The Detroit times., 1917-04-18
u Call for Volunteers
Would Spot the towards
and Conservation Will Mott
ponents of conscriptIon :
The New York Sun says Of the OPP

spirlted the courageous, the men who love theil
country and recognize their responsibility 20 II
should an It's armies and face wounds and death
IN order that towards. poItroons. slackers. disaf
fected hyphenates and near traitors may stay
~ home. make money. dominate politics and
criticize the conduct OF the armies hghting In the
field
The advocates Of conscription proceed
In their opposition TO volunteer service
on the theory that it is the pacifsts who
will prove the slackers
Those who advocate volunteer service
and oppose CONSUMPTION maintain in sup
port of their position that call for vol
unteers will prove exactly who the slack
ers are-whether they really are pac-
ifists.
However, the advocates Of conscrip-
ton do not seem to sense the real objec-
ton to consumption by those who OPP
pose it.
The opposition numbers pacifists, of
course, because there are bound 10 be
pacifsts who stand firmly for the fun
damental principles of democracy and
who look upon conscrlption as inconsist-
ent with the very purpose for which the
country proposes to take up arms and
fght--the expansion of democracy.
We are proceeding on the theory that
the Germans who are now giving up their
lives in this tremendous drive of the
Allies, are participating in something
that they are In no way to blame for and
that they would not be participating in
IL at all If they had their own way-lF
THEY HAD THE BENEFITS OF
DEMOCRACY.
We have even speculated in this coun-
try since the war in Europe started on
What the effect would be if it should
avn suddenly upon all of the soldiers
On the respective sides in the war, that
INDIVIDUALLY, AS MEN AND
BROTHERS, THEY HAVE NOIHlNG
AGAINST ONE ANOTHER.
The conclusion We have reaehed-the
conclusion of our presidents, that
the soldiers in. the German lines are
fighting because they are FORCED to
fight; that they are the victims Of autoc-
racy, with nothing whatever to say in
the matter.
They are on the firing line because the
military experts of Germany decreed
they should take the firing line, and we
are not supposed to dissent from the
military experts of this country-we are
not supposed to dissent in a DEMOC-
RACY from the opinion of our military
experts that citizens should be drafted
Immediately and prepared to take the
trenches.
Those who do dissent, The Sun calls
towards, poltroons, slackers and near
traitors"
An officer of the Military Training
Camps Association of the United States,
who, very naturally, favors t't draft,
asked The Times to print what The Sun
had to say about the opponents Of con-
scription and we have printed it.
Now we want to tell the military train
ing camps officers something that The
Sun. in common with ali other conscrip-
tionists. fails to grasp or to consider
when il calls names
Consumption should have no place in
our scheme of mobilization AT THIS
TINE, because TO conscnpt Immediately
is eminently unfair toward the MAN
WHO WANTS TO VOLUNTEER and
meet his obligation to his country AS an
AMERICAN. with his full respect for
American PRINCIPLES preserved.
He can be conscripted any time
lie cannot volunteer once he is con-
scripted
He sbouId no given time 10 docide with