The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-25
WAR ECHOES

New York World: The refusal of the British government to resort to conscrip- ton is based on Lord Kitchener's state ment that he is gratified with the nations response to his appeal for volunteers II is possible also that the experience of the United States in civil war days helped along the conclusion.
 Our draft, beginning in 1863, was a mix ture of conscription and taxation which probably did more harm than good The same energy devoted to enlistment would have produced better results, brought bet ter men to the ranks and prevented much injustice and i'll feeling Men drafted were permitted to hire substitutes or es- cape service by money payments. In this way the system bore with special hard ship upon the poor.
 The total number of men drafted by the nation during the civil war was 2oe. .67S. Of these, S6,24 paid communication. 736O7 hired substitutes and only 43,347 were act ually held to service. Great Britain has resorted to extraordinary measures te raise it's volunteer army, and if the or ganization can be maintained on that basis the result, honorable alike to people and government, will do much to strengthen in other nations opposition to conscrption except as a last resort.
 St. Louis Post-Dispatch At Sunday S meeting of the American Neutrality league, former Congressman Bartholdt pleading for an embargo on war muni- tions. said:
 The only argument ever made in this country against the embargo in arms is that 1t would be an unneutral act But how can it be unneutral to prohibit an un- neutral act? Italy, Sweden, Holland, Nor way, Denmark and Switzerland have pro- hibited the sale of munitions to the fight Ing powers. All of these countries are poor alongside the great United States yet they openly declare against it. while we grab profit wrung from the tears of widows and orphans"
 The evident intent of MT. Bartholdt was to have his hearers believe that all the neutral nations, except the United States have prohibited the sale of arms and am intuition to the belligerents for the sake of humanity and neutrality. The United States alone refuses it on account of greed.
 From higher pro- German authority than MT. Bartholdt we have wholly differ ent reasons for the embargo in arms de- clared by other neutral nations This au- thority is no less than the German gov ernment itself speaking through Ambas- sador von Bernstorff. In- his note to the United States for which the German gov ernment has assumed responsibility, Won Bernstorff. on this very point. says Conditions in the present war are diff ferent from those in any former wars For this reason it is not justified to point at the fact that perhaps in former wars Germany furnished belligerents with wal material Because in those former cases the question was not whether any war material was to be furnished to the bel ligerents, but merely which one of the i competing countries would furnish it: in the present war, with the exception of the United States, all the countries capable l of a noteworthy production of war ma terial are either at war themselves or 1 completing their armaments and have ac- | cordingly prohibited the exportation oi war material. Therefore, the United | States of America is the only country in | position to export war material" I MT. Bartholdt should take a lesson ir 1 honesty from his German friends at home His sympathetic zeal for his fatherland may be excusable, but deception is unpar- 1 donablc He ought to refrain from mis- leading the people who look to him fol light and guidance