufficient fire. The second line pushes straight to the front on the ob- jectives fixed long before and which should claim its whole attention. "Certain of the units have a mission to block off the centers of resistance by finishing up the conquest of their exterior borders, while the great majority is absorbed in the intervals, instead of being halted and played out, playing the game of the adversary in his inextricable points of support." (From Major McCoy, op. cit. 222f.) The intricacy of the situation is such that much of the final and special training must of necessity be attained in close connection with actual warfare. It is of prime im- portance that the soldier gets a picture of the situation and sees the necessity of playing his own part well so that his own action and that of his unit may protect and support all those that depend upon it. Major General Geo. Bell, Jr., of the National Army, says in the letter to which we have already referred : "Each man must do his part and help his fellow man so as to bring about that perfect teamplay which only can produce an effi- cient military organization. Unless each part of the machine functions properly no machinery can do effective work. It should be impressed on every man that the role of every one is of the highest importance to the success 68 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY of the whole and that it is only by the willing and instan- taneous contribution of each that the army can be made an effective weapon and it is only when the army is an effective weapon that success can be achieved and na- tional existence maintained." "In the artillery," says Brigadier General S. M. Foote, "I think we have perhaps a better opportunity than in some of the other branches to teach teamplay because we work always in 'teams.' The detachment of cannoneers, for instance, that work a gun, must work together like clock-work, no two men doing precisely the same thing. During ordinary drills it soon becomes impressed upon each man that a mistake made by him affects the work of the entire detachment. One advantage derived from the accurate, close-order drills on the parade ground for in- fantry, in fact I may say for all branches of the service, is that where all are required to do the same thing at the same time the appearance is such that a single mistake can be readily detected. While these drills may not in themselves be so very valuable for war purposes, they are valuable incidentally in teaching the paramount element of teamwork." There can be no doubt that the way to learn teamplay is to do actual work in a team, and we are pleased to have this so well illustrated in General Foote's quotation. Mere formal drills in which all do the same thing at the same time without evident co-operation for the attain- ment of some practical end do not in themselves develop teamplay or give a good idea of it; besides giving train- ing in the performance of certain acts, manipulation of instruments etc., that may be necessary in teamplay, they only enable the trainer to see readily, as was pointed out in the quotation, the failure of any one to learn his move- ments. Such failure does not, however, show the seri- ousness of failure to do one's part in the teamwork of an army in real action. We take it that General Foote's last sentence does not necessarily commit him to a view differ- TEAMPLAY 69 ent from this. Every means should be employed by the trainer to let the recruit take actual part in teamwork in various kinds of group competition. In the latter part of the soldier's training period he gets the opportunity of coming into contact with teamplay in actual warfare. Herein lies the prime importance of having the final training in Europe under the direction of officers in im- mediate contact with the work of the army in its ever changing methods. Gradually the soldier can become initiated into orienting himself among the dangers of mod- ern w r arfare with its smokeless powder, its sniping, its raids, its poisonous gases, etc. In the training camps teamplay is generally regarded as of prime importance. The soldier is taught that* his own work, and that of all the other members of the team, may be very good from an individual standpoint and yet absolutely futile if it is not made to fit into the general purposes of the group and its successful operation from the standpoint of a unit body. Athletic performances seem to play a prominent part in the actual training in teamplay. Contests of various sorts not only develop con- siderable skill in co-operative activities, as we have already pointed out, but they also create a great deal of interest in the group itself and its success, an interest that for the soldier becomes closely identified with self-interest. Com- petition of various kinds requiring skill in the handling of arms, accurate shooting, effective bayoneting, gren- ade throwing, etc. and mock wars with charges, de- fenses, etc., involving an imaginary enemy, afford means of developing teamplay, but these means are after all only the first stages in the preparation for actual war con- ditions, the complexities of which have become so great and the special lines of work so various that there is al- most no end to the amount of teamplay possible. These extreme complexities must never be lost sight of; they afford unlimited room for any especially well-trained com- 70 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY pany or larger group to distinguish itself and they serve as encouragement to extreme Industry in training. Teamplay is greatly improved by personal attention to individuals and to maladjustment of various kinds. For such attention some men have special genius. While general rules are not of much service in this connection, an illustration of the resourcefulness of a young officer may /serve to indicate the principle in mind. Among other means he says that he seeks to develop teamplay "by studying the habits and traits of my officers, by re- moving causes of friction between them, by instruction along uniform lines, and by assigning as much as possi- ble congenial work to each. For example, one of my officers is a university man who has been a teacher, and who is a student of psychology and English literature. I find him an ideal instructor for the foreigners in the company who are being taught English. Another offi- cer, who has a taste for medical matters, does very well as an instructor in hygiene and first aid. One of my non- commissioned officers is an ex-prize-fighter, and he is in- valuable as a boxing teacher. Teamwork is most import- ant ; an organization cannot be effective without it." Finally, it is doubtless well never to lose sight of the motivating factors of which we have already spoken. Teamplay is enlivened, and the soldier becomes alert and vigorous in the performance of his own part, only when self-good is never lost sight of and when natural innate tendencies are more or less directly stimulated. For the soldier the war is not merely a struggle for what he re- gards as just and right; it is a big game in which he has become a participant, a game that affords unusual oppor- tunities for him to distinguish himself if he thoroughly learns and practices its methods, but which may quickly eliminate hirii and bring reverses to his cause if he is careless about its technique. CHAPTER V LEADERSHIP i We have considered some of the instinctive bases of behavior, and their operation in competition, play, and teamplay, and also the necessity of emphasizing these fac- tors to secure the greatest development and efficiency in the army. Now we come to the team captain who must embody the foregoing principles in the work of training and drilling his men. The team captain or leader is the man who is respon- sible for the building up of an efficient company, for to kindle the fires of loyalty, teamplay and enthusiasm within a company the spark must come from the top. The government has gowned the officer with a mantle of authority, which if properly exercised will result in the forming and molding of real soldiers from the men placed in his command. Nowhere in civil life does one find any power analogous to that of the officer over his men. How important is it therefore that that power and influence be the best and be applied in the most effi- cient manner. The very thoughts of an officer will color those of his men, his actions will be guide posts for theirs. He is to his company what a father is to his fam- ily; he must teach them, discipline them, console them, sympathize with them, share their hardships and judge their actions. It is reported that a German military authority has made the charge that the United States is making civil- ians into officers by merely pinning epaulets on their shoulders. This of course is not true, for the forty-five thousand citizens who received commissions in 1917, and the thousands since then, have been put through a severe 71 72 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY testing process, and have received some very intensive training. It is true that they were not chosen solely as a result of their efforts and attainments at the various train- ing camps, but in part on the potential possibilities in each man, and the controlling factor in choosing the men for officers was their ability to lead men. The success of an army more than of any other or- ganization is built upon the foundation of leadership. Each squad, each platoon, each company, each regiment and each division has its leader. Moreover the company becomes what the officer is ; that is, his personality is re- flected in the company; and the company will develop the same degree of enthusiasm, loyalty and fighting spirit that is felt and exhibited by the leader. There is no bet- ter example of the power and influence that a leader exercises over his men than the historical incident of "Sheridan's Ride." One can just imagine the force and influence that Sheridan must have had with his men. There was the army in disorder on the point of flight, spirit broken, morale missing, the anxious officers trying to stay the retreat and longing for the commander who had always led to victory. Then followed Sheridan's ride from Winchester, twenty miles away, and with his presence came new hope, spirit and enthusiasm that re- juvenated the men and resulted in turning defeat into vic- tory. Napoleon, Cromwell, and Andrew Jackson were leaders in the full sense of the word and had the same sort of powerful influence over their men. They always impressed people with a conviction of confidence and expectation of success that carried all before them. In time of peace we have seen the importance of leadership on every hand. In commerce, business, politics and athletics one sees thousands of examples where in- dividuals have accomplished extraordinary deeds by means of their leadership. Men like E. H. Harriman, James J. Hill, Wannemaker, Carnegie and Schwab have built up great business enterprises by influencing the LEADERSHIP 73 thoughts and securing the allegiance of thousands of men, very much as the action of great magnets draw iron shav- ings to them. In politics we know that each community has its leader, the man who welds together the individual thoughts of the people and brings about organized effort. In athletics also we find that success comes most often to that team which has the most skillful, aggressive and enthusiastic leader. On the football field especially, which is as close as you get in athletic contests to war- fare, I have seen the captain of a team literally gather together the scattered efforts and energies of his team- mates and combine them into one forceful unit, thereby winning the game. Ted Coy's feat at Yale during the Yale-Princeton game, several years ago, will stand out for some time as one of the best examples of this in athletics. The game had been going against Yale, and though Coy was captain of the team the coaches had been running the game and had withheld the leadership of the team from Coy. During intermission between halves, the great half-back pleaded with the coaches for the reins of lead- ership, and they finally yielded to his demands. Those who saw the game agree that he put new life and vigor into the men and, to the great surprise of everyone, led his team to victory. In the present war the importance of leadership has been illustrated in every great battle. A short time ago I had a talk with Lieutenant Paul Perigord, of the French army, who has been sent over here by his government to help us prepare for the conflict. I asked him about the French officers ; he said : "The most successful French officers are those who in the greatest degree inspire confidence in their leader- ship, who are kindest to their men and who are the real friends of their men. It has been leadership such as that that has led our men to victory." British army men visiting in this country tell me that by setting an example for their men in the way of acts of 74 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY bravery and daring, the British officer has so won the respect and confidence of his men that his leadership in battle is one of the greatest factors for success. ii Leadership is one of the things resulting from a happy combination of various traits that is hard adequately to describe and analyze. It unquestionably depends largely on innate qualities. Some men seem to be natural lead- ers while others with much training are not successful leaders and managers. But while this is true, we are not to conclude that any given individual cannot be im- proved in leadership by proper knowledge and training. He unquestionably can be improved considerably in some of the qualities making for leadership, if not in all of them. The consideration of leadership raises the question of personality. What is a person? It is not merely the physical organism we see before us in the case of any man. A friend or any acquaintance exerts an influence upon us that is different from that of a stranger. The stranger has many qualities not known to us ; in a sense he "keeps us guessing." We do not know how he will react to this and to that idea or suggestion, or how much reliance we can place in what he says. He is mostly an undetermined quantity. The acts of a person well known to us, on the other hand, can be anticipated ; his likes and dislikes, his ideals, his way of reacting to most things we may do are known. We know him as an individual who will do certain things under given conditions. This antic- ipation or knowledge not simply his physical being, with complexion, age, size, and so on is his personality to us. It may get to be almost a mere habit in us to ex- pect certain responses, a matter that we really do not think of and of which we are hardly conscious ourselves. It is this anticipation of their reaction that stimulates dis- like for and avoidance of some individuals and that makes us expand with optimism and courage in the pres- LEADERSHIP 75 ence of others. Some persons, because of what they are known to stand for, stimulate us to eagerness for co-op- eration and self-sacrifice; in their presence and under their influence there is almost no end to the effort we are willing to give and to the hardships we will endure. It is true that the mantle of authority bestowed by the government has something of this effect upon us, but it is well known that an official is sometimes hated and avoided. He is obeyed in such cases only because of our respect for the government, or for the will of the people which he represents, but is disliked in spite of his au- thority. Authority coupled with real leadership adds to one's influence over others, it is true, but in such com- bination the authority is always in the background. The real leader does not ostentatiously display his authority. Leadership is not something that can be bestowed upon an individual when he is made an officer ; it is something far more subtle and more difficult to understand than this. But we all recognize the real leader when we meet him, and we yield even more thoroughly and naturally than to mere authority, for which many people have a secret dislike. The poor leader, the little-souled, selfish official, unwittingly arouses antagonism and discord. The natural leader avoids any show of compulsion, yet in his presence opposition fades as the mist before the sun. Leadership, like reputation, is something that gradu- ally builds up about one, some intangible quality that is worth an immense amount to a man; it makes one sought by all sorts of industrial, social, and political or- ganizations. But it is not merely an attitude aroused in others, a habit of respect that is built up, but is founded on some real personal qualities that bespeak self-confi- dence and expectance of recognition. Even among total strangers the natural leader will soon stand out with un- usual personal influence. There are manners about his behavior that compel recognition and respect. We can- not help observing and taking note of the leader. It is 76 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY immensely worth while for the young army officer, both commissioned and non-commissioned, to think somewhat of the characteristics of these manners. Leadership may express itself in different lines, in science or thought, in art or feeling, or in executive ability; one man cannot stand out above the common man and inspire confidence in all lines, though leadership in any one of the numer- ous human interests usually has much in common with leadership along other lines. We are concerned here chiefly with leadership as it shows itself in the successful handling of men. First of all, as Professor Cooley says in his admirable chapter on "Leadership and Personal Ascendency," the leader "must, in one way or another, be a great deal of a man, or at least appear to be. He must stand for some- thing to which men incline, and so take his place by right as a focus of their thought." (Human Nature and the Social Order, p. 293.) " The military leader is not merely well trained and impressive in his physical appearance. He must of course have these qualities ; he must have an erect, posi- tive bearing and an ease and decisiveness in his acts, in- corporating the prestige of the military formalities and manners ; he must be a real soldier. These physical mani- festations of the soldier he must have ground into him- self until they are second nature. But this is not all. He must know the whole military game, the more of it the better. Continued leadership is impossible with- out thorough knowledge of the matters in which the ^leader directs, and without efficiency in their execution. While it is true that the leader and the genius are probably oftener born than made, this does not mean that greatness comes without work. Quite the con- trary is true; the leader in any line, besides having other good inborn qualities, usually has more energy and continuity for real work and more ability to stick to the problem at hand in the face of opposing im- LEADERSHIP 77 pulses than the so-called average man. The mili- tary man is the leader who acts, who acts with posi- tiveness and self-confidence grounded on knowledge and discipline. For action that is to count and not ulti- mately to contradict and thus to annul itself there must, of course, be thorough knowledge of the condi- tions acted upon. But this knowledge must be of concrete practical matters. The leader of men in practical affairs is not the man to allow himself to be blocked by oppos- ing theories. He boldly strikes out, when he gets the situation in mind, and does things. His mind is made up usually before he takes command of a situation. In his appearance