MILITARY TRAINING

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22111, 5 June 1937, Page 20

MILITARY TRAINING

TO TUB EDITOR OF IIIE [’IIES9. Sir,—We need not enter into discussion on “Sensible Pacifist’s” point that “the only guarantee of safety is adequate armament.” No amount of logic or truth will penetrate the “ordinary, sensible man’s” armour. Military training as an improver of physique can do nothing that is not being done in our own country by peaceful, organised sports—football, swimming, golf, boxing, to name only a few. His most serious crash comes in his third paragraph. Oliver Cromwell’s advice, "Trust God, hut keep your powder dry.” as he construes it, is an insult to the capabilities and power of God. Oliver’s meaning was that while man must do his part, it is “trust in God” which can make man's part effective, and it is the trust which is the important part—not the “keeping the powder dry.” As “Sensible Pacifist” construes it, Oliver advises us to trust in God, but only up to a point —God can't always save us. It is this iniquitous habit of only half trusting God tliat is one of the chief causes of our trouble. God is a God who is able to save us to the uttermost. It is because we only half trust that few of us would agree to live in a lion’s den without whip or pistol or revolver. Daniel hj ’d absolute trust in God, who did not f il him, but brought him safely out of the den of lions—and He can and will do the same for His children to-day if we only trust Him.—You-s. etc.. SERGIUS PAULUS. June 4, 1937. TO TIIR EDITOR OF THE I'IIKSS, Sir, —To the rather ridiculous letter of Umberto Colonna on military training it docs not appear to me to be accessary to offer any lengthy argument. He tells me T know nothing about the subject. It is natural in face of that statement and its implication that we should learn what he knows - . I am not a bit impressed by bis ex '•rthedra declaration of how the physique of the Swiss is so great without any military training. I take the word of recognised writers and of personal friends of mine who have lately toured Europe and who are enthusiastic as to the immeasurable improvement in the physique and bearing of the Italian youth under the new military regime. These opinions arc from men who have been there and seen. Mr Colonna’s opinions are those of a man

who has not been there but Imagines th i n fm not going to follow him into his personal experiences during the siege of L r i q : n vears tliat are now almost prehistoric, but if law and order were then so admirably maintained, was it not due mainly to the military discipline lie assails? y I hope soldiers here will appieciate Mr Colonna’s assertion that it is not •-afe for females domiciled near a military barracks. My personal opinion is that ladies would be far safer there <ha n « they lived in the vicinity of a settlement of neurotic pacifists. When Mr Colonna declares he is not a pacifist but a fighter it makes me think of Ford’s peace ship during the war. It set out to brine peace to Europe. But war between the pacifists aboard broke out before the vessel dropped out of sight- and we have never had a full casualty list of that pacifist conflict. Mr Colonna’s latest paragraph is too silly for words. Had Nature, he declares, meant him to be a murderer she would have endowed him with deadly claws, etc. But Nature has endowed every man with weapons and powers to protect himself, and it is the exercise of those very powers our pacifists denounce. May I recommend Mr Colonna to have another “think?”—Yours, etc.. SENSIBLE PACIFIST.