The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1917-07-06

whatever 1t De, De Appealed 20 the
supreme court, in Washington. Let
the attorney general of the United
States ask the supreme court to ad-
vance this case TO the head of the
docket. And let it be understood
that if the decision be in favor Of
the constitutionality of the law, the
penalty would made merely nomin-
al.
"The above broad-guaged method
of procedure would leave no sting,
and upon it all our people could unite
in pushing the war till Prussian au-,
tocracy was forever eliminated.
"And, in the meantime, of course,
preparations for the conduct of the
war would go on just as vigorously
as is now the case.
"If any critic should say that the
the United States Government ought
not to be party to mere moot
case, | answer that no case affecting
the very groundwork of the liberty
and, almost equally, the lives of Hnil-
lions of American citizens can with
propriety be sneered out of court.
No Law Immune to Attack.
"This conscript law is no more
sacred" than is any other law. No
law is immune to attack in the courts.
The supreme court itself has already
said This is a government of law,
not of men, And matters have
come to pretty pas if it be contend
ed that any one of our laws should
be denied construction in our own
courts. And our case is, indeed, des-
perate if we contend that we should
make laws which we are afraid to
test in our own greatest of courts.
Nay, would not such course I'M
balance the very structure of our
institutions?
But before closing, let me show
you that our great Thomas Jeffer-
son, the founder of the democratic
party, is on record as endorsing sub
stantially the very law which many
of our people are now believing I'M
constitutional, and that he, as presi-
dent, sent an armed force, which
landed in Africa and marched hun
dreds of miles across the continent
and assaulted and took a city and
forced the power with which we were
at war to make peace on our terms.
From the writings of Thomas
Jefferson, Memorial Edition." Wash
ington, D. c. 1904, vol. xiv PIP. 1867,
l quote the following words in a let
ter written by Jefferson to DR..
Thomas Cooper, dated Monticello,
September 10, 1914:
But it is said they (the British)
possess the means of defense, and
that we do not. How So? Are we
not men? Yes; but our men are so
happy at home that they will not hire
themselves to be shot at for a schil-
ling day. Hence, we can have no
standing armies for defense, because
we have no paupers to furnish the
materials. The Greeks and Romans
had no standing armies, yet they. de,
Tended themselves. The Greeks by
their laws and the Romans by the spi-
rlt of their people took care to put
into the hands of their rulers no such
engine of oppression as a standing
| army. Their system was to make
every man a soldier and obIige him
to repair to the standard of his coun-
try whenever that was reared. This
made them invincible; and the same
remedy would make us so. In the
beginning of our government we
We're, willing to introduce the least
coercion possible on the will of the
citizen. Hence a system of military
duty was established too indulgent
for his Incidence. This is the frs,
opportunity we have had for trying
it, and it has completely failed; an
issue forseen by many, and for which
remedies have been proposed. Tha,
of CHASING the militia according to
age and allotting each age to the par.
ticular kind of service to which it was
competent was proposed to congress
in 1905, and subsequently; and on
last trial, was lost, l believe, by 2
single vote only. Had it prevailed
what has now happened would no,
have happened. Instead of burnine
our capitol, we should have possessed
theirs in Montreal and Quebec. We
must now adopt it, and all be safe
We had in the United States in 1905
IN round numbers of free, ablebod.
led men,
10000 of the ages of IS to p
inclusive
100000 of the ages Of % to &c
inclusive
100000 of the ages of 81 70 o.