Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-05-04
UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

have no other functions than coming
money, collecting taxes, dredging riv-
ers. building postofhces, and delivering
mail, It may be only just to leave II
to each individual, when the nation IS
In trouble. whether he shall volunteer
for service. .-....
II the government assumes no I'M
portant duties 1t may be only fair to
allow duty to be the choice OF the
citizen. as..r ..-..... .. .as
But II no obligation is imposed
either on the government or on the
citizen in the free will system the
case certainly Is different in universal
service. There an obligation IS I'M
posed upon the citizen. 1t also must
be undertaken by the government.
Service must be reciprocal.
In Great Britain the arlstocrat
knows that he has had the soft side
of life. His nation has provided pleas
ant conditions for him. He was born
to advantages. The cream OF life was
in his bowl. And If nothing else can
be said for him it must be said that
when the time for sacrifices comes he
pays his debt to good fortune. He
offers himself.
The Clyde striker has not been pro-
vided with pleasant conditions. Tp
the extent that they were at all pleas
ant he made them so himself, Oc-
casionally when he attempted, by
force. to adjust them more nearly to
his idea of what they ought to be,
the government interviewed, in the
name of law and by force. to prevent
him from making life pleasanter
Lloyd-George saw that the nation
could not neglect the Clyde worker
and be sound nation. Lloyd-Georse
had studied Germany. Germany had
conscription. 1t demanded the serv-
ices of all citizens as they might be-
needed and 1t trained them to be
useful when they were needed. 1t
also recognized that conscriptjon
would be hateful and the conscripts
not only unwilling but also unhealthy
unless the state gave service back
to them.
Germany tried to make the German
empire worth while to the German clt1-
zen. We see the fact that it succeeded
Here in the United States for loa3
time we were amazed by the Ger
mans furious defamation in behalf
of his kultur. We misunderstood the
word and thought ne was violent
about some product of the universities
or Of erudition. We did not know he
was talking about his state as agercy
for the promotion of German welfare.
We, did not know that he was talking
about applied humanity and that he
was defying the world to produce
system which equalled his for the COM
fort and the good of the people living
under it.
The service the nation gave the citi-
zens produced that emotion and the
services the citizens have given the
nation are written in the record Of the
army's achievements. Hate the Ger
mans all you want to, but admit that
reciprocal service, by the state to the
citizen and by the citizen to the state,
has illustrated it's benefits strikingly.
II by the sweep of magic wand
over this country, from ocean to ocean
and lakes to gulf, the nation could be
brought to one way of thinking-and
that (modestly) our way-here is what
would happen: 49,. "
The class Of 1916, the youth of the
nation, young men of IS or 10 years,
would be regimented. They would be
sent to the barracks, mothers darlings
and all, the rich and the poor. That
q . hideous thought. The young men
Vho will have the privilege of running
the nation would first be taught the
necessity and the beauty of serving
the nation. Their physique would be
improved, their characters bettered,
their minds disciplined, and their
ideals strengthened. Yet conscripts
and barracks make sound that will
curl the hair of the average American
parent.
Each year the youth of the nation
arriving at the prescribed age would
60 to the barracks. Trained manhood
would be passed back into the citizen
ship fitted for the duties of citizenship.
Incidentally there would not be ma
ton in the world, hardly any possible
combination of nations, willing to give
offense to the United States, and we
think we know American character
well enough to know that the Ameri-
can nation, even thus strengthened,
would not give offense to any Our