VMI Cadet. October 8, 1917

              THE CADET ISSUED BY
THE CORPS OF VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
VOL. XI LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1917 NO. 3
SAMMIES PLEDGE TRUE
TO AMERICAN IDEALS
Atrocities of Germans Will Have No Counterpart in
Program of National Army, U. S.
COL. CLAUDON ADVISES ON THE
LEARNING OF MILITARY FRENCH
Head of French Military Mission Outlines the Most
Effective Method of Acquiring Knowledge of
French Military Terms
FDND TO SEND TOBACCO
TO UNCLE SAM'S MEN
Lexington Ladies Aiding in Nationwide Movement to
Make Life at the Front More Pleasant
for the Sammies
The f o l l o w i n g pledge signed by 98
per cent, of the men in one of the re-cent
officers' training camps will
probably be presented to all enlisted
and drafted men in the various army
camps of the United States for signa-ture
:
" W e undertake to maintain our
part of the war free f r om personal
hatred, wanton brutaliy or graft,
true to the American purposes and
ideals.
" A w a r e of the temptations inci-dent
to camp l i f e and the moral and
social wreckage involved, we cove-nant
together to live the clean l i fe
and to establish the American uniform
as the symbol and guarantee of real
manhood. If we become officers, we
pledge our example and our influence
t o make these ideals dominant in the
American a r m y ."
I f there is anyone who wonders
what is the value of Buch a pledge on
the part of the American soldiers, he
can see it by contrast in the authentic
stories of German frightfulness which
a r e constantly being brought to the
attention of the people in this coun-t
r y . One of the most damning bits
of evidence against the Germans is
t h e book enitled, " T w o War Years in
Constantinople," by Dr. Harry
Stuermer, former correspondent of
the Kolnische Zeitung.
A t the opening of hostilities Dr.
Stuermer was called to the colors. He
was later invalidated from the army
and in 1915 was Bent to Turkey.
There he saw the depths to which
Turkish bestialitv could descend, and
he saw it aided and'abetted ty the
Germans. In high indignation, he
sent a report of what he had seen to
Cologne. The report was suppressed
by the censor ant* he was dismissed
'by his paper. When he still persist-e
d in condemning the government for
t h e conditions which existed in Tur
key he was recalled to the colors, al
though he was declared to be absolute-ly
unfit. In some unknown way he
escaped to Switzerland, and has now
published hii book.
Dr.Stuermer reports that a German
officer told him that when the Ger-mans
in Belgium wished to plunder a
house, one of their men slipped a Bel-g
i a n gun through the cellar window
a t night. The next day the house was
searched. If a bidden weapon of any
description was found on tbe place,
the Germans were ordered to confis-c
a t e everything without pity, and
b r i n g way the people. He also re-ports
that there were "thousands of
cases of women and young girls, of
the best Belgian and French families
asHulted Ly German soldiers, who re-mained
unpunished in most c a s e s ."
Dr. Stuermer reports that while he
was in Turkey, he saw thousands of
Armenian men, women and children
d r i v en f r om their homes to the interior
where they were put to death with
In order that the men at the Insti-tute
might derive a tangible benefiti
f r om the courses in the French lang-uage,
offered by the Institute, General
Nichols entered into communication
with Colonel Claudon, Chief of the
French M i l i t a r y Mission of Informa-tion
to the United States, regarding
the most e f f e c t i v e methods thac could
be emnloyed for the speedy acqusition
of a working knowledge of the mili-tary
terms in use by our ally on the
Western Front.
In reply Colonel Claudon stated
that he did not deem it advisable for
men to put themselves entirely at
work to learn Buch a branch as the
terms " m i l i t a r y spoken French."
