Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1917 — CONSCRIPTION PLAN IS MISUNDERSTOOD [ARTICLE]

CONSCRIPTION PLAN IS MISUNDERSTOOD

PERSONS CALLING FOR VOLUNTEER SYSTEM ALONE MIGHT SEE DIFFERENTLY AFTER INVESTIGATION. CONFUSION IN CONGRESS Administration Wishes to Give Chance to More Than -500,000 Men to Volunteer. WASHINGTON. A misapprehension of ihe intents and purposes of the government in raising its army of more than 1,000;000 men seems to be responsible for a sentiment in the congress that is decidedly antagonistic to' the administration plans. This misapprehehsipn is as widespread in Indiana as in any other state in the Union and is largely responsible for the uncertain attitude of the "Indiana delegation toward the raising of the new army. For the benefit of the hundreds of persons in Indiana —some of them meh of " the highest intelligence and who follow closely affairs in Washington—who have been writing numerous letters to the Indiana, congressmen urging that a chance ought to be given patriotic men to volunteer for service before they are drafted, the plan of the administration for the raising of its army is herewith set out: ;.; . The government proposes to permit 517,000 patriots to come forward and enlist. The men will fill up the regular army and the national guard, but they will enlist for the period of the war only, and thus will not in effect be enlisting in the regular army or the national guard.

Volunteers Come First. While this volunteering is going on, the government proposes to begin the registration of all-men between nineteen and twenty-five, on the basis that each of them is equally responsible for service to his nation. When the seven or eight million men in this class are sorted out—those being physically incapable of service, those having dependents and those employed in necessary industries being eliminated—the government will select 500,000 of the remaining two or three million who will tnake the first army under the principle of universal obligation to military service. All this will take some time. In the meanwhile the government proposes to work night and day to get in shape the regular army and the national guard, augmented by as many recruits as volunteer for service. While many advocates of the volunteer-sys-tem are saying that 517,000 recruits can be. obtained in fifteen days, army officers doubt whether they ever will be obtained. At any rate, the volunteer system is to have a thorough tryout. With a thorough tryout it may prove as offensive to those who have been shouting that the volunteer system isuest, despite the word of experts the world over that the volunteer system is as antiquated as the musket.

Second 500.000 Men. Even if the United States should get- the 517,000 1 volunteers that it j needs to fill up the regular army ami' national guard, it will have to have i immediately another . 50.0,000- men to 1 make tip the balance of the army of • more than a million men. If the i government should wait for I,'Ue.nfp volunteers. as. some Indiana people; would have it do, then it ■: “ m ' train and equip an army in anything short of five years: ; . ' . The military affairs committee of the, house, composed in large j rt of pa<<-..st-s end persons Out of sympathy .with, the war deparimen*, has repeatedly p< rmi.it ed the injures-ion to gain ground that under tl/e war dep. rtment plan there is no room for the volunteer system. On the contrary,, the war' department has made full provisions ffdr this system in depend-, ing on it to fill up the regular army and national guard. Fortunately, however, the organization of the new army is not entirely dependent on getting all of these 517,<>00 men. for if it were the United States might never get an army.. Those persons in Indiana who have been bombarding their > congressmen with letters and telegrams, urging them to vote against a conscription bill, would do well to investigate, the war department plans. In nine cases out of ten a perusal of the communications sent by these persons shows that they are unfamiliar with the plan that is proposed. That is why they are against it. Those few who dp know definitely what is proposed are for the war department plan. It must even be said that there are a number in the Indiana delegation in Washington who do not themselves understand the plan proposed. Agitated and disconcerted by the many letters from home, they are declaring that they are here to represent their districts and vote for what their people desire, without ever once stopping to think that the people who are communicating wijh them might be on the other side when they are better informed. Another hard class that the war department is having to deal with is the class which wishes to permit every Tom, Bick and Harry in the United States to form a regiment, or a company, or a division, on, what not. This is simple to explain, but hard to defeat. In every case, Tom. Bick and Harry wish to be elected to command the units they are raising. It is easy to see what this would lead to if the war department approved it.. The government would find that it had an army like a mushroom composed of a legion of poorly organized, poorly officered' and halfstrength units which compose little short of a mob.—lndiananolio