Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1916 — College Trained Men Should Not Be Asked to Bear Brunt of War [ARTICLE]

College Trained Men Should Not Be Asked to Bear Brunt of War

By Rev CHARLES A. RICHMOND,

President erf Union College

SO far as military training in colb ges is a part of the general plan for the training of youth for national defense, I should favor it, but if it means that the choicest of our voung men shall receive such training as well put them in the first line not only of defense, but of sacrifice, and allow the worthless slacker, ON THE PLEA OF LACK OF TRAINING, TO DODGE HIS RESPONSIBILITY, IT SEEMS TO ME A .MONSTROUS PROPOSITION. Consider, then, the value of these men to the counter. The one class has been accumulating value of th- most precious kind. Their minds have been disciplined. They have been trained in self control, in judg■ment am! in the essentials of patriotism. Many of them have come from this same laboring class, but they arc now different. Ther have acquired a new value. Some of them have learned the principles of engineering, of electrical and chemical science < : ol sanitation. Some of them qualified to give instruction or to write or speak in the service of the nation. R R R ALL OF THEM ARE MEN OF SUPERIOR QUALITY. IT WOULD TAKE YEARS TO REPLACE SUCH MEN. This implies no slur upon the loyalty or the real value of the unskilled workmen of this nation. We could not exist without them, but they should, at least take an equal chance. Tim economic absurditv of the proposition to sacrifice first the educated men seems to me self evident.