before others, misgivings and un- certainties as to this or that policy are not in evidence ; such behavior would invite contradiction and lack of confidence. But instead there is a fine sense of reach- ing the point of "diminishing returns" on controverted matters, and differences of opinion of small practical import for the problem in hand are disregarded be- cause they are easily outweighed by personal attitude and decision. There are usually several good ways of doing anything complex ; once one way has been chosen the others may well be dismissed from the mind and this one carried through with unwavering confidence. This is the point of view that finds ex- pression in the manners of the leader. "Into the vagueness and confusion that most of us feel in the face of a strange situation, such a man injects a clear- cut idea. There is a definiteness about him which makes us feel that he will not leave us drifting, but will set a course, will substitute action for doubt, and give our energies an outlet. Again, his aggressive confidence is transmitted by suggestion, and acts di- rectly upon our minds as a sanction of his leadership. And if he adds to this the tact to awaken no opposi- tion, to make us feel that he is of our sort, that his sug- 78 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY gestions are quite in our line, in a word that we are safe in his hands ; he can hardly be resisted." (Cooley, ibid., 297.) Anything that reflects insincerity or lack of confi- dence in his own ability to master the situation is fatal to the influence of the leader. The lack of genuine- ness is hard to conceal. It is only the man of real qualities, with nothing to cover up, that can be per- fectly frank and straight-forward in his relations with his men. It must ever be borne in mind that the in- fluence we exert over others is a result of the many things that we say and do, and that are reported of us by others, and not simply of our physical presence and the tone of voice at the time of giving directions. Personality, as we have seen, is the accumulated ef- fect upon one's self and others of what one has done in the past; and what one may do in the future, or on any occasion, is suggested to others more by this than by any present demonstrations one may make. Who has not wondered at the courage of some small boy standing unmoved by the threats of his father or mother and the display of wrathful power, only to see later that the boy had actually nothing to fear? He was stimulated not simply by the present threats and gestures but by their lack of enforcement in the past. Gradually and almost unconsciously each of us is build- ing up in the attitudes of others about him a sensi- tiveness or lack of sensitiveness to what he says and does, depending on the consistency with which he acts, and on the degree of certainty with which what he says will affect others. This is the point of funda- mental import in discipline. All the little events in our lives are gradually but surely accumulated into a dis- position or a character and a social status. Thus grad- ually and in the main unwittingly each of us limits or expands his own personal influence. It is our whole past that speaks when we address others or give them LEADERSHIP 79 directions and this is why leadership requires, at any rate in the essential matters for the- case in hand, real manhood, energy, and persistence. We do not continue to hold in the highest esteem the man whom we perfectly comprehend, whose be- havior in any given situation we have learned fully to anticipate. Even strong, personal friendships flourish best only on constant revelations of new and yet undis- covered qualities. Monotony in relations of friendship breeds lack of interest. We are interested in general only in what directly or indirectly tends to affect us. Complete ability to anticipate how one will react to a situation soon makes an appeal to our curiosity im- possible. The good leader is therefore usually not too com- municative or talkative. He need not be exclusive or secretive or inscrutable, though some leaders are, par- ticularly in undemocratic countries and institutions and to inferior classes. The commander likes to think of himself as a leader of real men not of some inferior sort of individuals, therefore he respects these men and their individualities. Many influential leaders are refined and considerate in personal relations, interested in the welfare of their men and by no means imposing or dominating in social life. One naturally thinks of Grant in this class. Strong friendships are thus built up and personal antagonisms are removed. Under democratic conditions high personal esteem and close acquaintance cannot detract from leadership but there can be little doubt that a too complete revelation of one's self, of one's ideas and plans, in personal asso- ciations gives others a great advantage over one and thereby interferes with the best leadership. Official matters, of course, have only certain channels of com- munication, and freedom with such matters in private conversation with subordinates should not be con- founded with democratic association and personal in- 80 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY terests. Real leadership, it is important ever to keep in mind, must be based in a good measure on actual superiority, and requires regular, hard work and con- stant planning by one's self. The successful handling of men demands consistency and directness of action. Enthusiasm and genuine sin- cerity impress others with the importance of the work one is engaged in and call out greater effort. One of the most effective methods of influencing others is to look for points of community of interests with them, for this .brings about similar attitudes and shows itself in the army in the general devotion to the common cause known as patriotism or loyalty, of which we shall speak later. The man whom we can follow with the greatest con- fidence is the man whom we feel embodies our own ideas ; he gets out sympathy and co-operation. This atti- tude of loyalty depends more on the general conduct of the officer than on what he says officially or otherwise. The indirect method of injecting it into one's subordin- ates is doubtless the most effective. The leader can never afford to reflect anything but high ideals and consistent, sound character in all his associations with men, for the official John Doe cannot easily be dissociated in the minds of others from the unofficial John Doe. In official relations one cannot afford to tolerate familiarity or assumed personal advantage by anyone, based on former social relations. A mere look of sur- prise at any such encroachment on real business, or per- haps a short pause until perfect order is established, is usually a very effective way of putting down any pre- sumptions on personal friendship. The commanding of- ficer is responsible to the government for what he says and does officially, and is not acting in any personal re- lation that can allow of favorites in the sense of par- tiality. All special favors must be on the basis of service and efficiency. A strict holding to this principle will mean much to the young officer in securing good disci- LEADERSHIP 81 pline and influence over his men. It is nothing more than an attitude of profound respect for his high calling and his work. The principle is to be practised in one's be- havior and in no sense ostentatiously; not a word need be said about it. The successful leader and executive does not speak with hesitancy or doubt when he gives his directions. He wastes no words on inattention or on repetition of orders. Directions are given with implied confidence that they will be carried out efficiently and cheerfully even though such compliance with them involves great danger or risk of life. All the best qualities of a real soldier are assumed of each man, and this gives mutual ^confidence and cour- age. Orders should, of course, be given with sufficient clearness and definiteness and brevity to leave no doubt as to their meaning. The giving of many orders with- out scrupulous care as to their being carried out cannot but result in ultimate carelessness as to their fulfilment. The successful leader is a hard worker, never allow- ing anyone under his command to know more about his work than he does; he comes to his official duties pre- pared to meet emergencies and to anticipate any possi- ble difficulty that may arise. He understands human nature and knows that each person can best be stimulated in directions that accord with his own instincts and self- good. The leader therefore respects individuality, and skillfully identifies remote self-good with common wel- fare, and he shows by his own attitude and conduct that he is but representing the will of the people. He does not forget that some of the more remote and abstract ideals which give direction and meaning to our larger ac- tivities, are far less effective bases for stimulating many men than are the more immediate impulses connected with the desire to stand in well with the members of the local group. He is mindful of the strength of personal appeals, but he effectively embodies these more abstract principles of justice and patriotism to the country's cause. 82 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY Planning while others sleep prevents sleepless nights and breeds self-confidence. The best leader never rests on his oars ; he constantly and incidentally reveals knowledge and insight beyond the anticipation of his men. Good leaders are never perfectly determined quantities. There is no royal road to leadership for it demands not only superior ability, but hard work, sincere living, and a high regard for justice and individuality. There can be no question that careful attention to these matters and per- sistent attempts to embody such characteristics in one's own life and work will greatly improve one's leadership and influence. in The first rule or suggestion to follow in order to be a successful leader is to know more than your men. Superior knowledge is necessary to win the confidence of one's men. This can only be secured by hard, diligent labor. If an officer is about to teach a company of new men the fundamentals of infantry drill, he will do well to get out his Infantry Drill Regulations and review every- thing pertaining to infantry drill. It should be made a rule never to appear before the men without being pre- pared, for a leader will not only lose the confidence and respect of his men if some one in the ranks knows more about the subject than he does, but he will appear ridic- ulous to them. The leader in order really to lead must be popular in the better sense of the term with his men. Lieut. Col. Lincoln Andrews in his work on the Fundamentals of Military Service, has the following to say in regard to the popularity of a leader: "It is proper that you should aspire to popularity, to be beloved of your men, to be one of those leaders of whom it is boasted that their men would follow them anywhere/' Popularity, however, is something that will come itself if it is merited, and while it is essential to the success of the leader that he be pop- ular with his men, yet in his actions and words he should LEADERSHIP 83 not convey the impression that he is courting popularity. Real popularity is not attained by showing favoritism or by overlooking mistakes. Popularity gained by such methods is not lasting and will not stand the acid test of experience. The only solid, enduring popularity is that gained by exhibiting the qualities of justice and fairness in one's dealings with men. Another thing which will aid materially in winning influence among the men is to study their point of view, mentally to "place one's self in their shoes" and thus to avoid the mistakes of misunderstanding the men, and the most natural and best methods of training and teaching them naturally occur to one. The English officers, de- spite the popular notion that prevails about the strict lines drawn between the men and officers, have been admired and adored by their men, due to the courage and bravery exhibited by them. A French officer, who is at the pres- ent time lecturing here for his government, related a very interesting incident of how he had won over his men's confidence and respect. His company was occupying a sector of the front line trenches and it fell to his lot to de- tail a soldier to perform a perilous mission, which neces- sitated his traversing a section of "no man's land" over which a heavy shell fire was falling. The poilu looked at the officer and said : "Sir, do you realize what it means to go out there?" The officer felt that his discipline would be weakened if he argued with the man, and he knew that some drastic measure had to be taken. He looked out over the parapet of the trench and as he watched the falling shells he noticed that they were falling in well defined lanes, and the idea came tg him of pick- ing a path through the shell fire. He turned to the poilu : "I suppose you will risk it if I accompany you out over that hill." The French soldier protested against his lieutenant going to certain death, but the officer insisted on accompanying him and so they started out. The jour- ney out and back was made without mishap, and on his 84 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY return to the trench the officer's men literally hugged him in true French fashion, kissing his hands and hanging onto his knees. The incident had the effect of winning the confidence and the respect of every man in his com- pany, and from that day on he never had to select an- other man for a perilous task, for men in the company willingly volunteered whenever occasion arose. Of course spectacular exhibitions of courage such as the foregoing are not usually necessary to win popularity among the men or even wise as a rule, but it has been common knowledge that the French and the English offi- cers have set the pace for their men. However, the most important thing to keep in mind is the necessity of fair and impartial treatment of the men. In assigning work it is important to see that each man does his share, and does it in strict compliance with orders. In drilling and teaching his men the efficient officer will always bear in mind the fact that the average man takes pride in doing his work well. When the work is digging a trench he will find more interest in his work if it is properly directed and is well done ; when it is com- pany drill the men will enjoy it more and find more in- terest in the performance of the drill if it is snappy and performed in proper manner. And the application of this principle is made by keeping a close watch on the efforts of the men, rewarding deserving efforts with a word of praise or correcting their mistakes in a definite, manly way. The men cannot help but feel elated over doing their work well, and the leader makes a mistake if he thinks he is pleasing them by allowing them to slop through their work. In handling men the leader must bear in mind that he is not only the leader by right of authority but that he must be the leader in fact. He must set the pace and the men will look to him as an example. If he is taking the men on a hike his place is at the head of the column ; if the path carries them over rough, difficult pieces of road LEADERSHIP 85 he must lead the men over these places. In action, re- gardless of how he re,ally feels, the leader must be so trained and self -disciplined that he can put up a fearless, unexcited appearance. If he appears frightened the same state of mind will be communicated to the men; if he is perfectly at ease and complacent under the circumstances they will quickly fall into the same mental attitude. One of the most important factors in the make-up of a successful leader is his ability to make decisions quickly and to carry them out in a commanding manner. A leader is helpless before his men if he shows any hesi- tancy about what to do under any circumstances that call for a quick decision. Decisiveness in action can be de- veloped to a certain extent while in garrison training. Circumstances are always arising which call for quick de- cisions, and while it is desirable to make the best deci- sion under the circumstances one must sometimes sacri- fice the value of reflection for speed. An officer to become a leader of his men in the full sense of the word must not only give them commands, direct their efforts and teach them military science, but he should also look after their material needs; he should watch their mess, and should see that they are well out- fitted. In a word he must be something of a father to his men. In return the men will develop a warm regard bor- dering on affection for their officers. It is human nature to strive to please those who are interested in us, and the men will quickly learn whether or not their leader has their interest at heart. One thing the officer cannot be too careful about is the giving of orders. In the first place he should limit the orders to as few as possible, and they should be given neither in a harsh nor in a pleading tone. Nagging the men or treating them as if they were servants can have no result but that of arousing antagonism of some sort, and on the other hand the officer is charged with responsibil- ity regarding matters under his own command that en- 86 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY ables him confidently to expect the carrying out of his orders. Orders can be so couched that they assume will- ing co-operation and indicate that there is in the mind of the officer no uncertainty as to whether they will be obeyed. It is important to see that every order is prompt- ly and intelligently carried out to the letter, for if one gives leeway the habit of allowing slight omissions to occur will grow until these omissions border on insub- ordination, and for such a condition the officer only, on the last analysis, is responsible. 