Now, no article of clothing can cause such acute discomfort and so quickly affect a man’s disposition, and consequently his morale, as an ill-fitting shoe. The Germans were the first to appreciate the importance to an army of caring for the men’s feet, and with their customary thoroughness took steps to prevent foot-trouble from the very beginning of the war. I remember remarking, when I was with the Ninth German Army during the first weeks of the invasion in 1914, that following each regiment of infantry was a huge motor-truck carrying a complete pedicure establishment—a sort of chiropodist’s office on wheels. Whenever a soldier developed a bunion or a corn or an ingrown nail, whenever his boots pinched his toes or chafed his heel, he fell out of the ranks and waited for the pedicure wagon—I don’t remember the German name for it—to come along, climbed up, sat in a chair, and the attending chiropodist tended his feet and, if necessary, issued him another pair of boots. “The feet of the soldiers?” said a German general to whom I mentioned the matter. “They no longer belong to them after the Empire goes to war—they belong to the Emperor. A soldier is no more permitted to abuse his feet than he is to abuse his rifle. They must always be in condition for marching and for fighting the Emperor’s battles.” Profiting by the example of our enemy, we exercised the utmost care in fitting our men with footwear. As the result of examinations conducted at a number of training-camps, it was found that out of nearly 60,000 men examined, slightly more than 71 per cent were wearing shoes which were too long and nearly 10 per cent shoes which were too short, only one man in five having shoes of the proper size. These figures were sufficient to demonstrate to the War Department the necessity for extraordinary care in the fitting of soldiers’ shoes, and led to the establishment at Camp Meigs, D. C., and Jefferson Barracks, Mo., of schools for foot-measuring and shoe-fitting. Two officers from every camp and cantonment in the United States were detailed to take this course of instruction, which lasted five days and consisted of lectures, demonstrations of the various appliances, and practical training, the latter being acquired by each officer actually measuring and fitting a thousand men with army shoes under the direction of competent instructors. * * * * *