THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL AND MILITARY TRAINING IN SCOTLAND
IF there are two things about his country of which a Scot is justly proud, they are her military prowess and her educational system. While we are not, perhaps, in England inclined to admit that absolute superiority in arms which Scotland claims over the country which has absorbed but never conquered her, we are most of us inclined to agree that in questions of popular education she certainly leads the way. Some mouths ago we advocated in these columns the appointment of a Royal Commission to report on a national scheme for improving the physical and moral condition of our boys and girls, and creating a reservoir of healthy manhood who might in time of need quickly and voluntarily turn themselves into soldiers. The idea has long been in the air, and the credit for taking the first practical step is now to be set down to Lord Balfour of Burleigh and the educational authorities of Scotland. In the same month that our former article appeared, the Royal Commission on Physical and Military Training in Scotland met to examine witnesses, and the full minutes of their first twenty sittings have now been communicated to the Press. It is refreshing to turn from the sectarian squabbles over the English Bill to this practical examination of a national question.
We note with satisfaction that the Commission, of which Lord Mansfield is the Chairman and Sir Henry Craik and three Scottish Members of Parliament, besides others, members, is entirely composed of civilians. The turning out of boys and girls who are physically fit for the work of life is, we hold, every whit as much a civilian and an educational matter as the provision of an adequate literary equipment for our future citizens, though it ts a. branch of national education which has hitherto been n lected in Great Britain. The military aspect of the question is only secondary ; given a European nation which is sound physically, there will not be much doubt about its fighting qualities. A great deal of the evidence given before this Commission is, therefore, that of medical men, such as Sir Lauder Brunton and Dr. Dukes, and of experts on the purely physiological aspects of drill, like Mr. Sandow and Colonel Fox. Unfortunately, it is estab- lished without a doubt that the physical deteriora- tion of the nation during the past hundred years has been very great. Various reasons are suggested by the medical witnesses, but the chief causes are, of course, our modern industrial system and the prodigious growth of our large towns, though the emigration of a large number of the stron gest of the race may also be a con- tributing factor. The appalling percentage of rejections for physical unfitness among recruits who offer themselves for the Army would alone be sufficient proof of this alarming decline ; but the evidence of the recruiting officers as to the counteracting effects of a scientific system of physical and military drill is, on the other hand, almost as remarkable. And so, as it is unfortunately impossible to do more than tinker at the social condition of a people, the problem is to counteract its evil physical effects by a system of physical training. The nation has recognised that it must take over on the literary side that education of their children's minds which in a less artificial state of society would naturally fall to the parents themselves. It has yet to see that it is no less responsible for their physical development.
The task before the Commission is well stated by the Assistant-Secretary of the Scotch Education Department. There is already a good deal of physical, and even military, drill provided for in the Scottish educational system. What is now wanted is " a scientific investigation of the multi- farious systems of drill in vogue, with a careful estimate of the value of games." Out of three hundred and seventy- nine thousand children in Scotland alone who are between fourteen and eighteen years of age, there are at present two hundred and seventy thousand pupils for whom no instruc- tion of any kind is provided. The large majority of boys at the most critical period of their lives will not voluntarily submit themselves to education or discipline of any kind; they refuse to hear the voice of the charmer, whether sounding from the continuation school or the Cadet Corps. But we believe that the country is growing out of its respect for that time-honoured " bogey," the liberty of the subject, and is prepared, in the interests of the race, to demand the introduction of an obligatory course, at least on the physical side. Several of the witnesses suggest a doubt whether physical drill is really the best road to physical fitness, and quote the remarkable fact that in Germany and Sweden, where such drill has been in vogue for years, there is now a distinct reaction in favour of games on the English model. Sir Lauder Brunton thinks that all that is required is more time in the curriculum for the children to run about and scream,—which reminds us of the exercises in reeling and writhing and fainting in coils at the Mock Turtle's Seminary. But this State-aided pande- monium would only be for elementary schools, and could not be seriously recommended for the budding manhood of the nation, which displays quite a sufficient predilection for noise already. As regards the reaction abroad towards games, we are afraid that the exigencies of space in our crowded cities can only render them available for a small percentage,—and there is absolutely no education, mental or physical, in merely watching football. Besides, in Germany, at least, the period of military service provides all the " physical culture " which is required for the male population, and even calls loudly for the antidote of games.