'The American soldier," says Major McCoy, "does not like the French familiarity nor the English patroniz- ing ways, and intercourse should be in keeping with the customs of the service. The popularity seeker, or freely familiar officer, soon acquires the disdain or contempt of his men. If he is going to lead them in hard times and have their willing and instinctive respect in follow- ing, he must exercise a quiet patience and an insistence on their rights and privileges, and a keen interest in their comfort and welfare. The intimate service in the field will give him every opportunity for showing this. It must not be forced. "Self-control is the most important faculty of com- mand over Americans an even tone of voice and a quiet, cool way. When you speak to a man, use his name, never the old-fashioned terms of 'you man' or 'my man* or any other patronizing expression or tone of voice. Show a lively interest in everything that is going on in the way of both work and sport, and cultivate the utmost discrim- ination in giving rewards and punishments. "Study the temperament and characteristics of your men, and remember that punishment itself is not an end but a means for better work and particular reform. Be sympathetic but not soft-hearted at the wrong moment. Remember that enlisted men in barracks are not 'plaster- of-paris saints/ but have all of the little faults and at the same time the fine loyalty and often splendid qualities LEADERSHIP 87 of the young American. Most of your soldiers are not much more than boys, and they should be handled as such. "Your heart will warm particularly to the noncoms. They have been tried by fire and are usually a splendid lot and stand by you through thick and thin, and it is one of the finest experiences of the service to go through hard times with them." (Op. cit., 143, 144.) Major General George Bell, Jr., in the letter already referred to, says : "It is impossible to reduce to rules the proper method of dealing with large bodies of men because the personal equation so greatly modifies vari- ous cases. With some, sheer force is the only way to com- pel obedience; with others tact; with others persuasion, etc., but a very potent influence can always be exerted by the appeal to reason and by showing men who possess ordinary intelligence that there is a very well founded reason for certain customs and practices in the military service." CHAPTER VI THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING The change in the life of the civilian which is to make him into a full-fledged soldier is fundamentally a matter of learning, and when one contemplates the enormity of the task before the Government in changing so radically the lives of millions of men in the short time available one sees the importance of having the officers upon whom this work devolves approach the work as intelligently as possible. The officer in the training camps becomes fundamentally a teacher. A large factor in the success of any organization in most lines of activity is the degree of efficiency applied to the methods of teaching its members the tricks of the trade. Most of the large industries realizing the truth of this fact have long since discarded the merely haphazard method of breaking in their employes. These firms now employ the best talent in the country to evolve the most efficient ways and means of teaching their men and they frequently incorporate these principles in short courses to which the men have access before taking up their work within the firm. In many cases a great deal of considera- tion is given to individual differences among the em- ployes, backward individuals being given special coach- ing and instruction and every man being put into the serv- ice for which he is best fitted by nature, as far as this is possible. In many different fields the essential elements of learning have been so carefully analyzed as to enable the learner under scientific direction to advance much more rapidly than he could otherwise do, and to reach a : ligher point of efficiency. The brick-layer, for instance, is far more efficient today than he was a couple of decades 88 THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 89 ago ; he has learned just how to use his muscles, tools, and materials to practically the best advantage. The same is true of the workers in many other lines of the industries to which scientific methods have been applied. Where- ever premium is put on the accuracy and quickness of highly co-ordinated movements and on the co-operation of many hands, better analysis and consequently great im- provement is bound to take place. It is accuracy of test- ing* results and high rewards for the best results that bring out improvement in methods. In athletics these conditions usually obtain; contest has put a high value on efficiency, and results in their grosser features at least are easily determined. As a re- sult of this we find that in the various specialized lines of athletics the methods of training have been greatly im- proved. While most of the older generation spent a long time during several summers learning to swim, as boys left to themselves still do, it is now possible for an expert by emphasizing and calling out the most efficient move- ments to teach one to swim in a very short time. The same thing is true of skating. Without expert assistance one may spend several winters learning to be highly effi- cient, but a good instructor will enable one to show sur- prising improvement in a dozen lessons. This is due to the fact that such instructors in various highly specialized per- formances have found just how best to emphasize the most efficient movements that one makes in the early trials and how to eliminate with the greatest advantage all unnecessary movements. The athletic coach of today teaches the runners to utilize every ounce of muscle in their strides so as to avoid placing any extra burden on certain muscles and thus to bring on fatigue too rapidly. In rowing the coach instructs the beginner to equalize the eiLrtion of each stroke by distributing the work over all the muscles of the body; and, everything else being equal, the crew which has the smallest amount of lost motion in the strokes wins the race. 90 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY In the field of education much progress has been made because of the fact that more accurate methods of meas- uring results have been worked out and also because better means of analyzing the processes are thus afforded. In this field, however, there is yet much to be learned, for at the present time the emphasis is put chiefly on methods of measuring results and of testing the indi- viduals for better classification. Greater emphasis on improved methods of learning is bound to come as a re- sult of the accuracy with which results of different methods can now be measured. At present there is un- fortunately a tendency to neglect motivation methods in the mere routine of the drills. It is highly probable that great improvement in the methods of training recruits are to come, particularly now that time is a most important consideration and that the most efficient officers are everywhere so much in de- mand that much of the work of training will necessarily be left to younger men. Many young officers will find themselves charged with responsibilities that will compel them more or less to fall into mechanical and stereotyped procedures. While the various movements in formal military drill are rather uniform for all the men, there are under present practices excellent opportunities for the progressive officer to put individuality and snap into his work. I recall one young officer who conducted classes each day in guard duty. During the various sessions that I attended this instructor never resorted to illustrations in explaining the many different phases of his subject. A number of questions and difficulties would come up each day which could easily have been cleared up by the use of a few apt illustrations. With a few suggestions such an officer might greatly improve his efficiency. On the other hand I have seen officers who made their subjects so clear and interesting by means of illustrations, and pro- vided so well for proper motivation to real effort, that THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 91 students were enthusiastic and made excellent progress. As better methods of measuring results develop and as the demand for the best officers increases, as it is certain to do during the progress of the present war, such differ- ences will become more and more marked and the efficient officer will find himself at a tremendous advantage. The great improvement that regularly shows itself in learning when the most efficient methods are employed was illustrated in the increased rate of progress made by the students of the second officers' reserve training camps over that of the students of the first series of training camps. It has been freely admitted that in the second series the students covered more ground in the first three weeks than was gone over by those of the first series in five. Too much stress cannot be placed upon the neces- sity of the selection of the most useful procedures by the officers who are to train the recruits, and there can be no doubt that an intelligent understanding of the princi- ples underlying learning will be very helpful to those who have this important work immediately in hand. ii Few animals are born with instincts and dispositions that fully meet the needs of their environment. The acts of some animals are much more nearly pre-determined by their inherited structure than are those of others. In many cases reproduction is on so large a scale that many of the individuals may be eliminated by slight errors in response and still enough of their fellows will by chance survive for the continuance of the species. Certain types of animals have so short lives, or live in environ- ment (e. g., water) where changes are so slight, that there is little need of modification of their behavior. But higher animals, living through many seasonal changes, are usually more plastic so that they can become accommo- dated to the changes of conditions about them, or acquire habits of their own which will supplement the original instincts. In general such changes brought about in in- 92 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY stincts by shaping them for individual emergencies are what we call habits, and the acquiring of the habits is learning. To learn is to modify one's instinctive ways of responding to given circumstances so that the results of the acts will be more favorable to the life of the in- dividual himself, and therefore to his group. In plastic animals, like man, all instincts have to be trained more or less for normal functioning. It is of course true that not all acts learned are help- ful to the individual in the long run; many habits ac- quired under local or temporary conditions even hamper the individual later in larger situations, and operate against the acquirement of more valuable habits. But our point is, that for the proper motive to exist in the formation of habits in men we should not get too far away from the stimulation of the original instinctive tendencies, tendencies that predispose the individual not only to act in certain ways but to be interested in matters affecting his own welfare. The good teacher and trainer never forgets this; he consequently gets better effort and less inner resistance. The instructor who is to be most suc- cessful, therefore, in the training of others must keep in mind some of the elementary principles of behavior; he must not forget that external stimuli to effort or activ- ity are means of bringing about action because they are related to inner needs and to instinctive tendencies of the individual organism, and because they somehow give ex- pression to the innate dispositions of the individual. The writer one time had a special student in arithmetic who made wonderful progress. He was a life insurance agent, and was promised a considerable increase in salary at a certain date, provided he could be ready to assume the more difficult duties going along with the higher position. For the new work he was deficient in mathematics. His learning activities were therefore motivated rather di- rectly by strong instinctive tendencies, and he made rapid and cheerful progress. The instructor in the training THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 93 camps must give the learners a vision of what the acts to be learned lead to ; he must give them perspective so that their instincts and ambitions can play into and through the activities or formalities to be acquired. This enlivens and gives spirit to the work, and furnishes motive for hard individual efforts. Where other motives fail rivalry or emulation, as we have seen, may be utilized ; these are impulses to out-do some one else, or, more abstractly, to distinguish one's self. Competition among groups is a principle that has wide application and large possibilities. Acts learned are not new things taken on, then ; they are not disinteresting matters unrelated to our welfare, but are modifications of ourselves and never leave us what we were before. The acts the soldier is to learn are modifications in his instinctive equipment to fit him to do given things, to distinguish himself in such and such lines of national service. The formalities of military life which confront the new recruit can be much more quickly learned and heartily incorporated if it is made clear to him what they mean. For purely practical purposes in the consideration of this subject it will be advisable to distinguish two classes of learning: (1) the learning of practically new acts or of difficult combinations of acts only partly under control and (2) the modification to a slighter degree and the per-- fection of habits or movements already under voluntary control. For short we shall refer to these as Class I and Class II, respectively. Class I includes such things as learning originally to talk, to get voluntary control of one's various finer movements, to walk, to skate, to jug- gle balls (to keep two balls going in the air with one hand, catching and throwing one while the other is in the air), to trace some irregular figure by watching the hand movements in the mirror only, etc. The last two illustrations are somewhat artificial, but very useful for illustrative experiments on learning. Class II would in- clude increasing one's rate, ease, and legibility of hand- 94 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY writing; learning a foreign language when one already has control of the speech organs; improving one's lan- guage, spelling, enunciation, bearing; learning to play musical instruments and to sing; learning telegraphy, typewriting, stenography; learning the various sciences, their methods of investigation, their terms, theories, etc. ; making improvements in various daily activities, and so on. Clearly most of the things that recruits must learn are in Class II. When a new act of Class I is being acquired the first thing to note is that some strongly impelling inner im- pulse is manifest, such as hunger, impulses to escape from confinement, impulses to more effective self expression, or to escape from excessive or painful stimulating con- ditions. When men began experimenting on the learn- "ing of animals the first problem was to supply a proper motive, different from that needed by an adult person, for the animal to attempt doing something. Such a motive was found in hunger, in escape from confine- ment or from punishment, or in letting the animal try to get to its fellows from which it had been separated. We lose sight of some of these motives under the artificial conditions of our human environment, but they must be there just the same and ought to be utilized as far as pos- sible if we are to get the best effort. No learning takes place, even in man, without some sort of motivation to the effort. No person learns comparatively well and readily that about which he is somewhat indifferent, un- less it is some insignificant act accidently associated with instinctive responses. We see conditions so far ahead of us that often it is difficult to say just what is actuating us. In the case of animals the necessity of proper motivation to learning therefore comes out more clearly. Proper motivation to training acts of Class II is also necessary, though not so obvious to superficial observation. The second fact to be noted about learning acts of Class I is that a great number of apparently useless acts THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 95 occur on the first trials; excessive, random movements take place in an orderless manner. These cannot be pre- vented even in an adult man. Try it in ball tossing or mirror tracing! The child in learning to walk makes numerous arm, leg and body movements that are after- wards unnecessary and are therefore later eliminated. In trying to skate for the first time one throws the arms and legs about to keep balanced, bringing into play almost every muscle of the body. Except for momentary periods these balancing movements take practically the entire at- tention. All other things lose their importance for the time and one becomes wholly involved in the new experi- ence. The same thing is true of many other acts of Class I that could be selected as illustrations. These excess movements remind one very much of those seen in cases of extreme excitement, as in anger, fear, or joy, or even in worry. In both cases there seem to be overflows of nerve impulses into various pathways which later are discarded, just as we see water overflow its bounds and spread if something interferes with its free flow, or when it spreads over a new field for the first time. The third important point about learning is the gradual elimination of these useless or irrelevant move- ments, just as the water soon wears for itself a definite channel and therefore ceases to spread. Continued trials in the learning of some new act and also in the improve- ment of acts (Class II) soon lead to a great reduction in the errors made and in the time taken for a certain per- formance. The person learning to skate gradually de- creases the irregular arm and body movements, and be- comes correspondingly freer to attend to surrounding ob- jects and persons. It is hardly right to say, as is often done, that this comes about by repetition; for by mere repetition of such movements as appear useless and irrel- evant he would never learn, but would continue to make all those ungainly movements and to fall down. Only certain acts are repeated, the most fit ones, that is, those 96 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY that are most fit for the purpose in view (or for the needs of the organism, or acts accidently associated with such needs, when no conscious purpose is present). Learning is therefore largely a process of selecting from many random acts those most fit for the purpose, or most successful for the attainment of the thing to be accomplished. Often, it must be noted, this selection is not done consciously, and the individual can give no satis- factory statement of the selection later or say how it was brought about. Even in lower animals learning goes on by precisely the same general means, or through these same stages. A rat put into a problem maze containing many 'blinds' and irregular windings will at first run into now one, now another, until the food he was pre- viously allowed to taste is found. In subsequent trials these errors are rapidly eliminated. So also with the ran- dom clawings, bitings, and other movements of a cat getting out of a problem box closed, let us say, by a latch. Gradually the movements that raise the latch survive over all the others. This result could never be obtained by mere repetition of all the original random movements. Finally, when the act is learned we get only the suc- cessful movements called out by the stimulus and these are performed quickly, uniformly, and with little or no thought of them, so that the individual can be free to at- tend to other things. At this stage the habit is formed, but additional practice will continue more and more to consolidate it and will make it more permanent and more difficult to interfere with by other acts or habits. The rapidity of habitual acts, their ease, uniformity in speed, and the diminution of effort expended, all make for economy. Many of our acts can well be reduced to the mechanical, semi-conscious type so that they will take care of themselves when we merely think of or are con- fronted by, the situation requiring them. This will leave us freer to make ready in thought for larger matters. A large number of our acts so seldom occur in certain par- . THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 97 ticular combinations, however, that they can never he thus reduced to a clap-trap performance; they remain more or less conscious or deliberate. This is, of course, fortunate on the whole, for otherwise we should soon be reduced to mere unconscious automata living machines as some insects may be. It is important for the trainer to keep these general facts in mind, so that he can work to a purpose, intelligently organizing the soldier's life for the most rational and effective expression. One should not hastily conclude that the random, un- co-ordinated acts noticeable in