GEN. EDWARDS FAVORS FIELD ARTILLERY UNIT

"I heartily favor the establishment of a Field Artillery Training Unit at Harvard next year, and feel that an infantry unit should also have a place there." said Major-General Clarence R. Edwards in a recent interview with a CRIMSON reporter. "To be a successful infantry officer requires just as much training as to be a good artillery officer. In the artillery you deal with material, in the infantry with men, and to handle men well requires more training and experience than to fire a field piece or compute a range. I believe that the training of an infantry officer might well occupy a place in every college curriculum. In addition to the artillery and infantry units, I would favor aviation, heavy artillery, and chemical warfare units.

Every Boy Should Have Training.

"The Field Artillery Unit, is a big step toward universal military service, and I strongly support any advance in that direction. I believe that every boy should be given training during his nineteenth year. This compulsory service would not last more than one year, and therefore would not be long enough to have a militaristic influence over our youth. The splendid record of the 26th Division has shown that one year of well applied training is sufficient to make a good soldier out of the average man. The training would be entirely under the control of the government, and would normally come between the last year of preparatory school and the first year of college.

"Upon entering college, the matter of further military training to fit men to be officers must be decided by the college authorities. I favor military courses such as the Field Artillery Unit, which would count towards a degree, but would not take so much time that other courses would be neglected. After a year of military training, every young man would know what branch of the service he wished to enter. There should be several kinds of training given at each college to allow considerable choice. However, the completion of some one of the military courses should be compulsory for men wishing the college degree. In addition to the work in the winter, there should be summer camps where more practical work would be given.

Military Training Valuable.

"The great war has taught us a lesson which we cannot afford to forget, and the only way we can profit by what we have learned is to have universal military training. Military service has awakened in our young men a great feeling of patriotism and service. It has given them confidence in themselves, and made them straight-forward, virile, and honest. I feel sure that the decrease in crime resulting from universal military service would more than cover the cost of training. If all our young men could have a year in the army, I believe that the I. W. W.'s, Bolsheviks, and their like would disappear from America.

"Besides the moral growth that universal military service would bring about, much would be gained through the physical development of our young men. Out of every 1,000 men who were examined for the army, 271 were unfit for military service. In the 26th Division we had many cases of flat feet which made the men useless for hard military work. At the advice of one of my colonels who was an orthopedic specialist, these men were organized into a special training batalion. In eight weeks, 80 per cent of these supposedly unfit men were made physically sound and able to go on the hardest 20 mile hikes. This was the first of the 'development battalions' which later did so much to improve the physique of our boys.

"Because of the moral and physical benefits which our young men would gain from universal military service, I heartily favor its immediate adoption in this country. I beleve that the Field Artillery Unit at Harvard next year will be a big advance toward universal military service, and I approve of extending it to include other branches of the service, especially the Infantry.