M. P.s, New-Style

Secretary of War Stimson last week ordered the 25,000 Military Police now in service with the Army to be gathered into an independent corps. The Army hoped the members of the new outfit would be mellower than their predecessors in World War I, would behave like disciplinarians rather than martinets.

To the query "Who won the war?" the doughboys of World War I had a hoarsely derisive answer: "The M.P.s!" Given the thankless task of watching over troops on leave, rounding up stragglers during battle, the Military Police got in the soldiers' hair as incessantly as the cootie. And they were about as popular.

The M.P.s of 1941 are more enlightened. For the past ten months at Fort Jay on New York's Governors Island, 700 regulars, 450 draftees have been diligently trained for service in the first battalion (518th) of Military Police to be organized since the last war.

The new-day M.P. will be quite a man. Not necessarily brawny, he will be selected from the Army's two top I.Q. groups.* After thorough grounding in the rudiments of soldiering, he may be assigned to any of several jobs. As a personal representative of the U.S. Government, he has the power when on duty to arrest anybody-- soldier, sailor or civilian -- for cause.

He is expected to use that power warily, being careful to observe the law of the district in which he serves, and to handle drunk and disorderly service men with some degree of tact. In addition to his World War I job of sniffing out spies and saboteurs, he now has to turn out for riot duty and plant protection, which means tossing out defense strikers with neatness and dispatch. He is charged with safeguarding Army property, trained to man age traffic, both civilian and military. To keep him in fettle, he is drilled in wrestling, boxing and jujitsu, is supposed to be as well versed in the amenities as a headwaiter.

In selecting future candidates for the new corps, the Army will give preference to "older and more experienced men." Object: to give the Corps the best and steadiest personnel available, prevent young buckos from misusing M.P. authority.

* Good example of the latest model in M.P.s: Playwright Sidney Kingsley, now at Fort Jay, who stands 5 ft. 6 in., weighs 153 lb.

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