the early stages of learn- ing, or in doing a thing that is new to us, are useless and wholly to be prevented if possible. In an important sense they doubtless give an individual his bearings, his general orientation with respect to the appropriate re- sponse ; they make him more adaptable. Neurally speak- ing they doubtless open up to a degree other channels so that in case the stereotyped act, which is the outcome of the training, fails to suffice under changing condi- tions, new acts appropriate to the circumstances may more easily become organized. For specific performance in some particular circumstances it may be profitable to stereotype acts by as great a short cut method as possi- ble, preventing if it can be done the excess movements, but it is questionable whether a general use of this method would not greatly limit one's general efficiency and adapt- ability. It is perfectly obvious that one may go to ex- tremes either way. The random acts seem to have a real function in keeping one alive to larger co-ordinations and to the various uses that may be made of the specific habits learned, and also in keeping one more physically fit and adaptable and mentally more resourceful. Acts which are to be mechanically performed under the direction and control of larger voluntary activities should be reduced as quickly as possible to the automa- ticity of habits. This is best accomplished by a proper distribution of practices, say a short time daily for many 98 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY days, rather than by a too concentrated practice of long periods for but a few days. For example, twenty fif- teen-minute periods coming about once daily are gener- ally more effective in such cases, other things equal, than five hours in succession, than one hour daily for five days, or even than thirty minutes daily- for ten days. The exact economy here depends to a large extent on the nature of the act practiced and on the condition of the individual, and cannot be definitely stated without investigation on the specific problem. Too long a period between each practice is also not the most favorable. Full and complete attention to the drill, with a rec- ognition of the part the mechanical act when learned is to play in the larger voluntary acts, is necessary for the greatest progress in it. Such intelligently directed effort for short, regular periods prevents the occurrence of the fatigue that would be inevitable under longer drills and it also keeps up the motive or the energy necessary for intense effort. The successful director of learning and training proc- esses does not allow himself and his men to become so involved in mere technical details of practice as to lose sight of the larger perspective and the real impelling motives to human conduct. He does not forget that nor- mally learning, or changes in our instincts and habits, takes place only when our organic needs and desires are not properly met. In other words, so long as we have everything that we desire and need, in the broader sense of the terms, we put forth no effort to learn new acts. Experiments have shown that important as detailed mat- ters relating to methods of procedure, to the distribu- tion of practice, to fatigue effects, etc. are, the attitude of the learner may outweigh, positively or negatively, the effects of probably all these. The learner must be mo- tivated from within; he must have an eagerness and an alertness, a will to learn, that make him throw him- self actively into the work. THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 99 In fact, two of the things that are of prime impor- tance in learning are, first, the setting up of definite, well understood and attainable standards to be reached, and accurate, objective means of showing when they are reached or how far one falls short, and in what manner, of attaining them; and, second, the arousal of the proper ambition or of adequate motives in the learner. It is simply surprising what a man can accomplish when these conditions are fulfilled, when the standards are not put too high all at once, but are definite and exacting, and results are accur- ately and objectively checked; and when with these conditions one is made to feel that the attainment of the ends or the making of a good record is vitally re- lated to one's personal welfare and future in one or more of the ways that we have indicated or will point out later. The learner's interest is of fundamental importance. Under these conditions the instructor will find how much real men enjoy strenuous, well di- rected work and drill. When properly motivated men are not shirks, but they are aroused best when they see that there is real worth and test of manhood in what they do. Under these conditions they go at the details of drill and practice and enter into work with whole-hearted effort. There are also other advantages of giving drill work proper perspective and motivation which cannot be ex- plained here. Intelligent recognition of the role that any such automatic habit is to play will also prevent, possibly, conflict of impulses and of the motives to practice. Of this latter point more should be said with speci- fic reference to* the training of men for duty in the army. Men who enter the army come "rather suddenly into a new type of life ; ideals are new, methods are new, and the tools, or instruments of warfare, are, in the main, new. But most of the acts to be learned be- 100 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY long to our Class II, described above; that is, the ele- ments of the acts are already under voluntary control. The specific acts, however, must be so related to other acts and to ideas of the new situations that when called for or demanded by the necessities of the situation they take place quickly, with little effort, with a high degree of uniformity as to time and accuracy, and with but little direct attention. Many of the recruits, whether volunteers or drafted men, are highly intelli- gent; some have already acquired a considerable de- gree of efficiency along particular lines of social serv- ice or in certain other vocations, while others have no special training but have been general laborers. There are a few who are not very adaptable, who have, generally speaking, poor ability. These men differ also in the spirit they represent. Many of the drafted men, unfortunately, have not had the education and the associations to give them highly intelligent and co-opera- tive views of their new duties; they are rather negative, or at least passive. With this heterogeneity of material for training, the officer non-commissioned as well as commissioned has no small task. These men cannot all be trained by the same method without great waste, and, what is even more important, grave danger of almost disgusting the more in- telligent men and, possibly, of arousing their opposition. The interest of the most apt student must not be lost in the care of the stupid one. The better men do not need the amount of repetition of instruction and drill required by the backward few. Instruction must be individualized as far as possible. This is inevitable, especially when men are taken as late in life as are the recruits and from so various stations and voca- tions. Each subordinate officer must have a large de- gree of freedom for the use of his own judgment and methods so that he can particularize in training wherever this is needed. THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 101 Some of the men are whole-heartedly in the work, and will get the general situation and the requirements in mind relatively easily and can therefore, with but lit- tle intelligent direction, train themselves on some of the more difficult technicalities. In such cases frequent, per- tinent, short criticisms and further suggestions are of vital importance and require but little time from the offi- cer in charge of the immediate unit (squad, platoon, company, etc.). Other men must have a great deal of attention rather continuously from the first, or they will fall into bad habits to get away from which will require a great deal of time and effort later. In training students on ball tossing for a learning experiment, the writer found that some girls, who were very poor at the exercise when not carefully watched and aided at first, fell into certain con- fusing habits which later made progress practically im- possible to them (Jour. Exper. Psychol., 1917, 2, page 197). A start in the wrong direction is to be avoided as later changes in habits are possibly even more difficult to effect than to start from the beginning. The accuracy of these statements depends, of course, on the nature of the specific act to be acquired and on the adaptability of the learner. Often, moreover, a backward individual can gain most by the observation of others in practice after he has himself tried the exercise. Showing how is often much better than telling how, especially when there are a number of difficulties in the act. The great principle underlying all this is to distribute attention and effort where these are needed. Great in- dividual differences are found among men even when they are chosen from equal stations in life, and to train all alike is an inexcusable waste. It is a helpful practice for each officer to have some sort of list or record of all the essential things that the new recruits must learn to do under his own direction, and to keep this record con- stantly at hand for reference. Each man can be checked 102 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY oft" on such items as he can do passingly well, and can be assigned special drills by himself on those points on which he is weak. Then the more formal drills in which all take part will tend to weave together the various ele- ments of the movements and acts, taken up by the selec- tive method already explained. Thus by encouragnig and requiring individual drills, and by giving individual at- tention to specially weak points, the leader will find that the general drills will come along much better. The officer will by this means have a more detailed and adequate knowledge of each man, of his general view and the degree of his willingness to co-operate, and of the extent of his confidence in himself to get hold of the sit- uation quickly ; he can therefore encourage and stimulate individuals where this is necessary, even by the use of various rivalry and ambition motives, and can more effec- tively offer specific criticisms and show a detailed knowl- edge of the entire procedure and of each man. Such knowledge and individual attention cannot but inspire respect and in time enthusiasm in the men. No private, when such individual drill and criticism are attended to by the leader, can have anything like the knowledge of the other men and of their difficulties that the leader has, whereas a keen individual can easily rival the officer in this regard if all practice goes on in general and in group formation alone. Moreover, by such distributed and selective practice the officer himself increases greatly his own opportunity of progressing. He gets more and more insight into the real psychology of learning, and specific problems arise in his mind which can be worked out in special study and planning periods. These opportunities tend to keep him well in advance of his best men by the stimulus of the special problems he meets and they cen- ter his attention on the pertinent points of the learning and force him constantly to refer back to various chap- ters of this and other manuals and references for sug- gestions toward the solution of his problems. That is THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 103 to say, he has real motives for his own progress and ad- vancement, far beyond those afforded by a non-selective method of training. He also saves days and even weeks in the training of each group of new recruits, because the whole group is not held back by the special difficulties of the individual men. The benefits to the country in a crisis are tremendous. As a consequence of emphasis on special drills more at- tention can be given in the general drills to the larger relationships of the several acts and movements, to the actual work of fighting. Thus the acts can become more nearly automatically established and more firmly asso- ciated with the co-operative procedure among the dif- ferent units of an entire division operating under imag- ined fighting conditions. The result will be that when the men get into real action against the enemy their timidity and fear, and other emotional disturbances, will be un- der better control by virtue of their being more at home with the weapons of war ; there will therefore be greater confidence and less necessity for thought about the methods of procedure. Such greater freedom from the necessity of extreme attention to individual defects in the general drills will afford better opportunity for the leader to help the men imagine real conflicts, to picture to themselves surprise attacks, dispersing of the foe and the pursuance of them to complete victory. These vari- ous acts must be learned as far as possible in the rela- tionships they are to have in a real struggle. Final train- ing in them should of course be received in close con- tact with actual fighting, or training in the control of the emotions will be inadequate. Responsibility of training in all the duties and func- tions of warfare, then, rests on every officer from the corporal up. Each officer should hold his next subordin- v ate responsible, and in normal cases deal only with him, for all details of training and of preparation in his own unit. It is only by this means that a proper sense of real 104 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY manhood and of responsibility arises in each officer and private, and that a proper perspective results of the rela- tion of each unit to the entire division, army, and nation. Co-operation and intense individual effort are the key- notes to success, and only by this means of individual re- sponsibility reaching clear down to the private, respect- ing his own acts and duties, can the proper motive for co- operation and intense individual effort be attained. in The point of prime importance for the officer to bear in mind when training his men is that interest must be aroused. In the foregoing chapters various suggestions have been made as to how this is accomplished, appeals as directly as possible to instincts and natural predisposi- tions, the development of personal interest in the group and pride in its good name, and so on. The rules, regulations and customs of military life which confront the new recruit can be much more quickly learned than otherwise and the newly initiated will go at his task of learning them with keener interest, if it is made clear to him what they mean. This is emphasized strongly by Major Geo. Bell, Jr., in the following illus- tration: "Great influence can be had over men if there be explained to them the logical reason for certain prac- tices. The origin of the salute should be explained to them and such an explanation will go far to remove the idea there is anything menial or subserviant in render- ing military courtesy. In the middle ages knights were clad in armour and the head covered with a helmet, the visor of which was kept closed. When one knight met another the only way in which one could recognize the other as a brother in arms was by raising the visor. The practice was soon established of the junior raising the visor first, whereupon the senior returned the salutation. The salute today is relatively the same practice. As a matter of fact, men in military or naval service are much more polite than civilians because no military or naval THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 105 man meets another man without greeting him as a brother in arms by means of the salute, the junior rendering the salute first." (Op cit.) In general the instructor or officer will always do well to emphasize the significance of things to be learned. This gives perspective and interest to ..otherwise unre- lated and dry facts; it enables the learner to group and to organize the things he is to retain so that his memory for them is far better than otherwise, and it develops a more active co-operative attitude, a "will to learn." This attitude is necessary for the best improvement as well as to replace passivity with snap and vigor in one's work. Moreover, mere details learned out of their practical re- lations are far less serviceable than facts learned in the true relationships they bear to our actions, that is, than facts learned in the relations in which they are to be used later. By thus emphasizing the significance and use of things, giving them perspective and meaning, one finds a more logical reason for drills; they are to train the person up on small points of technique which when im- perfectly learned interfere with the larger practical ac- tivities. It is evident that in drills this necessity must never be lost sight of if interest and effort are to be at their best. Every little detail of drill and of training generally becomes by this means part of a vigorous, alert and interesting life to the soldier. It is important to note also that extensive use of illus- trations of various kinds adds to clearness and life, and makes misunderstandings less apt to occur than other- wise. In this matter, however, it is necessary to caution the young instructor against losing sight of the principle in the illustration so that the instruction degenerates into mere entertainment. Illustrations are in many respects very helpful, provided the principle illustrated is kept clearly in mind and is frequently pointed out. Individual differences are never to be forgotten. The director who falls into a mere routine not only runs great 106 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY risks of losing the interest of his men but also of losing sight of real live problems of training. He is thus in danger of "wearing out" with the men and of being ex- celled by the most energetic of them. In many respects every person has his own peculiarities in learning, and if his difficulties are sufficient to warrant it he should re- ceive individual attention by some of the means that have been suggested and by other means that the officer can develop for himself. As far as possible learning should be brought about by emphasizing in different ways the most successful of the learner's efforts and the unsuccess- ful trials will gradually be eliminated by neglect. Too much attention to errors rather than to the successful efforts is not only liable to put a damper on the enthu- siasm but it also, in certain cases at least, tends to fix the wrong movements. The asking of questions on necessary matters by the soldiers and the stimulation of individual initiative is worth encouraging as far as possible under the conditions, and it is gratifying to note that this is be- ing done to a large extent in the training camps. It appears from our investigations that there is at present in the training camps a rather encouraging recog- nition of the value of individualizing training; officers seem to encourage the learner to ask questions about mat- ters not clear to himself and to get assistance on special difficulties. These methods, with frequent tests and exact grading of results, assure the best progress, and they correct errors early before they become important obsta- cles ; they also insure vigorous effort resulting from active attention and interest. A few quotations of statements by officers actively employed in the training of soldiers will serve as illustrations of the best practices regarding individualization in training and the recognition of in- dividual initiative coupled with strict responsibility for results. "When recruits are received, they are usually put in the charge of a competent instructor, a man who has dem- THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 107 onstrated his fitness not only by his knowledge, but by his patience and method of instruction. As the men become proficient in their duties, they are transferred to the company for drill purposes and for further instruction, and those men who show a slowness are either put under a separate drill master or given more instruction by the one who first had charge. It is desired as far as possible to take a squad forward and transfer it as a whole to the company, where it is absorbed by various men being scattered among the older ones. "The captain is responsible for results in his organi- zation, and it is desirable that the instruction of the vari- ous parts of the company by subordinate officers be along the lines laid down by the company commander. Where concerted action is not desired there can be no objection to giving officers or non-commissioned officers, who are given work to do, [the liberty] to use their own judg- ment and initiative. When I tell a sergeant to take a squad and clear a certain piece of ground, or to take his detachment to a certain place at a certain time, I do not give him minute detail as to how he shall accomplish it. I expect him to accomplish the purpose using his own initiative and judgment." "No two men can be treated alike. Take a squad of recruits, you can teach them the school of the squad, and the manual of arms in the squad as a whole, but each will have his minor faults, which will take individual instructions and many times worlds of patience. For one will insist on holding his gun in a certain position, or grasping the rifle in the wrong place, or stepping off on the right foot, or many other little things that he should not do, and it is mostly in drilling the recruits that an officer makes or breaks himself in the soldiers' viewpoint, for the first impression is always the strongest impres- sion. "The platoon is the smallest unit that an officer com- mands, and he is held responsible for every detail of that 108 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY platoon. Its drill, physical exercises, athletic contest, manual of arms, military bearing, soldiering and cleanli- ness." "Give him full latitude and require results." "Individual treatment is to be encouraged. Seem- ingly backward recruits often come to the front amaz- ingly, if given a little extra attention." "No doubt the matter varies greatly with different regiments. It is hard to answer this question [regard- ing freedom of initiative, etc.]