Germany and the Germans from an American Point of ViewCollier, Price
History
Germany and the Germans from an American Point of View
Collier, Price
Germany; National characteristics, German
To the American the pay of the German troops, officers and men, is
ludicrously small. It is evident that men do not undertake to fit
themselves to be officers, and to struggle through frequent and severe
examinations to remain officers, for the pay they receive. A
lieutenant receives for the first three years $300 a year, from the
fourth to the sixth year $425, from the seventh to the ninth year
$495, from the tenth to the twelfth year $550, and after the twelfth
year $600 a year. A captain receives from the first to the fourth year
$850, from the fifth to the eighth year $1,150, and the ninth year and
after $1,275 a year. Of one hundred officers who join, only an average
of eight ever attain to the command of a regiment. In Bavaria and
Wuertemberg, promotion is quicker by from one to three years than in
Prussia. In Prussia promotion to Oberleutnant averages 10 years, to
captain or Rittmeister 15 years, to major 25 years, to colonel 33
years, and to general 37 years. It would not be altogether inhuman if
these gentlemen occasionally drank a toast to war and pestilence!
A commanding general, or general inspector of cavalry or field
artillery, receives $3,495; a division commander, or inspector of
cavalry, field and heavy artillery, $3,388; a brigade commander,
$2,565; commander of a regiment, or officer of the general staff of
the same rank, $2,193. There are various additions to these sums for
travelling, keep of horses, house-rent, and the like. All soldiers and
officers travel at reduced rates on the railways, and are allowed a
certain amount of luggage free. It is a commentary upon the three
nations, that in Germany the soldier receives a reduced rate when
travelling, in England the golfer pays a reduced rate, and in America,
until lately, the politicians were given free passes. One could almost
produce the three countries from that limited knowledge.
At the cadet school at Gross Lichterfelde there are a thousand pupils.
They are taught riding, swimming, dancing, French, English,
mathematics, and of course receive technical military instruction. The
fee is $200, but for the sons of officers, and according to their
means, the fees are reduced to $112, $75, and even as low as $22, and
in some deserving cases no fee at all is charged.
There is no professional army in Germany, as in England and in
America. Every German who is physically fit must serve practically
from the age of seventeen to forty-five. Those in the infantry serve
two years; those in the cavalry and horse artillery and mounted
rifles, three years. About forty-eight per cent. who are examined are
rejected as unfit, not necessarily because they are incapable of
service, but because the expense of training all is too great. These
men receive 40 pfennigs a day, 27 pfennigs being deducted for their
food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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