OUR SERVICE DEFINED

The plans concluded for an extension of the military science course mark a new step in the preparedness schemes of our colleges and the defensive program of the country. A course of training has been laid out that will be rigorous enough to be worthy of its name. That Harvard is the first University to adopt an intensive system of training officers should not be a matter of pride, but rather a basis for the hope that other colleges will establish the same system, and that the foundations of a great citizen army will be laid among our young men.

The new course will require hard work and sacrifice. Few things that are valuable or necessary in life are possible without toil and individual privation. The Faculty will be as lenient as possible in allowing men to alter their courses to meet the new demand. But the burden of work must fall upon each man.

There is no incentive in the program for a snap course, nor for a fraternal walking organization. The training does not purport to be child's play. However, war is not child's play, and Harvard men are not children.

Whether the war clouds which gather now so darkly will burst in storm, or whether we shall yet continue for an indefinite period of weeks or years our troubled peace, we cannot tell. Our plans must be made for all possibilities. The plan for training officers will prove no less valuable if war shall not come now. From men trained in this manner may be formed the nucleus of the national army which most realize must come in a short time. We are not primarily preparing for war tomorrow; we are not preparing for war against Germany. We are preparing for war when war shall come, from whatever source, from those nations which seem our dearest friends, or from those which we ignore.

The plan of training has been announced. Surely the universal loyalty which has so often been voiced in the last year will not fall now. The service is for the Nation.