. However, a company commander has a great deal of latitude in training his organization, and he is held strictly responsible for re- sults. I have observed that with the great majority of officers, the more initiative they are given the better; with some, of course, liberty becomes license." "A great help in instruction, especially of recruits, is mentally putting one's self in the other man's place. If he is having trouble with some movement or position, think what your difficulties were in mastering the same thing. Usually this will turn up some little points which will prove of material assistance. Some men don't try to learn and some method must be found of waking them up to a sense of their duty and possibilities. This can usually be done by an appeal to their spirit of competi- tion. Make such a man feel that his 'bunkie' has no more ability than he but is making far faster progress. Have his corporal talk to him. It will often do more good than a talk from an officer*" "The methods of training in a company are largely left to the discretion of the company commander who is held responsible for the training of his men. He is sel- dom dictated to regarding this but is left to his own de- vices. If the company fails to develop properly, he is relieved and another officer is appointed who can get re- sults. To my mind, this is proper. If a company fails to qualify at something or other, the reflection falls where THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 109 it belongs, on the company commander who is responsi- ble." In modern warfare many forms of specialized train- ing are necessary, which cannot be entered into here. Various kinds of special and intensive training are con- sidered in Major F. R. McCoy's Principles of Military Training to which we have already referred, but the gen- eral principles here emphasized do not lose their import- ance even in such training. A rather humorous reference to the changes brought about by modern methods is found in the quotation by this writer from Major Kemp, as follows : "I was once, only a few months ago, commander of a company of two hundred and fifty disciplined soldiers. I still nominally command that company, but they have developed into a heterogeneous mob of specialists. If I detail one of my subalterns to do a job of work, he re- minds me that he is a bomb expert, or a professor of sandbagging, or director of the knuckle-duster section, or Lord High Thrower of Stinck Pots, and has no time to play about with such a common thing as a platoon. As for the men, they simply laugh in the sergeant major's face. They are 'experts/ if you please, and are struck off all fatigues and company duty. It was bad enough when Ayling pinched fourteen of my best men for his filthy machine guns ; now, the company has degenerated into an academy of variety artists. The only occasion upon which I ever see them all together is pay day!" (Page 207). CHAPTER VII HABIT AND DISCIPLINE i General Sherman said: "Discipline is the soul of armies," and Lieut. Col. Lincoln Andrews, in his work on the Fundamentals of Military Service says : "Disci- pline is as vital to the success of an army as live steam to the operation of a locomotive." "Discipline," he adds, ; may be defined as that psychic something which is always recognized by its manifestations of ever present respect for superiors, and instant cheerful obedience, not only to orders given, but to a high personal sense of duty." There has been more written and said about disci- pline than about any other subject pertaining to mili- tary science. It is known by many names and has been defined in various ways, but there is one point on which all military men agree, and that is that discipline repre- I/' sents about seventy-five per cent of battle efficiency. Some military leaders contend that discipline is cold and mechanical, a condition to be found only in seasoned veterans, an automatic habit of obeying commands. Other leaders like General Sherman, have attributed spirit and life to discipline, saying that it is an actuating spirit that makes the soldier subordinate his own will and de- sires to those of the leader. As a matter of fact the ideal discipline, the discipline exhibited by some of the armies on the west European front, is a condition of the sol- dier that causes him to obey commands unconditionally and almost automatically as a result of habits secured by thorough training, plus a desire to obey, which has de- 1)0 HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 111 veloped from within as a result of good fellowship, an in- telligent understanding of teamplay and a spirit of loyalty to his country. The two essential elements are habit and spirit. This is the type of discipline that the officer should develop in his company. It was some time before I came to a full realization of the extreme importance of habit formation in develop- ing discipline. I had associated discipline to a certain ex- tent with merely a willingness to follow the leader, to obey the commands of the officer. But from conversations I have had with British and French officers recently over from Europe* I found that under battle conditions when on the verge of making a charge, the will power of the soldier, especially in his first battle, is likely to desert him, but if his habits are thoroughly established he begins to act along the lines of least resistance. He feels a rifle in his hands ; for months he has been trained to run for- ward and engage an opponent with his bayonet, and as it is the most natural thing to do, he responds to the call of habit. The effect habit has on discipline is seen on the foot- ball field, the baseball diamond and the basketball floor. It takes months of intensive training to develop a well disciplined football team. When the ball is snapped back from center, the right half-back is off in the interfer- ence ; and he does not stop to figure out what he should do, but smashes into the opposing end, blocking him effec- tively, because this is what he has been trained to do. Watch the baseball team practicing ; the coach is knock- ing down grounders for the infield. First the third base- man stops a ball, swings his right arm and the ball is shooting down to first. Then the short stop picks up a low one and sends it over to first base. This seems wasted effort, but in a match game all this practice counts, inasmuch as the short stop and the third baseman must have the habit of throwing down to first. The spec- tator at the game marvels at the speed with which the 112 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY players manage to get the ball to first, in time to cut off the runner. It is merely the result of constant practice. Every world's series has brought forth brilliant and in- tricate plays which were executed mechanically in much shorter time than the players could possibly have thought them out. If the great importance of habit formation can be impressed on our recruits in the army, I am sure it will result in increasing efficiency of the men. The American is so constituted that once you get him into an occupation he is not satisfied until he excels all others in that particu- lar line, and if he realizes that by practicing on saluting ten minutes every day he will develop a fine snappy, mili- tary salute, you will find him exercising his right arm daily. So with his other necessary habits. In regard to the other side of discipline, it should be kept in mind that the soldier's spirit depends partly on himself and partly on his environment and the circum- stances surrounding him while in training. Some offi- cers can develop the right kind of discipline and fight- ing spirit in any company of soldiers, and it is quite evi- dent that the discipline of every company is greatly de- pendent on its officers. In the foregoing chapters we have considered ways and means of interesting the re- cruits in their work and ways of appealing to them. All these factors competition, play, teamplay, and leader- ship enter into the development of the ideal kind of dis- cipline. We must not have the German type of disci- pline based on servility, fear, and blind allegiance, but by means of intelligent instruction we must develop an attitude in the soldier which will manifest itself in an intense desire to do his best and to co-operate with his fellows for the common cause. ii In the previous chapter we have considered the method by which habits are formed. To learn is the same thing as to form habits. We have noted that when HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 113 the elements of an act are new, so that control is im- possible, a great number of random and apparently irrele- vant movements are brought out by the situation to which the individual is attempting to respond; that intelligent practice gradually selects and emphasizes to final pre- dominance the successful movements, so that finally the stimulus calls out only these movements. In the case of such new acts a person does not profit much by seeing others do the act, or even by being told how to do it. Such a case would be learning to skate, or to write with the left hand by seeing one's movements only in the mir- ror, not directly. Try this ! In such cases the only fruitful procedure is to keep trying in a general way to do the thing required and to repeat of all the acts brought about only those that are successful, that do what we want done. In such learning, about all that a trainer can do is to make as clear as possible to the learner what is to be done, to encourage continued efforts, and to help the learner take note of and try to reproduce those acts only that are most successful. The learner must find out for himself how it feels to perform the acts that bring success. In such cases it is better to reserve speci- fic instructions until they will mean something more defi- nitely to the learner. One cannot think in detail how an act is to be done that one cannot do. The new recruit has, fortunately, very few such new acts to learn. Acts of what we called Class II have practically no new or uncontrolled elements. We know how each act feels in the doing but must get co-ordination of several such elements. These concern us more directly ; they in- clude most of the acts the soldier must learn. Learning to handle the instruments of war and to make all the t movements taught in the drills, etc. are examples. Such acts and movements can be performed in a general way, slowly and imperfectly it is true, when the recruit is told how to perform them or shown hoiv by seeing someone else go through the movements. Without a good deal of 114 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY practice, however, they are performed with considerable awkwardness, unsteadiness and variation; great effort is also required, bringing about fatigue in a short time. These conditions must all be improved. They indicate that the nerve impulses spread a good deal into channels which are unnecessary for the skilled performance of the acts desired. The result is a conflict between various irrelevant acts, and consequent waste of energy. This indicates, of course, that our division of acts into two classes is somewhat arbitrary and that the line cannot be closely drawn. One simply cannot perform acts of Class II the first time just as they should be done. A good example to work on is this, which can be practiced at the reader's own leisure: Rotate the right hand forward and the left backward at the same time. Practice till the act is learned, and note how it is learned. These general points may be helpful: Start the right hand going alone and keep this up till it runs somewhat automatically. Now keep it going in this man- ner, letting it take care of itself, while you start out the left hand slowly. Keep your whole attention on the left hand. Stop whenever you get confused and get a right start again as you did the first time. As you progress the attention can be directed to one imperfection after another till the performance goes smoothly and automatically. It will be well to try this exercise carefully and to note the various stages of the learning, then by keeping it in mind the following discussion will have more significance. On acts that can be done by seeing others do them popularly termed imitation much time can be saved, as has been said already, by showing the new recruit how. Attention should be centered now on one and now on another detail, not isolating each act too much, however, from its relations to others with which it is to be per- formed. But only the easiest acts and movements can profitably be taught by this means to groups. There are always some men who will be awkward and who will HABIt AND DISCIPLINE US need a great deal of extra attention, each according to his own needs. These men must not be allowed to take the valuable time of the whole group. Under the present condition of recruiting the national army the West Point method of sink or swim cannot be applied too drasti- cally, though with certain applications it may bring out the right kind of qualities. Under the conditions of the draft individualization of instructions should play a large part and much time can thus be gained. Some men can advance much more rapidly than others, and wherever possible provisions made for such advancement will be beneficial, and much time and effort saved. One instruc- tor can quickly determine which aspects of training each of the men immediately under his instruction require. He can then set each man at work vigorously, when op- portunities for such individual work come, going about correcting each individual specifically on his weak points and helping him when necessary to get the correct move- ments and ideas. Where great difficulty is experienced, the arm or leg may be directed into the proper position and movement. In such put-through training movements, however, the gain is not great unless the attention of the learner is on the act and the moving member. He must find how it feels to do the act in the right manner. It is better for the instructor in cases of special difficulty merely to guide the movements actually initiated and willed by the learner than to make the movements for him by the application of outside force, for the correct sensations of the movement can best come only when the learner is himself producing the act in its general feat- ures. The instructor should interfere with the willed act only in those aspects needing such help, the aim being to leave off such guidance as soon as it can be dispensed with. The learner must learn by his own effort, but the instructor should be critical and careful not to let an act pass and become mechanically established until it is ac- tually performed satisfactorily. Good criticism can thus 116 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY be done only individually on all the harder and more tech- nical points giving special trouble in various ways to dif- ferent persons. Group drill will take care of the required uniformities necessary for common action and co-opera- tive movements, and must, of course, utilize the acts learned in special individual drills and give them their setting in the entire group operations. The showing-how stage soon passes into the com- manding-to-do stage. One soon learns to do the act merely on being told or directed to do it in connection with the larger setting in which it occurs. But even at this state it is too conscious and uncertain to be safely re- lied on. It must be done over and over in various rela- tions, the attention being gradually directed away from the act itself to the circumstances requiring its perform- ance, just as we all learned finally to walk or to skate by just thinking of the place that we desired to go to and only being vaguely conscious of the specific acts en masse. One who has learned to write has only to think of the thought that he wants recorded with a general awareness of where it is to be recorded, of the contact with the pen used, etc. The detailed acts are no longer attended to. The person who has learned to walk merely thinks of a desired object in another room, gets some fleety images of the surroundings, the general direction, and so on, and the neuro-muscular mechanism takes care of the rest. This must be the outcome also of the soldier's training; his detailed acts must learn largely to take care of themselves properly, and the change is a gradual one from the more painstaking methods of setting them agoing from their first clumsy movements partly directed, it may be, by outside force, to the perfect automaticity of fully prac- ticed acts. In the final stage the act is set off indirectly, that is to say, only by attention to the related circum- stances demanding it. It should not be forgotten, moreover, that even when acts can be performed easily in this final stage, they read- HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 117 ily relapse into earlier imperfect stages, or into actual confusion, when one is thrown into unusual circumstances, excitement, or when important changes in attention are brought about. Try this on the arm rotation exercise suggested. Who has not noted that the centering of at- tention on one's steps on ascending a stairway interferes with the otherwise mechanical perfection of the move- ments ? Any habits that are really important must be thoroughly ground into one's nerves before they can be left to run themselves. But all drills should avoid mere mechanical operation; they should have purpose and meaning, and attention should be directed gradually away from the detailed aspects of the acts to their larger significance, to the situation requiring them. Defense or attack activities, for example, are far more fruitful, so far as training for real service is concerned, if the men are led to imagine the enemy, in all its maneuvers, rather than if they go through the drills mechanically. The important point is that finally all the various move- ments of the drill must come to fit significantly into a functional system. An interesting experiment will illustrate the fact that frequency of performance of an act in the general situa- tion in which it is to be used is necessary for rapidity and ease in its operation. Time yourself on reading these words ; go through them as rapidly as possible, speaking each aloud. circle star square cross triangle star circle square tri- angle star cross square cross star triangle cross circle star triangle circle square circle star circle square star square cross triangle square circle square star cross square triangle circle cross square triangle cross star square circle triangle square star cross triangle star Now do likewise with these forms calling them by their names as above. 