The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-03-29

But we are told, war cnnobes the nation
LDd the Britlsh wars that drew 1000 soidlets
from tho Isle of Skye cnnoblc tho landlords
VINO drove from their lands the very families
mat bred these men? Did the heroisrn OF the
Grants from Strathspcy and Glenurquhart, and
me deathlcss devotion of the clRnsmen from
klidonan and hundred other glcns. who saved
The honor OF the race al Lucknow and Gavin
pore-did TINT awful slaughter cnnoble the
dukes and carls and lords who during that
immortal sacrifice Of the sons drove tho fathers
from tho crafts and burned the sheilugs where
they born?'
BF n strange confusion OF cause md effect It
mas been assumed in some quarters that the
waste Of virility from war could be repaired
ny universal military drill Assuming that such
disclpline gives Increased physical and mental
TlSor. That fact would not appear in hcredity-
no training raise a man above his posi-
bi!ities. and 1t is the possibilities only that his
children inherit
The events in mans life leave no trace in
real heredity, and none in transmission except
as the events may impair the vigor Of germ
cells. Moreover. we who believe in the value
OF sound physical training To the growing youth
cannot admit that barrack life comes under this
mead or that it is in any important degree II
substitute for II. The drill assigned 10 the
soldier comes too late in life To be of much
value 1t is narrow and limited IN kind. with
sinister purpose behind it. Ii is under in.
competent teachers to whom physical training
Is only an incident. not n mems nor end.
The camp is always school OF idlencss, and
usually OF Vice also. II interfcres with the in
dustrial or professional training which should
Moreover. IL compulsory. all these evils are in.
tcnsified. There is value in drill and in dis
ciplnc. When these voluntarily assumed
they have large possibilities But compulsory
military service bears the same relation to tho
drill In competent schools that stocking a fur
mace bears TO building ones camp fire in the
forest
In any event this whole matter belongs
among the problems of education and not ut all
10 those of euscnics. with which lies the preser.
Vation or raccstrength. BY the law OF prob
vol hyn ON aIn o,t,
mat there will appear in each generation the
same number OF potential poets, artists, in
Ventors patriots. athletes. rogues, superior and
inferior men of each degree.
This law. however involves the continuity OF
paternity. that in each generation practically
equal percentage of men of superior mentality
Will survive to take the responsibilities of pa.
renthood. Otherwise this law becomes subject
TO the action of another law, that Of reversed
seiect1on or the biological law Of diminishing
returns as Quceet himself indicated. In
other words. breeding from an inferior stock
brings race degeneration. and such breeding ia
the sole agency Of such degeneration, as Sc
lection. natural or artificial. along one line or
another is the sole agency for race progress
And all laws Of probabilities and averages are
subject to a still higher law, the primal law Of
biology. which no cross-current OF life can
check or modify: Like the seed is The harvest:
almost ahke but never quite. but on the whole
ia ,w"ys loio~ing the lead There is In fact no
raw save this: Under like conditions heredity
runs alike almost alike. but with like yaria
tions. When conditions change so change the
what shall VIC say of America with her
years OF peace. and her two great civil wars
me struggle OF children with their parents. of
brothers with brothers?
1t may be that war is sometimes justified Tn
is sometimes inevitable whether necessary or
nor. 1T has happened once in our history that
every drop-of blood drawn hv the lash must
be drawn again by thc sword
1t cost us 6500O0 lives Of Young mon to cos
rid of slavery. 7 saw moi lon. aao in MARYLAND
one hundred and fifty acros az these yonns.
men. There some - 0n acres filled wifi,
them on the fields of the South and this MIN
per. almost million North AMI South was tho
best that the nation could bring North and
South alike. the mon were in dead earnest
each believing that his view or state rights and
OF national authority was founded on n solid
rock OF righteousness and fair play North
and South. the nation was Impoverished NV tho
loss. The gaps they left arc filled TO ali AN.
pearance There are relatively few of ms loft
to-day in whose hearts the scars of forty veors
ago are still unhcacd. But n new ceneTotion
has grown OF mon and women born sinco +ho
war They have taken the nations nrob,om.
into their hands; but theirs are hands nnt 60
strong or so clean though the men thot GRO
stood shoulder to shoulder with tho mon +hat
might have been. The men that died IN @thn
weary time" had better stuff in them than the
1ather or the average man Of to-day.
THOSE States which lost most of their s,rnr.s
young blood, as Virginia, louisiana Tho T,eres
iinas, Will not gain the ground they lost M.
FOR centuries. perhaps never. no'