Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-06-05
a. each county will have 2 list OF those
registered In the county.
Msdbury on Conseription.

.
Or. 6. 8. Medbury, pastor Of the
University Place Church OF Christ ana
well known over the state as lectur-
er, discussed at some length the con-
scription law and its meaning in ms
baccalaureate address to the gradual
ing class Of Drake University.
THE present law but provides an
assignment Of willing men, ne
declared. AS the president well says,
1T Is in no sense a CONSUMPTION OF the
unwilling. 1t Is rather selection from
nation which has volunteered In
mass And then he adds In a fine
clear word, 1t is no more choosing
of those who shall march with the
colors than 1t Is selection of those
who shall an equally necessary and
devoted purpose in the industries that
lie behind the battle line s.
LEI am convinced that almost none
Of our people, at least at the first,
caught the thought that is expressed
in this statement Of the president.
People had the idea that those who
We're registering were registering ex-
clusively for the battle front and that
the selection had to doswtth men Sc
lected to carry guns. They forgot that
the. selection involved as clearly and
definitely as the call to arms the set
ting apart OF given life to industries
definitely contrfbutory to the nations
strength in time Of war. The regis
tration of 100000 men between the
ages Of 81 and 31is only the enroll
ment Of mighty patriotic host who
are simply laying their lives upon the
altar Of service for the use of the ma
ton wherever their lives may be
placed
1T is letting the government say IN
view Of our condition, Of body and
mind and of our personal obligations
and of our special training in this or
that or the other phase Of life, just
where we can serve to the utmost. adj
vantage There Is something thrilling
in holding life that has enjoyed the
privileges of our American institutions
subject to the call OF those institutions
in whatever way service of helpful-
ness can best be rendered. If left to
choose individually multitudes Of men
would be misplaced and give their ser
vice where talents and training would
count the very least.
Normal lines of business too, would
be disastrously disturbed. Men needed
in factories and mills and on farms
would go to the front and leave ma
chinery idle and the fields untitled. In
the big enterprises of men all UNDER
stand the play of the selective pro-
cess. The man fitted for a task IS
found for the task Efficiency de-
mands this. When the nation to which
we are all subject and whose life Is
dearer than the life Of any one Of US
or all of us is at stake, certainly the
right should be freely granted for the
government to call us to the place OF
service where we can do the most.
The selective cqnscription law is not
only to raise an army but 1t is to pre-
serve the industrial and commercial
and agricultural activities of the coun-
try upon which the success of the
army must depend
DR.. Medbury declared that it is not
an army that we must shape and train
FOR war hut nation. He declared the
nation needs all men but 1t needs each
man not in the field that VIII most
please him but in the endsavor tnat
will best serve the common good.