“Obedience and Team
Work,” from the Hopkinsville
Kentuckian, July 15, 1916
Only in a few
American homes is prompt obedience required. Only to a limited degree is the
habit of prompt obedience cultivated in the school. The boys have done
something to cultivate the spirit of team work by their voluntary athletics,
but only a minority get this training. Organized industry does something to
compel team work, but not much to inspire it. Corporations and labor unions do
something to develop it, but it is team work for a class, not for the
community. It is not easy to conceive of anything which would do more to
develop these two needed virtues—prompt obedience and team work—than universal
military service. General Wood tells us that in this country the murder rate is
124 per million; in Switzerland it is 12 per million. What is the cause of this
difference? One cause is the American vice of self will. What is the remedy for
this defect? One valuable remedy would be the soldier’s habit of respect for
authority and of regard for the comrade at his side.
–Outlook
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