Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1917 — RAISING AN ARMY. [ARTICLE]

RAISING AN ARMY.

As an emergency measure designed to raise an army in this emergency, it is hard to see, how the plan of the secretary of war could be improved upon. Its provisions roughly are: 1. To raise the regular army and the national guard to war strength and equipment by the volunteer system immediately—restricting the recruits to those between the ages of 18 and 40—and, voluntaryism failing, to recruit these armies by selective draft. 2. To raise and equip succeeding armies of 500,000 by selective draft. Our problem this moment is to get an army by means. The voluntary system is unfair in the extreme, but it is the only system we are organized for today. Draft means registration and registration takes time. Volunteers can go into training at once. That is -what the nation is The volunteer army is the best army we can get under the circumstances for relatively immediate use. It is organized. Our draft army is not organized. But the draft army will be the better of*, the two when it has been organized. The simple question of ages will determine that. Under the volunteer system we have an army of all ages, from 18 to 40. Their capabilities are different. They require different discipline and diqerent training. But undesirable 'as the volunteer system ds, it is the only way open to us, thanks to our neglect of national defense, until we can get the more ideal way established. We have the consolation that it is going to be established as rapidly as it can be—if this bill passes. * For without the draft there will be slacker individual's and slacker states. This country cannot in a time like this carry the weight of slackers. It must have, if it hones for victory and not useless futile bloodshed, an army selected by fitness and ■ not one selected by the dictates of the individual conscience. It cannot 'have the laborer go forth to fight while the dancing man stays home and dances. The first duty of congress is to pass the bill offered by the war department. It will then be time to consider the less pressing problem of providing the equitable system of universal compulsory training and service as a means of permanent defense.