Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1916-01-25
COMPULSORY MILITARY


II we must be prepared to defend
ourselve against foreign aggression
and it appears to great many peo-
pie that Woodrow Wilson's foreign
policy does not leave the country any
other alternative, then let us have
universal military service Let US
imbue every American citizen with
the thought that to be soldier is
an honor and that it is the highest
duty of an American to defend his
country. Let us get away from the
idea, inherited from Old England,
that the defense Of the country can
be left to hirelings. No country is
better protected against aggression
from without and against oppression
from within than the country whose
entire citizenry makes up the army
OF defense Ninety-nine out of every
hundred of the much abused "Hyph-
enated" are in favor of universal
military service, because they know
that military training will make men
with sense of responsibility Of
their boys. and because in republic
nobody Will unnecessarily cry for
war when he knows that It is his
duty to go to the front himself
Writing on the subject of compul-
sorry service Mr.. Bernard II. Ridder
says in last Sundays issue of the
New York Staats Zeitung;
The idea Of compulsory military
service is in no sense incompatible
with democracy. The French Repub-
lie has always entertained and acted
upon It, and France claims our sym
Dathy today chiefly as q SISTER Re
public" We can adopt compulsory
service in this country without dis
advantages, and with many beneficial
results, Il need not be in the form
which 1t has been compelled to take,
under stress of circumstances, in
Germany or France. II may assume
the shape of the milder system OF
Switzerland--bu it must be univer-
sal and il must be compulsory.
Without compulsion we can never
have an army We cannot even keep
our present military establishment
recruited in peace times to its full
strength. What prospect is there
then Of maintaining at its authorized
strength standing or Continental
army OF two hundred or five hun
dred thousand men? Army service
is not attractive to the American
people and If we are to have an ar
my in keeping with the dignity and
puissance of the country we must
attract the American people to It,
This can be done only by compul-
sion. The idea that the state owes
everything to the individual and the
individual nothing TO the state Is the
rottenest stone in the foundation OF
the American political system. 1t is
this stone which underlies the theory
that n few or few score American
citizens are privileged to go when
and where they please to the jeopar-
dization of the peace of the whole
nation. This, then, is the justifca-
ton for compulsion.
The element Of universality justi-
lies itself on other grounds. We ad-
vertise in our recruiting literature
that the army is a good training
school for the citizen. Germany has
shown that the army is. Why, then.
should a few score thousands OF
young Americans be admitted TO the
free tuition OF this school while mil
lions are denied it? If military
training Is an evil, two hundred
thousand Americans are too many to
be picked out to suffer under it, II
il is beneficial. they are too few to
be selected for it's benefits
1t Is beneficial and its benefits
should bc the heritage Of the whole
manhood Of the country. The army
Is the great school Of patriotism
Military ideas have always been
associated with history Soldiers
read and speak and think of the past
rr1n tss4 49, al,
trained to respect and repeat them
Universal military service would do
more to create in the United States
a spirit OF united Americanism than
a million mushroom societies sud-
denly become patriotic for profit.
The great strength which Germany
has discovered in the present war
lies in the unity of the German
people and tnat unity is the first
born Of universal military service.
One cannot but admit the value of
training which has created in Ger
many Q selfrcspect, devotion to the
ideal OF nationality and a complete
unity Of thought and action which
have stood for the last year and a
half rock fast against the assaults Of
half the world
Universal service has eliminated
illiteracy from the male population
OF Germany. II has made the Ger
man nation the most completely pa
tiotic on the face of the earth.
What source of regret that it was
not long ago introduced into the
States Of Massachusetts, and Missis
sippil We should then have escaped.
perhaps, the dangerous Anglicisms
of Senators Lodge and Williams.
There is nc question OF "Prussian
izing the Republic" involved in
adopting the principle Of universal
compulsory service for the American
people. 1t is compatible with the
highest ideals OF democracy II
would make every American part
Of the defensive machinery OF the
country and thereby create in him
new selfrespect 1t would cement
the complex American people into a
solid and unconquerable whole. IT
would make impossible that unlor-
tunate centrifugality from which we
are suffering today.