" T o be s u r e , ' ' he says, 4'because we
are soldiers, and because we are in
war times, we havp to devote our-selves
more especially to the learning
of military terms, but it 1B quite as
necessary to enlarge Buch a branch
and, to g e t acquainted as soon as pos-sible
with tbe common colloquial lang-uage;
that is to say, with the lang-uage
spoken everywhere and by every
one in France. Otherwise though
having your pockets f u l l up with mili-t
a r y terms and expressions you would
find yourselves in a wild even in the
center of F r a n c e . ''
"Consequently the best is to select
some good books, interesting and
w r i t t en in ' t o n g u e ' as pure aB possi-ble—
and t e l l i n g military stories. I
should advise you to g e t : — " L e s Me-moires
du General Baron Marbot'—
v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g , - v e r y thrilling—a
splendid account of the most famous
episodes during tne Wars of the Revo-lution,
and of Napoleon tbe F i r s t ."
" E v e r y o n e in Paris knows this
Continued on page 4
There is on foot a movement, initi-ated
by the women of the United
States, to furnish tobacco for the
American soldiers at. the front. This
is highly commendable and is done
with the thought of Keeping our army
at the most efficient point, by contrib-uting
to their comfort and pleasure.
The smallest sacrifice on the part of
tne men in barracks will do an unbe-lievable
amount of good along this
line. We owe the best we have to
our boys in khaki, and the means of
helping them has been opened by a
committee of the Lexington Ladies
headed by Mrs. John L. Campbell.
" T h e Cadet'* iB in receipt of a
notice from Mrs. Campbell which
speaks for itself,. It's purpoBe is
explained by the f o l l o w i n g extract:
" C a n you not contribute to this
fund?, Deny yourself a dime's
worth of candy every now and then,
and drop the dime in the box at tbe
Post Exchange.
" I f each cadet would g i v e five cents
a month it would help BO much tow-ards
making l i f e worth l i v i n g to our
boys in the trenches. "
Signed,
Mrs. JNO. L Y L E CAMPBELL,
Lexington, Va.
Colonel T . O . S m i t h of Birmingham,
A l a . who was cadet adjutant in the
class of '72, and Mr. W. S. Mabry of
San Antonio, TexaB, and first captain
of the clasB of '71, were visitors to
the Institute during the latter part of
the week. Mr. Mabry bad a brother
who graduated in the class of '74,
who was f r a long time prominent in
the National Guard of Texas.
Sometimes when matter triumphs
over mind it hasn't much to krag of.
Alumni, Attention
Send in Your Subscription
— FOR — The Cadet
Get the Full Volume
$1.50 per Year. Pay in Advance
BARRACKS ELECTION ON OCT. 10TH
Close Race Expected for Some Places-Other Can-didates
Certain of Success
In order to »stablish beyond doubt,
the claims of certain men in barracks
as to personal ability, and otherwise,
and to settle uncertainties, The Cadet
w i l l conduct an election on Oct. 10,
f o r the places enumerated on the bal-lot
printed below. The polling place
will be in K9, the back room of Suite
C2, and men can poll their votes at
any time during release f r om quarters
during the day.
The men should take especial care
to caBt their votes honestly and with
due considertion »s to the relative
merits of the several candidates.
Give the matter careful thought,
cut out the ballot, rill it out and de-posit
it in the box in the rear room of
C2, sometime on Welnesday, Oct 10.
B A L L O T
For
The most popular man in barracks :
The most handsome
The one thinking he is the most hand-some
The most efficient
The most military.
The brightest
The one thinking he is the brightest
The King of Biscuit Cutters
The greatest Parlor Snake
Tbe Supreme Dodo.
The Biggest Dog.
Your f a v o r i t e cigarette.
Your favorite author.
Your favorite magazine.
Your f a v o r i t e diversion...
Signed
Class..
Peru gives Germany eight days in
which to explain satisfactorily the
sinking by U boat of tbe Peruvian
bark Lorton. The demand sent
through the Peruvian minister at Ber-l
in is an ultimatum, threatening a
diplomatic break if satisfaction is not
forthcoming within the specified
period.