New Britain herald., 1915-10-12
OPPOSES MILITARY
 TRAI.N|INGINSCHOOLS
LOChner IndiCtS Movement Before
 Peace Congress

training in the public schools was sub
 mitted to the International Peace Congress at it's meeting today by Louis F. Lochner, secretary of the Chicago Peace society. He said, in part:
 '"The most stupendous war in his tory, if we are to accept the view most current in America, is being fought in the name of democracy md shadowed by the very militarism "a war to end war is the phrase ',r piled by Ally and Teuton alike-yet within the warning countries democ- racy is being more and more over shadowed by the very militar' sm which each power is seeking to de- stroy in the other. The Allies, to crush German land militarism, are raising the most gigantic armies ever assembled and are superseding civil law by martial law in their respective countries (and martial law is no law at all-only the will of the military officer): The Germans, to destroy British sea militarism, are building so many submarines and battleships that, should they be victorious and smash the English navy, their own marine equipment for war will be quite as much of a menace to the freedom of the seas as they deem Englands to be.
 Philosophy of Force.
 'In other words, each country, in seeking to destroy the military ideal in the other, becomes virtually e IT. quered by that very ideal in the process. More than that. So inter nationalized is human society tuday that wave of reaction sweeping over one part of the human race is bound to touch the whole family. We, too, are in grave danger of becoming con- verts to the philosohpy of force
 'The efforts now under way to es- tablish military training in our public schools are part and parcel of this general swinging back of the pendu- lum to the ideals of a century in which the gun patriots would not have commanded nearly as much notoriety as now. Already the legis- latures of Ohio and Massachusetts have been stampeded into the appoint ment of commissions to consider the advisability of feasibility of intro ducing such military training into the educational system of their common wealths. Members of the board of education of New York City have late ly been repeatedly approached to in- troduce such training. Providence, R. l., has even voted definite budget for military instruction in it's schools, thereby out-Prussianizing Prussia, for even in militaristic Prussia they have not sank to the level of teaching mere children how to kill. A determined effort will be made in other states and communities to secure similar action,
 
 again face forward instead of back ward.
 ConscIiptiOn Question of Time.
 At first it will be a voluntary mat ter for the children. Then it will be extended into the high schools, the colleges and the universities in ever increasing measure. Soon it will ap- pear advisable that young men who are unable to go beyond the grammar school be given the same opportunity for patriotic service that their more fortunate comrades have had at the high school Or college, and working mems and businessmen's military training will be provided Do you not see whither we shall then be drifting, whither, in fact, we are already drift ing. A few legislators controlled by gun makers and munitions manufac- turers, few big papers subsidized Or at least swayed by the same influence, a potential enemy dangled long enough before our eyes-and con- scription is only a question of time.
 Any new governmental policy, es- pecially military one, introduced in one country is bound to be felt the world. We have abundant proof that this is true. When our fleet sailed around the world to show everybody we could lick them to frazzale' 1t became re- sponsible for the inflated naval pro- grams of several South American sis ter republics. Our huge military ap- propriations make similar aPpropria- tions in Japan almost inevitable-and Japan has no money to pay for them; only debt. When the German En- peror decades ago uttered his famous 'Unsere Zukunft liegt au den Wasses) (our future lies on the waters,) he brought about an almost revolution ary re-alignment of the European powers, and soon converted the tra- ditional entity between France and England into friendship. When France two years ago in 'self-defense' against outside threats extended her military conscription period from two to three years, she drew out an instant re- sponse from Germany in that coun- try levied a heavy income tax upon her rich people, so as to swell her de fensive' war chest. When Rpssia showed special signs of activity in the Baltic region the Swedish people i'm plored their king to increase the ar maments of their country And so on. The military program of one country is invariably bound up with that of the whole civilized world.
 Last Ray of Hope Gave.
 Anyone with any imagination whatever can fOresee what would