624 ENROLMENTS AT END OF PREPAREDNESS WEEK

Preparedness Week ended Saturday evening, with 624 enlistments for the various training camps this summer. The new enrolments on Saturday swelled the totals in the various branches as follows: Plattsburg Junior Camps, 408; Plattsburg Senior Camps, 82; Naval Training Criuse, 49; Flying Corps, 83.

The Flying Corps training school on Long Island has been made certain by the enlistment of thirty-five men, fifteen more than were actually needed. Two hours a day will be devoted to actual flying, and there will be opportunities for engine study and other technical investigations.

All men signed up who have not yet had their physical examinations for Plattsburg may be examined by Dr. Lee any time today or on Wednesday afternoon.

Captain S. J. B. Schindel, of the General Staff, U. S. Army, who was the inspecting officer of the regiment last week, was so impressed with the efficiency of the Regiment that he has made a favorable report to the War Department. He has written for the CRIMSON the following memorandum concerning the provisional plan for training a corps of reserve officers, and the place the Regiment would occupy in such a scheme.

Officers Necessary for Training.

Having determined the framework needed for proper organization of an army, the first step should be to obtain the officers necessary to carry out the training. It is not the intention of the War Department to make use of educational institutions in developing military geniuses, but rather to obtain men who, as officers, will be of an average efficiency, and thus preserve the general level of instruction and efficiency throughout the service, both active and reserve.

Civil War Showed Need of Trained Men.

We do not need to look far a-field for historical evidence of the evils resulting from a lack of trained officers when war breaks out, but can refer to our own Civil War for the most glaring instance of that lack of proper preparation. When the Civil War broke out, it became necessary to train a large body of men; and on account of the absolute lack of officers, it was necessary to train the men and the officers at the same time,-hence the great delay in producing an army fit for offensive work, the time for decisive action being delayed for at least two years. It was not until after Gettysburg that either side had an efficient weapon of offence sufficiently flexible to move and to obey, without delay or hesitation, the supreme orders of its commander-in-chief.

Today, should it become necessary to raise a large body of volunteers, under our present system of national defence, we would stand absolutely on the threshold of a gigantic enterprise for which the tools were but partially sharpened and ready for the work, and there would be an absolute lack of sufficient number of leaders for our companies and battalions of the large force which must be called for in the defence of the country.

Across the waters the great lack of officers, so far as the English army is concerned, has been the reason for their non-success in obtaining a victory in any theatre of operations. With these facts in view, the War Department has devised a system, now about to become a law, which will permit us to carry out the proper training of the officer-aspirant with units of the Regular Army, and thus supplement the extensive instruction given in the Reserve Officers Training Corps Units at our colleges and universities. For instance, at Harvard University Reserve Officers' Training Corps Unit, and thus preserve its esprit and traditions.

Prescribed Courses for Officers

The war Department has prescribed courses for that part of instruction given during Freshman and Sophomore years, during which three hours per week are to be devoted to the work, both theoretical and practical, the latter instruction being carried out in accordance with the local conditions and with due consideration to the time of the year and climate encountered during the training period. At the end of the first two years, the president of the institution and the officers of the army, detailed thereat, will select such men whose work has been up to the prescribed standard of proficiency and efficiency to entitle them to take the advance course. This will cover five hours per week work and will, in accordance with the law, be a prerequisite for graduation. During this period commutation of rations will be issued to these men, which for the year, will average about $85.00. Upon graduation these men will be appointed reserve officers, if fully qualified, by the President, and will be eligible for appointment as temporary lieutenants. They will then be trained for six months with a regular organization, completing their preliminary course.

Training for All Branches of Service.

Equipment of all kinds necessary for the training of officers of the several arms of the service--Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Engineers, Coast Artillery Corps and Signal Corps--will be furnished, and every opportunity will be given men to select the arm of the service in which they believe themselves best fitted to serve.

Connected with this instruction is a training camp proposition, and it is ultimately hoped that combined camps, made up of Reserve Officers' Training Units from one or more institutions, will take part; thus offering opportunities for better and more advanced field training.

This brief resume of the system proposed by the War Department explains the use which will be made of the best material we have in this country for officers, and will not only improve the average efficiency of reserve organizations, but also spread throughout the country a better, more sane and safe program of preparedness--preparedness in a matter which is of vital importance,--that of obtaining trained officers before even any men are enlisted for new organizations.

It seems only appropriate that the oldest university in the country should have a due proportion of its graduates enrolled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. In its present day Regiment there should be maintained an efficient training corps unit, whose graduates will thus have placed themselves definitely on the side of an adequate preparation for our country's defence