The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-02-17
NATION SEEKS
TO PLACE TAX
ON BUSINESS
FOR DEFENSE
Recruiting Officers Encount-
er Problem in Getting Suf-
ficient Soldiers to Fill
Ranks of Army.
COMS7oCK GIVES VIEW
By w. r. POUNDSTONE.

"A brief year ago Congress
passed what is known as the
army reorganization law. The
cost of this and other defense
measures has been so great that
Congress is now prepared to i'm
pose a most unjust tax upon the
corporate interests of the United
States, as though these interests
were the only beneficiaries of So
called preparedness"
But has congress really pro-
vided adequate national defense
by it's army reorganization and
its appropriations for enlarging
the navy?
Nation Is Better Prepared.
It is the unanimous opinion of those
who have studied the question that the
United States today is now better pre-
pared to defend itself than it was a
year ago. It has been impossible to
secure even one-third of the required
number Of recruits to bring the regular
army up to it's authorized strength
under the provisions Of the new law
The plan provided for federalizing the
national guard has proved tragic fail
ure.
The navy increase law authorized
the construction Of 1877 new ships Of
all classes during four year period
but not keel Of one of these ships
has been laid down as yet
And for nearly three years a world
war has been raging with excellent
prospects for the United States soon
being forced into it.
Congress Not to Blame.
For the defenseess condition the
republic today finds itself in as tho
war god beckons us to Armageddon,
congress Is not entirely to blame
Tho American people themselves arc
equally to blame. With shocking in
difference they have countenanced the
actions OF their Finly Grays in con-
gress playing pork politics while the
world burned.
The crisis is now here and it must
be met The nation must now proper
ly prepare for it's own defense, and
the first move IN this direction must
be toward compulsory military service.
This is provided in the Chamberlain
bill now pending in the United States
senate All Wayne county people who
s~k4
heart should Immediately urge of the
Indiana congressional delegation to
support this measure.
What Comstock Says
CAPTAIN Paul Comstock OF this city
has contributed TO The Palladium the
following excellent discussion Of COM
pulsory service:
AS believer in compulsory univers
al military training. ii is not only
difficult hut impossible for me to ac-
cord to those opposed the title Of
"pacifist." or to follow the logic of
their opposition. .........
am not willing to concede that
those who are against compulsory
training are any more peacefully In
clined than myself, or that they have
a monopoly on peaceful desires. We
all want peace, meaning not only ma
terial peace, but the National con-
science must be at peace with itself,
or we fail.
Calls Them Plain Antis.
Why clothc them with a beatific
appel!ation OF their own choosing with
which they seek to give JUNCTION to an
otherwise commonplace anti-attitude
to vital proposition-let us call them
antis-the other has no part in the
question Of training or no training.
II ia the American idea that uni
versal scholastic education is the fund
amental principle Of useful living. BY
this general education Of our youth we
expect to prepare them for the ex-
periences which their generation must
meet, and meet to their credit. II prop
erly prepared in this way. the individ.
ual Is presumed to maintain himself
along the best lines Of development
and progress, culture. II you please,
contributing to his own and to the vel
fare Of his dependents and Of his fel-
low members OF society.
Although our National life has not
been long. few generations have es-
capped some form OF military enter
prise. In being unprepared each Of
these campaigns has been most costly
than II should. IN lives, in happiness
and material wealth.
Expect to Bear Arms.
Who supposes we will not again be
bearing arms as people in defense
OF some principle. right. or OF our ter.
Yitory itself.
Was II Bernhafdi's idea, no doubt |
long since abandoned, that in the con. |
duct Of the ideal war only the fighting |
forces should know OF its existence.
The civil population should go about |
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