Government widely advertised for army and navy recruits.16
War is represented only on its defensive, never on its aggressive
side, and the advertisements have never suggested the hardships,
privations, and suffering that are inevitable in all war, nor have the advertisements carried any guarantee that the inducements held out will ever be fulfilled . Unfortunately , the universal fear of incurring the charge ofdisloyalty and of lack of patriotism casts a heavy shadow over the press . Scarcely an indication is given anywhere that the government advertisements for recruits for the regular army and navy are misleading and that that class of advertising is antiquated and far inferior to the commercial
advertising of the day, - antiquated and inferior in view of the campaigns everywhere carried on for honest advertising. War is brutal and a brute remains a brute whether wearing evening
dress, a golf suit, or khaki, but the government advertisement “ all gentlemen seamen and able-bodied landsmen who have a mind to distinguish themselves in the glorious cause of their country, and make their fortunes , an opportunity now offers on board the Ship Ranger . . . where
they will be kindly entertained, and receive the greatest encouragement. . . . Any gentlemen volunteers who have a mind to make an agreable voyage in this pleasant season of the year, may, by entering on board the
above Ship Ranger , meet with every civility they can possibly expect , and for a further encouragement depend on the first opportunity being embraced to reward each one agreable to his merit. ” — In December , 1776 , the Con tinental Congress , " for the Encouragement of those that shall Inlist in the
Continental Army, " had announced by broadside the payment of twenty dollars bounty and a suit of clothes annually to each soldier who should
enlist for a term of three years, and in addition one hundred acres of land to those serving to the end of the war.
A handbill sent among the British troops on Bunker Hill offered “ seven
dollars a month , fresh provisions and in plenty, health, freedom , ease, affluence, and a good farm . " - C . K . Bolton , The Private Soldier under Washington , pp . 46 , 66 , 90 .
Much important information is given throughout the book in regard to the promises held out and the difficulty of fulfilling them . 16 The inducements advertised were : " the chance of a life time to see
the battlefields of France and the Rhine," " healthy out-of-doors life,” the
volunteer “ will have the best physical care with the best food and clothes that money can buy,” “ the army gives you the only real companionship in the world ," " opportunities innumerable for advancement," " free educa tion ," " training in a skilled trade," " good pay and money in the bank,"
" plenty of liberty ,” “ lots of entertainment," " you go to shows, dances, movies , you meet agreeable people in the hostess houses, you get acquainted with nice girls, in fact you have a better time than most civilians," " Men, it's a great life!” — Daily press, June, 1919.
