New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-24
ADemocracy Under Uniuersal Training
By Harry c. Douglas
Formerly Editor Of The Sydney Times

.rr,,, medical service and so on. EXemp-
,;ors are allowed to aliens and non-Euro-
means members and officials of the federal
and state governments, judges and ponce
magistrates, clergymen and theological stu
dents police and prison officials, lighthouse
keepers medical men-with the proviso tnaV
doctors non-Europeans and CONSCIENTIOUS
directors must render non-combatant ser
vice Employers, parents and guardians are
subject to heavy penalties for any lnterter-
ence with the training Of employees, sons or
wards Fine or detention with enforced
service awaits those who avoid the respoh-
sibility on their own account NO CITIZEN
soldier can get his final discharge unless he
is certified efficient. Trainees are paid 30
cents a day for their first year and 81
dav for each year thereafter. Higher ranks,
Of course, draw higher rates; colonel gets
about s1l25 a day.
The garrisons Of forts and defended
norts. three batteries of field artillery an
engineer corps and small dctachments OF
army service. medical. veterinary and ORD
nance CORPS are permanent forces; each, IN
its own arm. forms nucleus around when
the citizen forces centre for instruction and
administration Officers who have retired
after taking their training and rifle CLUB
members are classed as reserves. There are
1143 rife clubs in Australia, with a mem
bership-before the war-of 1921.
No Service Overseas
Reserves cannot be called out for service
abroad; they are defence forces pure and
simple. Every one OF the 100000 Austria
lians serving overseas in this war IS vol
unteer. Compulsory national service does
not compel any man to enlist for fighting
outside the country. 1t cannot be urged that
the system has turned Australia into mill
taristic community. When the Premier, W.
NJ Hughes, and some Of his supporters sub
mitted referendum 10 the people few
months ago, asking whether the nation want
cd CONSUMPTION or not, the answer was an
overwhelming mo" Australia will subscribe
TO the empires needs voluntarily, or she
will not subscribe at all. There was move
afoot so to extend compulsory service as TO
force service abroad; its advocates urged
that since Australia really being de-
Tended wherever the battle lines of the Al
lies stretched. then the proper place Tor
the defence forces was in those battle INES
With one eye on the ruling labor unions
and the other upon Asia, the nation put
drags on the movement before it got we'll
under way.
Organization of the system is territorial.
The areas are so drafted as to supply equal
numbers of males of military age, each area
furnishing an infantry battalion and pro-
portion of other troops. For administrative
purposes areas are subdiyided into two or
three training districts. As far possible.
districts have their special qualifications
considered For instance, from the vast
plains where the sheep and cattle industries
are carried on come the bulk of the bush
brigades." the men of the light horse and
field artillery. Coast areas supply men for
garrison artillery and so on.
In an official statement issued in its year
book for 1915 the government stated that the
principal opposition to compulsory national
training came from shirkers and those OBJ
iecting to military service on purely con-
scientious or religious grounds. Leading
statesmen of all political views, together
with the majority of the citizens, heartily
favor il. The trainees themselves are en-
thusiastc about their work. The conduct
and bearing of Australian youth have I'M
proved markedly under the system.
After exhaustive inquiries had been made
in 1914. the police authorities in all the
states agreed that the behavior of young
men was vastly better. They said that the
benefits were very definite, mentally and
morally no less than physically, adding that
"tne principal effects of a beneficial nature
are increased self-respect, diminution of
juvenile cigarette smoking and 'larrikinism
(the Australian term for the gangsters law
lessness), and generally sense Of respon-
siblity and desire TO become good citizens"