We have no doubt that the final recommendations of the Commission will lead to some vigorous State action in the direction of compulsory " physical cultere," in Scotland at least. What we wish to emphasise is our hope" that the secondary or military aspect of the question will not be neglected. The Times of August 22nd, in its notice of the work of the Commission, throws out a hint that the formulation of a scheme which would hold our national youth in readiness for military service in time of need should not be the object of the Commissioners. But only one • witness out of the seventy-seven examined, an Independent minister from Dundee, appears really to regard preparation for war as anything but a safeguard of peace. We are inclined to agree with the Secretary of the Boys' Brigade, who informed that gentleman that if he had his way, "the Empire would not be at peace but in pieces." With a hearty dislike of militarism we are in complete accord, but the very fact that the War Office regards an extension of Cadet Corps with disfavour should prove to the doubters the advisability of a civilian system of quasi- military training. The reference of the Commission is to inquire into such training, "ae contributing to the sources of national strength." A propos, the same number of the Times which deals with this Commission contains a remarkable correspondence between Lord Meath and Mr. Brodrick. Here is Lord Meath's view of our " national strength " :- " Great numbers of the youth of Great Britain are physically unfit to be counted as fighting men, whilst the great majority of our male population, from want of military education of any kind, is totally incapable of taking the smallest part in the defence of the country." In Australia, New Zealand, and Natal, Lord Meath points out, the boys are physically developed in the Govern- ment schools, and are taught to shoot, to march, to think and shift for themselves, and to obey. Hence, while these Colonies were able to put into the field a supply of dis- ciplined and trained manhood, we were compelled to send men " who could not shoot, and who made no pretence of being able to shoot, but who were, nevertheless, the best that could be raised in Great Britain at the moment." Mr. Brodrick's answer is surprising. He cannot under- take " large financial responsibility for the training of Cadets," and has other questions to attend to which are " more immediately pressing." No doubt he has some other alternative ; is it conscription ? In view of the over- whelming antipathy to the very name of the thing in this country, we can hardly think so. But we are aware that it has several warm advocates in the Army, and conscription and Cadet Corps are the very antithesis of each other.
But whatever be the reason why the War Office insists upon cold-shouldering Cadet Corps, the fact remains that it does so ; and herein lies the opportunity for those who think, as we do, that in the provision of a national Reserve the less War Office control there is the better. By undertaking the primary military education of our boys as an essential branch of their equipment for life, and placing this under the educational authorities of the country, not only should we render militarism impossible, but we should make the physical condition of its young manhood, as we already do the mental and moral, the care of each locality. As the circumstances in these localities varied, so would the character of the physical education,— a country district would not have the same difficulties and defects to contend with as an urban, and vice-versd. There would then be no procrustean system, so dear to the heart of Pall Mall. Local authorities would make their pro- posals to the Education Department, who, while pre- serving uniformity in essentials, would consider each lbcal need on its own merits. In large schools military in- structors could be found from the ranks of time-expired Army sergeants, and the teachers would in all cases take a course in military and physical drill at some Army centre under Army instructors as a necessarypart of their pre- liminary training. But the control of the instruction would be civil, the task being the production of a martial and physically well-developed, not of a military, popula- tion. By an extension of the principle now admitted in the case of elementary education, a certain number of hours of physical and military education would be made compulsory for all boys up to eighteen. After that age individuals could, if they chose, enrol them- selves as actual, and not merely potential, defenders of their country, whether as soldiers, Militiamen, Yeomanry, Volunteers, or members of adult rifle clubs, and they would be admirably qualified to do so. But this would be a voluntary act on their part. There should be no idea that in inftructing our sons in the elements of war we are going to shuffle off the obligation that rests upon our manhood to contribute in some way or other to the military security of the country. The " strong men " shall not cheer in thousands " while the striplings go to war," but it is the duty of the State to see that our striplings are strong, so that when the call comes they may not, how- ever willing, find themselves unable to fight.
Precisely what form this physical and military drill should take we would not presume to advise. There is plenty of expert advice obtainable upon this subject, and we have every confidence that the recommendations of the Commission on this point will be sound. But we notice with satisfaction that the Commissioners have directed many of their inquiries to the practicability of introducing shooting into the course. Some very remarkable evidence upon this point was given by Major Seely, Member for the Isle of Wight, who is keenly interested in the rifle club movement. As he pointed out, shooting is the one branch of the soldier's art, besides discipline, which can be thoroughly taught in time of peace. In nothing else that appertains to war can he be perfected except by experience of war ; and much of his peace training posi- tively detracts from his value as a fighting man. But shooting, if practised at moving and disappearing targets, can be thoroughly mastered in peace ; and the soldier who cannot shoot, whatever his other merits, is as incomplete as a ship without a steersman. Major Seely's experi- ments show, as do those of all other persons connected with rifle clubs, that shooting at miniature ranges is a practice of undoubted value. A party of lads who had never fired with a rifle in their lives till they began firing with a reduced charge, and had never before fired at anything but a miniature range, were taken to a full range, and on a bad and stormy day made surprisingly high scores at long ranges. He therefore believes that shooting at short ranges teaches a man to shoot at long. But even were this not so, the value of being taught to shoot straight at all, and the extraordinarily small percentage of our population who have ever fired a rifle, have been two facts most un- doubtedly established by the late war. The cost of the ranges is about £25 only, and they can be put up in the playground or the back-garden.
We sincerely trust that in their researches into physical and military drill, "as contributing to the sources of national strength," the Commissioners will not forget that by making provision for the compulsory education of all boys in the use of the rifle—no less than by the develop- ment of their manhood by physical and military drill—we can add very materially to our national strength. We want physical training, but we want it also to be of a military character, and to include the use of the rifle.
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