Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-16
OBLIGATIONS Of CITIZENSHIP
President Reeves Addresses
the u. A. X.
supreme Sacrifice II the Giving Of
Ones Life In Defence Of Ones
COuntry-Wars Yet to
Come.

wich University. delivered an eloquent
and scholarly address before the mem
bers of the Green Mountain Chapter Of
the Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion Monday afternoon at the home of
Mrs. u. A.. L.oomis on North Union street
on "The Obligations of Citizenship In
the course of his address. President
Reeves said that the greatest obligation
resting upon n citizen OF the United
States is to support the men who are re-
sponsible for the solution Of our State and
national problems and not to think that
his duty ends with the casting of his
ballot. lie also said that citizens should
be prepared to make the supreme sacri-
fee Of giving their lives in defense of the
freedom of their country. and that the
three ways of training young men to he
prepared to make this sacrifice was
through the standing army, the national
guard and the schools and colleges. Be-
cause of his position as a retired officer OF
the United States army, President Reeves
avoided remarking upon any of the poll
cies of preparedness which are to-day be-
fore the public and did not touch upon
the present European war.
In his opening remarks. President
~ - Nv ''i''' "a '"N
ship, which he said was an obligation to
support the government under which tho
citizen lives and that governments, in the
final analysis, locally. nationally and in
ternationally. We're simply for the re-
straint OF the bad and the protection OF
the good. He predicted the growth of tn.
form of government in which the people
rule. no matter what changes happen in
tho v,,,IJ Tbn liffipD1ty nf 1oHpinu tha
citizens place in the republic becomes
greater. declared the speaker. according
to the growth of tho mass of people. as it
becomes increasingly difficult to establish
and support policies under these condi-
lions. and to reconcile the various diver
sified ideas to meet the demands of the
greatest good for the greatest number of
citizens.
The first obligation of a citizen is to
choose the proper man to represent him
and then to support the man VINO is
elected to represent him. even though
he is not the man of his choice. Presi-
dent Reeves remarked that ore Of the
country's greatest weaknesses is a lacl,
of supper Of the government, although
the support which the present admins
tration has received in it's various
crises has been a matter for congratu-
lation. One of the greatest things for
patriotic organizations to accomplish is
to educate people to support the major
fly and also to realize that their obli-
cations as citizens do not end with the
casting of their ballots.
The question of national policies was
then taken up. the speaker saying that
he believed the time was at hand when
the people of the country must make
UP their minds whether or not to sup
port the Monroe Doctrine and that in
his opini's the abandoning OF it would
mean the downfall of our nationalism.
President Reeves also said that the re-
suit Of 40 years Of vacillating military
policy is a demand for preparedness. but
with an alarming diversity of opinion
as to how that preparedness should be
secured. The time has arrived. how
ever, when some fixed military policy
will be installed. but as to what that
policy would be he could not say.
In his consideration of the military
obligations of a citizen. President Reeves
said that he did not believe that wars
We're a thing of the past. although he
did believe that every citizen was obli-
gated to try to find a way of settling
disputes without war and that he felt
that a great reward awaited the man
who should do this. He also declared
that the average citizen does not appre-
ciate the government under which he
lives, since he might easily spend his
life without coming in direct contact
with it. and Is far too selfish in the mat
ter of making sacrifices for It. He did
not favor the plan of an international
army for peace purposes. as he did not
think that men devoid of patriotism could
be secured for such an army and that
when they We're ordered to make war
against their own country, there would
be a fine fight within the international
army itself,
The three methods of educating a cit;-
zen to support the government to-day
and to prepare him to make the supreme
sacrifice for it We're then outlined,
namely. service in the standing army,
the national guard and military service
in schools and colleges. The people to-
day are realizing the difference between
the unframed man and the trained SOL
dier. and do not favor the idea of hay
ing their young men led like lambs to
the slaughter and used simply as fod-
der for cannon. President Reeves said
that war to-day is the most scientific
and highly specialized OF all matters
Of human endeavor, and tina while we
might raise a million men for army serv-
ice in one day, VIC could not train one
million soldiers in a year. He then
brought his interesting address to a
close with a brief sketch of Norwich
University, which broke all records for
military schools in furnishing officers
the Federal Army during the Civil
War.