118 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY When you have gone over both, repeat the experiment in the reverse order so that practice and fatigue elements will be balanced evenly between the names and the forms. We call this the "double fatigue order." Try the experi- ment on other persons. Average the results in seconds for each part of the experiment, that is, for the words and the forms separately. It will be found that the forms take about, twice as long as the words. Individuals differ very much in this exercise, because of the difference in amount of prac- tice. The mental state also makes considerable difference, the forms losing more with confusion. Three adults tested in the evening when they were somewhat fatigued gave an average of 23 seconds for the words and of 65 seconds for the forms. Practice and vigor of mind re- duce the difference; fatigue and excitement increase it. Many other illustrations could be found to show strik- ingly as this experiment does, the fact that much prac- tice on an act in the exact setting the performance is to have later is needed for speed and accuracy, especially under exciting circumstances. We all know well enough the names of the forms here used, but in the past we have not often spoken or thought the words when we saw the forms. In the case of the words it is different; we do HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 119 speak or think the names when we see the words. In the latter case, then, we are more practiced in saying the words ; the association is more direct, so the words come to us with greater ease and rapidity. The nerve im- pulses do not spread so much and bring about useless acts, conflicts, and waste of energy. Look for such useless conflicting acts while different persons are going through the exercises, and note the difference on the words and the forms. When thousands of people are operating to- gether what a tremendous difference adequate practice, or well trained habits, will make against poorly trained acts ! The difference would have to be estimated specific- ally for various kinds of acts to give any adequate conception. Our exercise will serve, however, to bring home the value of well trained habits. Carelessness regarding the perfection of habits is often one of the main causes of failure, or of mediocre success. Speaking in absolute rather than in relative terms of superficial results, one may say that learning in- creases much more rapidly at first on any problem than it does later, with a constant degree of practice daily. To superficial observation there is enormous increase in suc- cessive early trials compared with that of later trials, especially when the rate of learning is judged by the change in the time required to do a thing or by the num- ber of errors made. Stated generally, learning seems to go on very rapidly* at first on any new problem, then it gradually slows up toward a "physiological limit" at which point there is no further apparent gain. Often there occur before this point is reached plateaus in the learning curve during the continuance of which there *That the view of rapid initial learning is based on a mathematical fallacy, as the writer has shown elsewhere, is unimportant here, as the learner and most teachers will be in- fluenced by the superficial aspects of the changes they note and of the curves indicating the learning. See the writer's article, "Experiments in Ball-Tossing: The Significance of Learning Curves," Jour. Exper. PsychoL, 1917, 2 178-224. 120 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY seems to be no progress, plateaus which may tend to dis- couragement of effort. Again considerable progress will suddenly begin to show itself, often without adequate reasons, but especially on the application of intense effort directed to the phase of the learning that has ceased to show progress. I have used the terms "to superficial observation," "learning seems to go on," "apparent," etc., in this gen- eral statement for there is really an important illusion underlying the whole matter. Plateaus probably mean that progress ceases only in the particular phase of the learning that we have been following, and physiological limits do not really mark the end of learning. Effects of practice beyond this limit of noticeable progress can be measured in indirect ways, for example, by testing memory or rate of performance some time later. Learn- ing is a very complex process and we should not hastily conclude at any point that we can go no further. This is strikingly brought out in another way important to us in the present connection. The differences that the world rewards are really differences on the finer points of tech- nique, differences unobservable to the superficial view. Only the expert can see the superiority of the very best surgeon over the one of fair ability, of the star football player over the ordinarily good player, of the renowned scientist over the good scientist, of the great commander over the one of fair ability clothed with equal authority. Somehow the small differences at the high points of effi- ciency in the learning process, or of habits acquired, do bring results, and these results seem to vary inversely with the superficial, or more apparent, differences in the habits as ordinarily judged. It is the man with continuity, who stays at a thing and drives away day after day, week after week, even when others can see no further gains, that reaps the big reward. He finally towers out of the realm of mere mediocrity into that of expertness, where the rewards HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 121 are ample. The ordinary man gets satisfied too easily, and ceases to advance further. When the latter sees no further immediate progress he stops and says : "It doesn't pay to go on further." Often he changes to other things, stimulated by their newness, when the points of fine dif- ferences and slow apparent changes in what he is learning are reached, and so never becomes expert at anything. The world does not ask so much, "In what line are you working?" as, "How far beyond the point ordinarily marked good have you gone and will you go ?" Surely in the complex and various work of the army of this great democracy it will pay the officer to work beyond limits of ordinary efficiency. Discipline, as a condition in the men of the army, may be thought of as a result of habit in the largest sense, in- cluding adaptation. It involves not only ease and readi- ness and efficiency in the carrying out of orders, and in the performance of duties generally, but also endurance and morale. Teamplay depends on discipline. In a way, discipline is the general result sought by the various means of training and hardening of troops, though disci- pline itself is not an end; its own end is, of course, vic- tory or protection of country. A well disciplined army is one that can do its work efficiently; that does not become seriously disorganized by fear and other emo- tional disturbances, or by such hardships and privation as soldiers are liable to experience; it is one that makes its marches and its attacks and defenses with as little confusion and waste of effort as possible. Well disci- plined men respond instantaneously and whole-heartedly to the commands of the leader so that a commander can manipulate the entire army as, from his information of the entire situation, he finds necessary. Without disci- pline "the best of individual soldiers are but an armed mob, to be made a mockery by a trained foe." "It is the very essense of training, and springs from the intelli- gence and conscientious work of the leaders who must in- 122 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY spire it, or whose incompetence will render its attain- ment impossible. It is what makes long thorough train- ing s'o necessary, what makes military men shudder at the thought of war without adequate preparation." (Lieut. Col. Lincoln Andrews, Fundamentals of Military Science, pp. 9 and 10.) Apparently most civilians do not appreciate fully the need of thorough emphasis on training and discipline. It must be remembered that a large per cent of the new officers and the men in the army were recently civilians. The war can go on successfully only when it is backed solidly by the whole nation. Great mistakes are some- times made at awful expense to life and morale by the sending of undisciplined men into action. It is well known in science that the scientific or research attitude cannot be taken on suddenly ; that the scientific "method" of procedure cannot be formalized and given over to a person for ready use. There is really no one method to it; it is rather a characteristic way of looking at nature and of understanding and controlling its processes, an attitude that slowly grows upon the individual and re- quires acquaintance with apparatus. Likewise discipline in the army involves a general attitude of mind, habitua- tion and actual hardening to the life of the soldier, and long thorough training in co-operative and properly sub- ordinative action. Thorough discipline is a great con- server of life when real war is to be met. Discipline is therefore not a mere matter of habit and of endurance. It includes the whole mental attitude, and can exist at its best only as a result of a kind of train- ing that has spirit and purpose as distinct from mere me- chanical drill. Comparable to the "will" of a person, which at its best is an organization and direction of all one's bodily and mental resources, discipline in the army embodies its intelligence and emotional tone so organized in habit and teamplay as to utilize every nerve> muscle, and the instruments of war in the most effective manner for HABIT AND DISCIPLINE 123 the attainment of the one end victory. In autocratic countries discipline is characterized by harshness, and often by brutal treatment of the soldier ; in modern dem- ocracies such methods are abandoned, though implicit obedience to the commander is no less insisted upon as a necessity for proper teamplay. But the view is that brut- ality is less effective (and of course humanly inexcusable) than methods incorporating the whole-souled activity and devotion of the individual soldier. The democratic method reduces, or entirely eliminates, the inner conflict and waste brought about by slight inner resistance and opposition. The intelligent soldier, who puts his own mind and individuality into his acts because he under- stands that it is necessary for the common good, is far more able, has greater endurance and courage, and is more trusty in emergencies allowing of less supervision and requiring individual judgment, than is the ignorant hire- ling or the soldier driven merely by external compulsion and threats. Armies of well organized democracies do not take advantage of their commanders in conditions of uncertainty, and they do not "go to pieces" and become disorganized into petty revolutions and counter revolu- tions to anything like the extent that these things occur in autocracies using compulsion methods. Yet real dis- cipline and immediate obedience to commands is just as necessary in democracies, but the motives and the under- standing of the necessity of subordination and co-opera- tion are entirely different. This is so important a matter that we shall have to devote an entire chapter to the men- tal attitude known as loyalty. It is obvious, and should be impressed upon the soldiers, that when warfare set- tles down to a close match and a protracted struggle be- tween nations, the democracy has an immense chance of outwearing the autocratic enemy ; for in the former case each soldier fights for the common good, while in the lat- ter it is usually some particular individual or group of in- dividuals of a military or privileged class that fights for 124 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY existence at the expense of the proletariat. This latter fact is of course always disguised, but it is well known that moral considerations, freedom of the press, etc. are important weapons in the hands of democracies. CHAPTER VIII LOYALTY i Much has been said and written about loyalty or pa- triotism and most every one has a fairly clear idea as to what these terms mean. It is doubtful whether there is any one that is not loyal to some person or institution. Loyalty to country is undeveloped in the case of persons who are more or less transients and who do not there- fore become permanently interested in any particular place. Other individuals who have lived their whole lives in certain localities may become very much attached to such places, though their interest in other parts of their own country may not be marked. Loyalty to country is often in an undeveloped or dormant condition, but can be aroused or awakened in every one of normal mental- ity under the proper stimulating conditions. Naturally the degree of loyalty capable of being aroused in differ- ent individuals varies somewhat just as individual re- actions and ability in other matters vary; but the point we wish to make here is that loyalty is the result of the proper kind of environment or stimulation acting upon conditions that are innate in each of us and that it be- comes incumbent on the officer training his men to arouse it in them. There is a popular view that the majority of people do not possess the trait of loyalty, a view that does not take properly into consideration the fact that loyalty is a development just as the getting of an education or the love of one's neighbors is a development, dependent upon a number of conditions. In the majority of persons loyalty is not on the surface, so to speak, and is not ex- pressed except when the country is facing some crisis. In 125 126 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY times of peace we often hear it said that patriotism of the kind that we read about is a lost virtue, that the citi- zens of the country are pursuing pleasure motives and economic ends and are not interested in the larger wel- fare of the nation and the instilling of its ideals into the minds of the youth. In a sense this is of course true; national unity comes only at its best when the citizens meet common danger and band together for mutual pro- tection, and national ideals do not grow out of a hand-to- mouth individualism, but let the country's honor be chal- lenged or its safety threatened by another powerful na- tion, or let the lives of its citizens be put in jeopardy by unjust encroachments on national rights, and one finds that multitudes of eager citizens come forth patriotically to express their indignation and to offer their services and lives if necessary. Some of the citizens of foreign nations during the first years of the present war assumed that America was no longer characterized by the patriotism of our fore- fathers, the founders of the nation, but later events are showing that we are as capable now of devotion to dem- ocratic principles and as willing to fight for national ideals as were the heroes of the past. We are now seeing illustrated the principle that loyalty to a country is best aroused and expresses itself most strongly in times of national crisis. The arousal of loyalty constitutes one of the best means of stimulating ah individual to his greatest efforts. The head of a successful business house, realizing the importance of loyalty in his employes, leaves no stone un- turned in his efforts to arouse it in his men. Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie and tke late James J. Hill have all shown the value of awakening loyalty among their employes, and their ability in doing so was a large con- tributing factor in bringing about their material success. In college athletics it is loyalty to his team and school that inspires the athlete to do his best on the cinder track and LOYALTY 127 the gridiron ; for loyalty calls forth the best there is in a man and puts his heart as well as his mind into his work. No officer should labor under the delusion that every man drafted into our national army arrives in camp im- bued with loyalty to his country. It is true that many will so arrive, probably most of the men, but some will not, and in the latter class patriotism or loyalty must be developed. Another thing the officer should bear in mind is that with some men loyalty to country and to the more abstract ideals of democracy is not easily aroused; it is too intangible. For such persons it is necessary that the object of their devotion or their loyalty be represented in some human being, the leader. The successful officer will find that by treating these men considerately they will come to show a strong feeling of loyalty toward him, which by the proper attitude toward his work he in turn can transform into national patriotism and the larger devotion to the cause that he represents. It is necessary therefore, that the leader at least have the larger view of justice and loyalty and then he can make this ideal con- crete in his own life for those soldiers whose minds de- mand something more tangible and immediate. It is not intended by this statement to imply that a large per cent of the American soldiers are not far sighted and intelli- gent enough to be genuinely devoted to their country and to the ideals of democracy. ii Usually we make the mistake of thinking of men as if they were primarily rational beings. But, as we have already pointed out, action precedes intelligence; reason usually grows out of obstacles to activity. Under simple conditions one acts readily and easily on the basis of in- born tendencies and habits, but hesitancies and inner conflicts arise when complexities increase and one is under the influence of several stimulating conditions. In such circumstances it is natural that certain factors will be somewhat neglected and that those will be taken 128 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY note of which are associated most closely with the satis- faction of life's needs. Most people think very little of the larger possibilities of the world open to them in later years of their lives if such possibilities are prepared for now, but settle down more or less unreflectively to the sat- isfaction of the more immediate needs and the fulfillment of present interests. Under more primitive conditions man was in close contact with all kinds of work and recreation. His in- stincts were fashioned under relatively simple conditions affording first-hand contact with nature. Social life was far different then from what it is today. Groups were smaller and better acquaintance among the different members of the group was possible. All members of the same group more obviously co-operated for the common good, and the work of each more closely related to that of others. If the group was threatened by an enemy, the welfare of each member was clearly at stake. The dan- ger was usually immediate, so much so that powerful instincts and emotions, as fear and anger, were rather directly aroused. Who would not fight whole-heartedly and to his utmost limit when an enemy is at hand threat- ening his very existence? These conditions have changed very materially. We need not go into details. The modern civilized world is complex, bewilderingly complex. Even when people are in their homes in the cities they often are very ig- norant of their immediate neighbors. The necessaries of life are supplied from sources so various and so in- directly known that enthusiasm is baulked and the in- stinctive mechanism is baffled. There are too many things to attend to ; it is impossible that all the forms of work and recreation about us can be properly evaluated in their respective bearings on our individual welfares. We lose interest in them and accept more or less passively the results that come to us. A similar complexity and in- directness exists in warfare. LOYALTY 129 But no person is in fact confronted by all these com- plexities. As each grows up from childhood he natur- ally accepts his local conditions' uncritically ; he plays with children whom he meets and in such places as come naturally to hand. If his clothes and his home are poor he does not long and seek for better ones, because the better homes hardly come within his experiences. When he is hungry he eats what is presented to him, rejecting only the positively distasteful. When weary or sick he does not select his treatment or his conditions for rest and relaxation; he takes what is given and, adapting to these, makes the best of them. These circumstances if not positively intolerable seem natural to him. When he gets older he falls in love with some one of his ac- quaintances, some one that has happened to stimulate and develop his affections when their underlying in- stincts matured; and the next generation begins. The better classes have a wider acquaintance among those of their own station, but they also know very little of the world into which they are born, very little of other classes of people about them and of what they do and are in- terested in. So man is, after all, in the main a creature of his more immediate circumstances ; he is but little affected by the more remote possibilities of his environ- ment. Individuals and institutions that satisfy his more direct instinctive needs come gradually and rather un- consciously to dominate his actions. He unreflectively associates them with his ambitions and projects them in his ideals ; for ideals grow out of the circumstances that affect us, not from those that have no relation to the satisfaction of our wants or to the expression of our instinctive tendencies. In great nations involving specialized social condi- tions like our own it is natural that class interest should be strong, and that, in spite of our public school sys- tem, persons should be devoted to their local groups, their co-laborers and vocational associates and leaders. Com- 130 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY plexities tend to put a damper on or even to kill enthus- iasm; nothing is simple, direct, and definite. Since the real motive to thought and action is the satisfaction of in- stinctive needs, men naturally become selectively inter- ested in things about them ; they are little affected by mat- ters that do not have very obvious and immediate bear- ing on their welfare. They become involved in partisan movements and class interest and lose sight in the main of the larger problems that confront the nation and of the larger ideals of the race. These problems are grad- ually taken up by men who are more or less specialists in these directions, who get their own needs supplied by attending to these matters. It is a mistake to regard these partialities, these group biases and limitations of in- terest, which in cases of inter-group friction so easily de- velop into class hostilities, as the rational decisions of men. They are merely the results of organic adaptation to circumstances, of the association of instinctive impulses and feelings with the conditions that afford their expres- sion and development. It is only of comparatively recent date that even educated people have come to regard them as the result of natural adaptations under limited oppor- tunities, and not the results of deliberate choice. It is not recognized as a rule yet that when once these group attitudes have developed, it is futile to attempt to re- move them by argument. Argument and compulsion are the more direct and ready means of meeting such condi- tions, but it is now getting to be known that such meth- ods only consolidate group biases and embitter one class of people against another. A person may be given good reasons why he is wrong, only to be aroused to greater activity and determination to disprove the position of his opponent and to justify himself. Personality and self- assertion will not down so obviously and directly; such direct methods hurt personal pride. In opposition from groups of equal, if not superior authority men will some- times band together and fight to the finish, just to main- LOYALTY 131 tain their own "rights." Real men, whose vision and sympathies circumstances have unfortunately limited, are more apt to stand by their guns than are weaklings even of better training; and a soldier cannot but admire such a stand, which is nothing but loyalty and patriotism with- out the larger knowledge, the sounder judgment and the impartial agencies of justice that direct and temper loy- alty at its best. Misdirected loyalty is, 'of course, only barbarism. Every person is therefore doubtless loyal and patriotic to something. Individuals differ in loyalty on the whole because their circumstances have shaped their feelings and their views differently. It is, of course, true that among all classes of people there are some mere opportunists, men and women who will sacrifice anything for narrow- ranged and individual expediency ; there are others also and they are to be pitied who cannot be aroused to en- thusiasm by any cause or by anything. But as a rule Americans will "stand by their colors," even though some of them may be color-blind, to keep to the figure, by the limitations bf their experiences and opportunities. The real and effective remedy to misplaced loyalty is not found in simply telling people to be loyal or in en- forcing certain attitudes though the compelling of re- spect and of compliance with the common program is at times necessary for the safety of the community or nation. The effective remedy for innocently misplaced loyalty lies mainly in the broadening of sympathies and in the identification of interests in a common cause such as the one into which we now are throwing ourselves. Fortunately when loyalty to the whole country is most needed there is also the best opportunity for its develop- ment in the mutual co-operation against common danger ; and the officer in the army who trains the men and leads them against the enemy is the man who has the great- est opportunity for this broadening of sympathies and de- velopment of real national patriotism. To make the most 132 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY of his enviable opportunity thus to train America's re- cruits from all the walks of life and to shape their loyal- ties to a greater humanity, he must not only be much of a man himself, but he must understand something of human nature. If all the citizens of a great nation are to agree on some expressions of genuine loyalty there must be de- veloped a degree of idealism, of range of view. Men must be taught and inspired to see beyond their imme- diate needs to their greater opportunities if they are to stand together patriotically against severe hardship and sacrifice for the common good of all classes and for a better humanity. The lack of such vision is now show- ing itself in the wreck of Russia. But this idealism can- not be forced upon a people of individuality, as Ger- many cannot force her Kultur upon the democratic world. It must be an outgrowth of common action and of inter- ests extended to include, and really to promise ultimate benefit to all minor groups and classes. The general at- titude of the leader of the diverse individualities re- cruited into the army, his broad interests, his personal sympathies, and his great respect for his calling and en- thusiasm in his work will do far more than direct instruc- tion can accomplish. It is the attitude of sincerity and enlightenment that counts far more than words. The occupation of all the men in the great work of preparing for the defense of their country their drills, their con- tests, games, etc. gradually develop common sympath- ies and ideals ; conceptions of right and wrong, of good and bad, become so extended as to allow of more whole- hearted response and enthusiasm. This attitude is nec- essary in the teamplay which in real action demands absolute surrender of one's energies to the direction of the chief comjnander who is in a position to know the situation of the army in its entirety. Such whole-souled devotion and surrender to the country's cause is pos- sible only when the cause is regarded as just and in LOYALTY 133 harmony with one's best conceptions of truth. If it is not so regarded there are bound to be reservations and inner conflicts on the part of individuals, which will greatly impair their usefulness. Who could en- ter enthusiastically and unconditionally today into a move that he feels is not right and may collapse to- morrow? It is one's conception of the situation and one's faith in the ultimate outcome of a country's cause that makes loyalty possible. As the soundest morality is that which is based on the belief that it pays in the large to be moral, so the most unfailing loyalty must be founded on faith that one's country is in the right. How is this faith best instilled into the mind of the soldier? Justice, right, and truth may be regarded psychologically as principles or formulas that offer the greatest practical consistency of action for all concerned. We cannot divide acts absolutely into good or bad. These are relative terms. Professor Perry, of Harvard, in an interesting little book on morality, has put it thus :".... the moral drama opens only when interest meets interest ; when the path of one unit of life is crossed by that of another. Every interest is compelled to recognize other inter- ests, on the one hand as parts of its environment, and on the other hand as partners in the general enterprise of life. Thus there is evolved the moral ideal, or princi- ples of action, according to which interest allies itself with interest in order to be free-handed and powerful against the common hereditary enemy, the heavy inertia and the incessant wear of the cosmos. Through moral- ity a plurality of interests becomes an economy, or com- munity of interests." (The Moral Economy, p. 13.) On the whole that is right which offers the fullest oppor- tunity of life to all. How do we come to a consciousness of these com- mon interests ? How can we get the soldier to realize 134 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY that we are all backing him in the great sacrifice that he is called to make? In democracies we are frank, in the first place, to acknowledge that no person is in himself infallible, free from bias, error, and incompleteness of view. As we have seen, our activities and interests in social life become organized about certain ends and or- ganic needs. The environment is so complex that on every hand it becomes necessary to select consciously or unconsciously that which makes for the fulfillment of our individual purposes and ends. Selection, and there- fore partiality, is a basic principle in organic adjustment, in life generally. The organism reacts selectively to food, for instance. In the larger and more general sense cer- tain animals are born to be herbivorous, others to be car- nivorous ; more specifically each organism is able to use and thrive upon only certain kinds of food material. In- terest and attention in other realms of behavior are fur- ther expressions of selectiveness ; imagination and dreams often project certain inner needs and desires. Even reason itself, far from being the impartial faculty in the determination of truth or in the balancing of evidence that it often has credit of being, operates for the attain- ment of desired ends, and justifies them when attained. It is, unfortunately, blind enough as a rule to unwelcome and unpleasant facts and conclusions. Can anyone doubt that a frank recognition of these facts, of our various biases, makes for greater tolerance and more solid de- votion to the cause of democracy? Satisfaction of our organic needs and instinctive im- pulses becomes associated with certain kinds of activity and with certain classes or groups of individuals and of institutions, as we have already seen. Adaptation to these conditions and to their various local standards makes it constantly more difficult for the individual to find satisfaction and ease of orientation under changed conditions. Anything making for such changes is looked upon with misgivings or suspicion, or even opposed out- LOYALTY 135 right. Whatever alleged fact or wherever assertion or view-point favors one's own peculiar circumstances and bias is generally accepted uncritically ; there is no motive generally for critical examination of such a proposition or assertion unless it is flatly contradictory to and irre- concilable with the bias. We think most about those things that somehow tend to impede or to aid our life's activities ; harmonious im- pulses and acts soon settle down to mechanical, often un- conscious or semi-conscious, habits. These latter seem to be the eternally fit conditions, to question which would be absurd even to the reflective and normally honest man. Bias does not always if indeed usually imply intel- lectual dishonesty. It is altogether less conscious and re- flective, and more innocent, than such an attitude of de- ception requires. Often it reflects rather only a naivete altogether common with the genus homo. Bias grows upon the individual so naturally and so gradually that to a narrow experience anything that satisfies the organic and immediate social needs, is simply accepted as genuine. Rather, the individual grows out of the narrow bias of his hereditary conditions and his social environment only un- der the stress of inherently conflicting conditions. Ideas and theories about truth and error, justice and injustice, arise only out of conflict among the instinctive impulses and desires. Bias is simply an organization gradually forced and given shape by external conditions, often as unconsciously formed as an infant learns unwittingly to manipulate an unwise mother or nurse by its crying. The greater demands of the expanding interests simply wake us up later in our lives, if at all, to the numerous prejudices in which nature in the more limited environ- ment nourished us. If there were only one group of individuals of a homo- geneous nature no rational justification would be neces- sary, and little progress would be made. .Who thinks of finding moral justifications for our assumed right of eat- 136 ' HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY ing cattle, of working the horse, or of robbing the bee? On these practices we are all one. But since different groups under different conditions of life vary in their practices and their standards, and since several individ- uals through commercial and other relations come to have membership in different groups, it is inevitable that rational justifications for actions should arise. The mere perception by one person of the standards and customs of other groups different from those of his own, is not sufficient motivation as a rule, as it is often held to be, for critical reaction to the foreign group practices. The person might only regard such customs with curiosity. But when various individuals through commercial rela- tions have acquired membership in both groups these in- dividuals will be forced to choose for themselves when conflict arises between their own groups. They cannot habitually and automatically follow both at points of di- vergence. Under such conditions, therefore, there is real motivation to rationalization of conduct, to the building of standards and ideals of a more comprehensive nature. Thus criticism of certain groups and justification of others inevitably arise ; reasons for various practices and justifications of existing conditions are worked out as necessity demands. Inner conflicts, inter-group difficul- ties and maladjustments, lead to similar results. They usually arise from individual differences and specializa- tions of function. Very fitting and convincing explana- tions of existing conditions are thus developed, fitting and satisfying because they justify things as they are. Thus the points of view and biases of groups become estab- lished around local needs and conditions. They are con- solidated into national ideals and loyalty only through conflicts among themselves and particularly with other nations, the latter consolidating all groups more or less completely against the foreign foe. But while the masses of men are not much given to the guidance of conduct by ideals, except those arising LOYALTY 137 from practical necessities, scientific agencies and more im- partial institutions of various kinds are constantly com- ing to play an ever increasing role in the selection and the testing of standards. These larger impersonal agencies, themselves at first developing out of incidental conflict and necessity, are ribw getting gradually to assume the definite role of explicit agencies for fostering progress; the discovery of truth, as we have defined it, and the set- ting up of new standards is getting to be their conscious object. This far-reaching idealism, this large optimistic atmosphere and outlook, should be made to play as di- dectly as possible on the man who must go into the war and offer his life for his country. If he is not lifted above the mere class interest with which he was probably too much concerned before the call of his country, he cannot be relieved of inner strains and reservations which are bound to interfere with the unconditioned surrender- ing of himself to the greater cause. To become the best soldier he must get the feeling of satisfaction in the great cause itself that the religious missionary has or that char- acterizes the person at play, as we have already seen. The value of an appreciation of governmental and scientific agencies by all individuals taking part in great group, business, or national enterprise is obvious; their