The Washington herald., 1917-04-20
WILSON OPENS DRIVE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

very clearly set forth in the bill drafted
by the War Department and which so
Earnestly hope the Congress will adopt.
but It is worth while to state the idea
which underlies the bill a little more
fully.
II took occasion the other day in an
address TO the people OF the country TO
point out the many forms OF patriotic
service that were open to them and to
emphasize the fact that the military par.
o. ne service was by no means the only
part, and perhaps. all things considered.
not the most vital part. Our object IS a
mobilization OF all the productive and
active forces OF the nation and their de-
velopment to tho highest point of CO.
operation and efficiency. and the idea Of
the selective draft is that those should
he chosen for service IN the army who
can be most readily spared from the pros
ecution Of the other activities which the
country must engage in and to which
II must devote a great deal OF its best
energies and capacity.
Volunteer Plan Attacked.
The volunteer service does not do
this. When men choose themselves, they
| sometimes choose without due regard to
their other responsibilities. Men may
come from the farms or from the mines
or from the factories or centers OF bust
ness who ought not TO come but ought
to stand back OF the armies In the field
and see that they get everything that
they need and that the people of the
country are sustained in the meantime
THE principle of the selective draft,
in short, has at It's heart this idea, that
! there Is a UNIVERSAL obligation to serve
and that a public authority should choose
those upon whom the obligation OF mill
tary service shall rest, and also in a
| sense choose those who shall do the
rest OF the nations work. The bill n
adopted. will do moro. believe. than
any other single instrumentAlity to Gre
| ate the impression OF universal service
in the army and out of Il, and II
properly administered. will be q great
| source of stimulation
Those who feel that we are turning
| away altogether from the volunteer prin-
ciple seem to forget that some 10000
men will be needed to I'LL the ranks of
the regular army and the National
Guard and that a very great field of
| individual enthusiasm lies there wide
open.
Cordially and sincerely yours,
WOODROW WILSON"
introduced In Senate.
The administrations selective draft
hill, practically as drafted by the General
Staff of the army. was introduced for
mally in the Senate yesterday by Chair
man Chamberlain, of the Committee on
! Military Affairs. The report on the
measure, which was filed at the same
time, contained a lengthy defense of the
principle involved in changing the mill
tary policy of the United States from the
volunteer system to the system Of con-
scription by classes proposed by the Gen
eral Staff and in practice in almost every
other civilized nation of the world Con-
stitudonal authority for the change is set
! forth in the following excerpt from the
Chamberlain report:
"The volunteer method has no funda-
mental legal basis for its existence. The
universal liability to render military ser
vice is based upon the fundamental con-
| cept Of the relation OF a freeman to the
state.
THE mere frequency Of resort to this
Cthe volunteer method of raising forces
which in its origin had nothing to sustain
| 1t but convenience, has resulted in caus-
ing US in some degree to forget the fun
damental fact that every citizen capable
OF bearing arms has the bounden duty to
render military service to the state. And
the same frequency of resort has estab-
lshed the tradition that the volunteer
system is the only system of raising
military forces compatible with the main
tenance Of liberty. On the contrary, it Is
! Incompatible with that right and duty of
equal participation in the burdens and af-
fairs of state which characterizes Ameri-
lean political institutions Fundamentally
considered, therefore, military service is
the highest duty OF the citizen and is in
no sense regarded as voluntary offer