The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-14
Union Labor Agitation Bears Fruit With Mill tary Commission-Wo Wom- en Dramatically Oppose Conscription of Connecti- cut Men.
Compulsory Military Train ;. ing of School Boys Also Hotly Opposed By Social ist and Union Labor h. terests at Legislative Hearing.
Especial to The Farmer.)

| Especial to The Farmer.) Hartford, Feb. 14-Organized labor | of Connecticut will remember the l 1917 session of the general assembly | for at least one outstanding event the elimination from the Connecticut statutes of the power of any person but the governor of the state to call out the militia.
 Long has the power to do this been vested in mayors of cities, although 1 rarely has it been exercised. But with the enactment of the new militia bill of Connecticut the power will be vested solely in the governor. Union labor has viewed the Ma tional guard of the state too long~as a | manufacturers guard instead of a patriotic organization. And yesterday spokesmen of labor declared that the step was one we'll calculated to in- spire loyal recruits to the National Guard, for it would tend tS remove the suspicion that the National Guard ism aintained to aid big business in labor troubles rather than to uphold the honor of the nation. N This developed at a hearing before
 
 the general assembly, yesterday, a hearing not devoid of dramatic mo- ments. The elimination. of this phase of the proposed bill, which in effect will do away with the existing powers of city or town executives over the militia was brought about by earnest agitation among the labor unions, whose efforts were seconded, by the Socialist party of the state.
 Gov. Holcombs military commis- sion, named to, draft the new mili- tary law, that the state regulations may conform to those of the national, government, voluntarily deleted the objectionable paragraph. Other changes in the original construction of the proposed bill, announced yes- terday included the dropping of the minimum strength provision, set forth as $500 men, and the substitution of wording to the effect that the nin1- mum strength shall be not less than is required by the laws of the United States. Then the commission decid- ed to revise the conscription or draft feature of the bill so that of the strength of the militia, in peace time, should fall below the minimum es- tablished, the governor may draft only from unmarried males between IS and 25\years of, age, residing with in the town of the undernamed com pany, or adjacent towns.
 The commission frankly explained the bill as calling for compulsory military training in a very modified form. As previously detailed in The Farmer, the bill makes every able bodied male in the state, from IS to AS, whether citizen or a person having merely expressed his inten- tion of becoming a citizen, liable to military service. The draft, if there should be need for one, would be accomplished after the manner of selecting jurors.
 Incorporated in the proposed measure is a section prepared by Senator Hemenway of Hartford, and given to the committee. yesterday which creates board comprising the governor, secrenry of state. treasur- CT and comptroller, to adjust remu- neration for dependents. The board is authorized to give to wives of sol diers,s up to $20 a month, and to children, up to $6 month, with the restriction that the amount paid to the dependents of any one soldier shall not exceed $50. Senator Hem enways' purpose is to provide an au- tomatic means whereby the depen- dent family of soldier is not placed in the light of seeking charity, but is given the compensation to which it is justly entitled for the absence of the brea dwinner.
 niCouCci0n nf "a an academic form, but when consid- eration was given to bills calling for compulsory military training in schools, there were plenty of stirring moments There are several of these bills in the legislative grist. Two are before the committee on educa- ton, one prepared by Senator Steckels, of Norfolk, one by Repre- sentative Hammersley, of Hartford A third, which now is before the mill itary committee, was prepared by Major Ives, of. the governors military commission, and introduced at his request by Representative Taylor, Major IveI fellow townsman in Dan bury.
 The Ives bill provides that all boys above 16, in schools and colleges, AhuSt udNCt oG PdAI OA IuCAI CuIIACu- lum, at least three hours a week of military training. Exemption is made in case of objection from con- scientious scruples. The penalties provided for non-observance Of the proposed law would be the withhold ing of the diploma of the youth, and the denial of state aid to the educa- tional institution. The training would be supervised by a commission comprising the adjutant general, a member of the state board of educa- ton, and a third member appointed by the governor.
 The state Socialist organization was we'll represented at the hearing, and spokesmen' for the Socialists, includ- ing George Spiess, Jr.. Martin Plum kett of Wallingford, eloquently op- posed the bill, OH principle. The So- cialist view is that military training in schools distorts the impressionable mind of youh with spirit of militar- ism, which, it is claimed, does not make for good citizenship.
 Mrs. David Caplin of Hartford, a Socialist and an advocate of equal suffrage, voiced 8 protest, as for eign born mother, from a country where militarism is glorified."
 Give LIS mothers chance to vote,' she said with dramatic earnestness.