stabilizing and idealizing effect upon conduct, with its ever widening atmosphere, is one of our best guarantees if we may talk in these days of guarantees of the final reign of democracy and objectified justice. Just as the courts have come to serve as state agencies for the impar- tial handling of individual disputes and personal differ- ences for the common good, so science and other large im- personal agencies are getting to play an ever increasingly constructive role in the determination of means, stand- ards and ideals for the attainment of the greatest develop- ment of individual interests compatible with the common weal. The function of these impersonal agencies is not only that of making harmony among men's conflicting 138 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY impulses and group interests or biases ; it is far more posi- tive and constructive than this. Progress and greater fullness of life become the conscious ideal, and enthu- siasm and co-operative effort for the attainment of justice, in the more nearly abstract or impartial sense of the term, are the results to those who understand their relations to such activities. Soldiers should constantly be kept aware of these re- lations to the larger unbiased agencies of the nation they serve. Many of the men that enter the army have not had opportunities of very close acquaintance with these governmental agencies. The most immediate contact they have with any such agency in the army is the court martial. The exigencies of army life are such as to make this agency of impartial evaluation at best but an im- perfect representative of the class taken as a whole. The various agencies for the finding and evaluating of scien- tific truth, both public and private educational and sci- entific institutions, are among the most efficient. The sol- dier to be most satisfied must feel that he is fighting in a righteous and laudable cause ; that he is offering his life not for a mere temporary circumstance, bias or madness, but that his life is given if necessary for a great cause of permanent value to the nation and to humanity. Only such an assurance can give him the backing and deter- mination that can call out his very greatest efforts, sacri- fices and endurance. He must be made to know that the people of his democracy and the various impersonal agen- cies engaged in improving the life of man are solidly be- hind him; his cause, then, becomes identified with that of great statesmen, scientists, educators, and specialists and workers in all lines supplying food, clothes, raw ma- terials, munitions, protection from disease and pain and other disasters. He must see himself, to be a good fight- er, as a part of the great move by his race for a bigger and better humanity. And his part is by no means a mean one : his life is on the altar ; he may not live to the LOYALTY 139 attainment of the great end for which he is fighting. He must learn to be proud of being a soldier, of being called by a great democratic nation, exercising impartial means of selection, to do his "bit." This just pride should show itself in a general bearing of courage and optimistic co-operation; it expresses itself in his erect, manly attitude, his salutes, etc. Mere formalities which otherwise may have a tendency to arouse opposition, or at least passivity and lack of enthusiasm, easily become in the hands of the good leader and army teacher effective means of stimulating the men to enthusiasm. They symbolize something and serve as constant reminders. As the man who believes that moralty "pays as it goes" is probably more effectively braced against evil than he who is moral because of some mere abstract and absolute conception of truth, so an understanding by all concerned of the means and ideals under-lying a great war is necessary for the proper motivation and control of those taking part in it. Persistency of effort toward the attainment of great national and international ideals, and proper discipline and sense of duty to the common cause, are safely secured only on such an intelligent ap- preciation of affairs. All cannot, of course, have a thor- ough knowledge and appreciation of such matters, but the better the soldier understands them the better a sol- dier he will be. Managers and leaders of men, where such knowledge and appreciation is widely current, as- sume the aspect of fellow workers ; they are respected and obeyed cheerfully as representatives of the common interests, rather than being feared and hated as arbitrary, self-seeking individuals of the type that must drive and force men against their own wills. The effective will is the whole man active, not a part of him. Among officers the matter of promotion is probably a "touchy" point. Frequently promotion is based merely on priority. In the past in many nations this has been almost the rule. In the present war there is a tendency 140 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY in the democracies to urge the criterion of efficiency as the basis for promotions. This is, of course, from all points of view the proper thing, for efficiency is what must "win the war." Hence we are all interested in it, and no one, not even the inefficient officer of priority right, will dispute the right of the efficient man to step forward. Questioning such a right directly would only be tantamount to showing lack of patriotism, or to mani- festing an unwillingness to co-operate for the common good. Hence objections to what is done in the way of promoting on this criterion will always take other forms than direct objections to the principle. Claims based in fact on priority will ostensibly take other forms, usually attacks on the alleged efficiency of rivals for promotion. This becomes a delicate question, and all concerned should constrain themselves not to be too impatient for frequent changes based on efficiency; for the judgment of effi- ciency is not an easy one to make when all things are considered; efficiency cannot everywhere be discovered with great speed. At the same time the public will not be likely to tolerate passively any gross violations of the efficiency rule, so far as matters come fairly to their at- tention. The army tests and other means will help select the efficient, but the great test of efficiency must always be in one's actual service. A person should not be too ready to put himself up impatiently for advancement, even in his own secret estimation, for this will tend to react negatively on his optimism and general co-operative tone ; the dissatisfied, disgruntled officer or soldier works against his own interests and opportunities as well as against the efficiency of his country. The good soldier and officer, the trustworthy person, is the one above all that can wait, and that will wait cheerfully, for the pro- motion that he has really earned ; a slight delay, especially under the circumstances indicated, does not make him impatient or grouchy, for he realizes that self-control has every advantage in the end, and he has faith in the LOYALTY 141 workings of democracy with all its present shortcomings. Something is wrong with the person who always finds the cause of his own misfortunes and failure of recognition in surrounding conditions and in other persons rather than in himself. One's fellows will not long fail to recog- nize and reward tangibly real efficiency coupled with cheerful patience and co-operation. Loyalty is nothing short of intelligent, whole-hearted devotion to a common cause or a common interest, such as one's country. We are loyal to that into which we can throw ourselves without hesitancy or reservations. The late Professor Royce of Harvard, in a book entitled The Philosophy of Loyalty, defines loyalty as "the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause/' or to a moral embodying the common good. We cannot follow him when he takes this end into the realms of ultimate truth or of "the eternal" ; but there is much in the value, as he indicates, of the personal attitude of loy- alty, giving one a cause that unifies one's interests and impulses and that is in some senses self-sufficient and complete, as we have said is true of the attitude in play and in art. Local patriotism that says, "My country, right or wrong !" will never end wars in the world. The cause of democracy against autocracy must not be confounded with such a view. Loyalty to the present great struggle of democratic peoples cannot be based on any temporary bias or present group interest; this war is a struggle of nations. It has already involved the scientific genius and the educational and research institutions and agencies of all the Allies. America is in it with all her resources, her agencies of science and medicine, of justice and ad- ministration, of economic distribution and social welfare, all mobilized for the one end of "making the world safe for democracy." We are all in it with all the civilization that our race has evolved ; we are bent on protecting this civilization and on passing it on, with the addition of our 142 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY own humble contributions, to our descendants. The sol- dier can feel that there are no sinister secrets to come out of this conflict, no concealed individual advantages over others to be gained by those who are clothed with the authority to manage it. The leading educational in- stitutions are putting their entire resources at the dis- posal of the nation, research laboratories are doing their best to further the cause, judicial experts are favoring the submission of peace terms, when the time comes, to the various nationalities affected, and there is a general cry against secret treaties and the violation of contracts. The world has never before seen a similar situation. Here are real grounds for loyalty that transcends mistaken local patriotism and temporary bias. Here is a situation that can call out all man's energies and finer sen- sibilities. In this great struggle the soldier is at his best. He is the center of interest. If he should be called upon to give his life for freedom and justice the ideals of democracy he can feel that never has man come to a better opportunity for this supreme sacrifice nor has the soldier ever had a more enthusiastic and just world to per- petuate his name and deed. INDEX Abstract ideals often less ef- fective than personal appeals, 81. Andrews, Lt. Col., quoted on leadership, 82; on discipline, 110, 121 f, Argument futile against bias, 130. Athletics in army camps have purpose, 50 ; specialized meth- ods of training in, 89. Attention, results of selective- ness of, 60; to individuals improves teamplay, 70; in learning, 98, 101, 115; to larger relationships of acts to be learned, 103. Attitude, effect of on learning, 98; on loyalty, 138; progres- sive characterized, 17, 102. Authority, relations of to lead- ership, 79 ff. Automatic processes provided by nature, 6ff. Baldwin, J. M., quoted on so- cializing effect of play, 41/. Bell, Gen. Geo., Jr., quoted on discipline, 2; on teamplay, 67; on handling men, 87; on putting meaning into learn- ing, 104/. Bias, nature and cause of, 129^. Blaming others for own fail- ures, evils of, 16. Bravado in the war, 57/. British leaders, qualities of, 73/. Competition in industries, sci- ence, athletics, etc., 18 ff.; biology of, 21 ff.; among groups, 24 ff.; Hadley's defi- nition of, 26; stimulation of, 27 ff.; need of objective, measurable results and of purpose in, 30/.; perform- ance scales in, suggested, 30; use of in army, 19, 27-37. Conduct, how standards of, arise, 134ff. Control, getting, of new acts, 94ff., 113; an experiment on getting, of complex act, 114. Cooley, C. H., quoted on lead- ership, 76, 77. Courage, rational form of, in the war, 57 /. Coy, Ted, and the Yale foot- ball victory, 73. Criticism, pointed, how to make effective, 15/. Cromwell, as leader, 72. Crosby, Col. N. B., quoted on effects of competition, 32-36. Curves of progress in learn- ing, 119. Defectiveness, mental, as inco- ordination, 53^. Determinism, practical, as an assumption, 13/. Discipline, the necessity of, Iff; 110 ff.; 122 ff.; Gen. Geo. Bell, Jr., on, 2ff.; and habit, llOff.; defined, 110, 121 f.; a conserver of life, 122, 144 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY Drafted men, need of arousing right attitude in, 5/. Drills, mere formal, inadequate to teamplay, 68; the distribu- tion of practice in, 97 f.; at- tention to the function of an act in, 98; vigor and snap, in, 84. Efficiency vs. number of men, 4; in terms of co-ordination, 53 ff.; as basis of promotion in army, 26, 139 f. Effort, need of on part of learner, 115. Emotion, arousal of, by ob- struction of instincts, 7; in wars by primitive man, 128. Emulation, used by Jesuits, 18 ; relation to competition, 24/. Encouragements, how best giv- en, 15/. Envy, relation to competition, 24. Favoritism and familiarity harmful to leadership, 80. Ferrari, on teamplay, courage and bravado, 57f. Foote, Brig. Gen. S. M., quoted on need of self-responsibil- ity, 36/.; on teamplay, 68. French officers, 84. Games, competition in, 44^. Getty, Brig. Gen. R. N., men- tioned, 32. Grading a few men each day, 28. Grant as a leader. 79. Groos on play, 44. Group competition, 24^.; 44. Habit, and discipline, 110^.; in athletics, 111; an experiment on effect of, 117/.; may lapse into earlier stages in confu- sion and excitement, 116 ff.; rewards for highly trained, 119 ff. Habits, characteristics of, 12, 96. Hadley, Pres., of Yale, on com- petition. 26. Illustration, the value of, in teaching, 90, 105. Impersonal agencies to decide basis of loyalty, 137. Inefficiency, effect of, on team- play, 62. Individual differences in re- cruits, problems based on. 5/.; taken note of in certain industries, 88; in instruction, 100, 105. Individuality in teamplay, 59; respected by good leaders, 81. Initiative, individual, in army, W6ff. Innate mechanisms to care for our life processes, 6ff. Instinct, defined, 8, 10; orig- in of, 10^.; modifiability of, 10/.; the basis of all appeals, 11-13; as a driving force in our lives, 13. Instincts enumerated, 8; dom- inance of our lives by, llf. Jackson, Andrew, as leader, 72. James, Prof. W., referred to, 8, 18; quoted on instincts, 11. Jealousy, 24. Jesuits and emulation, 18. Kahamamoka, Duke, lowers world's swimming record un- der pressure of competition, 19/. Kemp, Major, quoted on spe- cialized training for war, 109. Knowledge essential to leader- ship, 76/.; 82. Leader identifies self with group, IS/.; responsible for morale of group, 15/.; his opportunity and responsibil- ity in teamplay, 6Qff.; Cooley quoted on, 76, 77/.; Grant as, refined and considerate, 79; must be just and impartial, 84/.; self-control of, 85. INDEX 145 Leaders in commerce, 72. Leadership, 75ff.; relations to practical knowledge of in- stincts, 13/.; in industry pol- itics, and athletics, 72/.; Lt. Perigord quoted on, 73; re- lations to authority, 79/.; in- sincerity fatal to, 78; de- pends on knowledge and con- sistency of action, 77^., 102; and popularity, S2ff. Learning, principles of, 88^.; individual differences in, 88, 100/.; 106 ff.; 115 f.; relation to accurate estimate of re- sults of efforts, 89/; 99; two general classes of, 93 ff.; in- terest necessary for, 98. 104; distribution of practice most effective for, 98 ; not by mere repetition but by selection, 96, 106; dangers of wrong beginning in, 101 ; successes to be emphasized rather than errors, 106; quotations from officers on, 106-109. Loyalty, 125^.; at its best, 26; indirect method of bringing it about, 64, 13 1/.; why it is not usually obvious in peace times, 12Sff.; expressed in crises, 126; personal success due to its arousal in employ- es, 126; developed through interests, 133#.; Royce quoted on, 141 ; rests on idea of right, 132ff. McCoy. Major F. R., on ath- letic competition, 50; on teamplay, 65 ff.; on leader- ship, 86/.; on specialized training, 109. McDougall, W., referred to, 8. Meaning of thing learned, need of pointing out, 105. Mental attitude, importance of 5, 98. Mental tests to eliminate the unfit, 62. Motives to learning necessary, 92 ; in animal learning, 94. Nagging, effects of, 85. Napoleon as leader, 72. National unity, lack of, before war, 1. Nature's provision for bodily needs, 6. Officers, qualities of English and French, 84 ; means of in- creasing opportunities of progress of, 102. Orders, the giving of, 81, 85; must be promptly carried out, 86; Major McCoy on the giving of, 86. Partisan interests, origin of, 134ff. Patch Dan, the pacer, stum- ulated by competition, 20. Patriotism not to be confound- ed with selfishness, 141; meaning of, to democracies, 141/. Perigord, Lt. Paul, quoted on leadership, 73. Perry, Professor, quoted on morality, 133. Persistence, reward of, 120/. Personality defined, 74, 78. Personalities, unpleasant, ruled out in group competition, 25. Play, 38ff.; value of in the in- dustries, 38/.; in Roosevelt's daily program, 40; innate in man and animals, 41 ; vari- ous benefits of, in training and self-control, 44^.; re- laxation and other psychic ef- fects of, 43, 46 ; prepares for life's struggle, 43^.; a pro- phylactic against certain men- tal diseases, 46-49; is self- sufficient, real life, 47/.; in army camps, quotations, 49/. Pleasure-pain theory of action criticised, 7ff. 146 HANDLING MEN IN THE ARMY Popularity of leader, 82. Practice, much, necessary for effective teamplay, 62. Promotion of officers in army, relations to loyalty, 26/., 139/. Psychological factors, impor- tance of, in war, 61. Pugnacity in competition. 23/. Punishment, mild, skillfully applied, 16. Random, unco-ordinated move- ments in new acts, 94/.; what to do with them, 97. Recruits in the army, nature of, Aff. Repetition, effect of, on re- sponse, 117/. Responsibility, assumption of, by officer, 18/.; of training men under one's own com- mand, 103 ; individual, rec- ognized in army, 106 ff. Restrictions on individuality in group competition, 25/. Rewards, effect of, on rate of training men, 5. Rivalry instinct in competition, 24ff. Roosevelt's recreation habits referred to, 40. Royce on loyalty, 141. Salute, the, putting meaning into, 104. Seashore, E. C, quoted on play, 47. Self-responsibility, value of frank acknowledgment of, 15; need of developing, in soldier, 36/. Self-assertion impulses in com- petition, 24^. Self-good, remote, skillfully identified with common good by leader, 81. Sheridan's ride, an example of effect of leadership, 72. Sherman, Gen., quoted on dis- cipline, 110. Soldier's attitude depends on his conception of his calling, 138/. Standards for competition, value of, 30. Successful trials to be em- phasized in learning, 106. Teamplay, 51^.; importance of emphasizing, 51 ; Lt. Col. Andrews quoted on, 5 1/.; in football, etc., 52 ; in the great industries, 52/.; a chief fac- tor for success in group con- tests, 56/.; demand for self- surrender in, 57; Ferrari on, 57; opportunity of leader in, 60^.; hampered by inefficien- cy and unwillingness, 62/.; practical suggestions for im- proving, 65ff. Thought concerned about things to do, 12; grows out of conflicts among instincts, 12. Training, the importance of, Iff.; needs of special atten- tion to methods of, today, 4; effects on, of high re- wards and good native ability and education, 5 ; necessary to prevent confusion under emotional excitement, 12 ; methods of, in athletics and in education, 89/. ; necessity of, in situation similar to that trained for, 105. Truth, love of abstract, ques- tioned, 18/. United States in commerce, Iff. Weakness, evidence of, in the leader, 16. Whole-souled effort in good discipline, 123. Will to learn, effect of, 96, 105. Wilson, Pres., referred to, 53. 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