Weekly journal-miner., 1917-05-02

has been now practically stopped, and
 the private soldier is now receiving q
 great deal more consideration than
 he has, heretofore. The result is
 gratifying, for the soldier, feeling that
 he really is somebody, has taken a
 considerable brace. His morals, as
 well as his morale, have been raised
 to a great extent The sooner the
 people of the United States look upon
 the army as the people of European
 nations do, just so much sooner will
 we have an army that will be com
 potent, in regard 10 both strength and efficiency.
 For a few minutes, let Us now con
 slider the methods Of raising an cfici- cnt army. There are only two sys-
 tems which now confront us,- the
 volunteer system and the selective draft. Major General Upton's treatise
 on the military policy of the United
 States shows decisively that the vol
 unteer system has always been in the
 past, a decided failure. Of course there arc numerous arguments in ia vor of the volunteer system, ono ot which is, that 10000 men with pa
 triotic spirit in their breast, who offer their services voluntarily, are worth l 30.OO0 men who have to be drafted. The theory being that the man who wants to fight will fight better than the man who does not care so much about it. Another argument IS that drafting is undemocratic. It has been said that this sudden and insistent outcry for compulsion is a demand that we put limitations upon our de- mocracy, and advertisement of lack of 1 faith in the common people, false confession that we have been unable to make our government such as to command unhcsitating allegiance. But think, is this true? Under the volun- tary system in time of war the ser viccablc manhood of the country IS divided into two parts,-thcy arc the l patriotic young men who volunteer to 90 to the front, and if need be, die, in | order that the nation may live, and | there are the slackors who arc per fectly willing to sacrifice the other | fellows on the altar of patriotism. That IS not a democratic arrangement. A democracy which offers equality of opportunity has a right toeXact, in re- turn, an equality of service. If we arc going to raise an army for any pur pose, let us go about it in a system atic and efficient way. Let us profit ] by the lessons of the European war, the experiences of Great Britain, and the emergency in which this great country now finds itself. It seems to me that there should be no question about the matter.
 l believe that the American people should approve of the compulsory ser vice bill as best adapted to our immc- diatc needs and to the requirements of wise, permanent, military policy. The only possible out in this case brings us bang up against, and face tc face, with the sclcctivc draft method. In the old days the man most de-
 sired for military service was the great, large, husky man, who could shoot straight and put three ordinary men out of business with his bayonct at the same time. Individualism play ed the greatest part. This Is the greatest trouble with our people and soldiers today. They think that one | American is worth ten Mexicans, and so he is, in most all cases. You hear people saying every day: "Oh pshaw. One American soldier can lick ten McNicans," but the Mexican bullet will kill just as surely and just as quickly as the American bullet. The. spirit, of course, Is a wonderful thing. The spirit of Buckley O'Ncill at San, tiago when he said, "Thc Spanish bull let is not nodded that can kill me, " has put the United States where it Is today. The day of the individual sol dicr has passed. Today the man most desired for military service is the man who can undergo and absorb such a thorough training that he is trans | formed into a human machine, and in time become part oi the great ma chine which, when the throttle is opened, works as one unit Team work, efficiency, rcsults-thosc arc the war cries of the modern army. The most important of these is efficiency. Every officer is rccHoncd by his cfli- cicncy record, which is always on hlc in the Adjutant Generals office. II Is | pounded into every one, from the lowest ranking private to the highest