When the first raw conscript soldiers drifted in last fall at Fort Jackson, S.C., Major General Henry D. Russell, in command of the post, was appalled at the number of them who could neither read nor write. Before long he had on his hands some 600 total illiterates. General Russell got in touch with WPA. Result: at Fort Jackson last week elementary classes, taught by WPA teachers, were going full blast, and an Army education program had spread from coast to coast.
In World War I, 25.3% of the first 1,500,000 U.S. citizens examined for the Army were illiterate. The average soldier...
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