The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-26

slackers and loafers whom the advoca tes of this bill say they desire to reach, but shoulder to shoulder with free men who
 serve gladly-w wllingly-to fight for the .honor. the safety and the perpetuity of this republic"
 WILSON'S HISTORY QUOTED Representative Byrnes of South Caro-. lima, in opposing conscription, quoted from a history written by President Will
 son, depicting the rioting and bloodshed throughout the country that attended ths draft during the civil war"
 Do you think the spirit of the peo- pie has changed?' he asked Tt has not and when conscription is attempted espe- cially under the infamous and unequal lottery proportion that you have here, you arc gong to inspire more domestic insur- rection and rioting and internal warfare than you imagine"
 Representative Sherley of Kentucky, re- plying to Speaker Clark, read tele- gram Henry Watterson of the Louisville
 Courier-J Journal had sent the speaker, de- claring the volunteer system was a relic 1 of the past as is the stage coach, and ! that his vote against conscripton would I weaken his usefulness to the country. | Sherley declared there was TO attempt. on the part of conscription proponents ] to underestimate the bravery or effect l iveness of the volunteer soldier but that modern scientific warfare made the draft 1 system necessary to obtain the best re- 1 selts-from the whole citizenry. The fact to keep in mind here today.| he said, is that we are spokesman for the nation and not for the individual. 1 The need of the nation and not the wishes of the individual is paramount" Senators Reed. Vardaman and Sherman were the speakers on the Senate side. All three opposed the selectve draft and upheld the volunteer system. Senator
 Reed spoke for nearly four hours and at 1 tackled the bill in almost every detail. | Senator Nardaman said he would never vote for compulslon until he had been shown that the volunteer system will not work. He criticized the pending bill as another exhibition of the tendency to get
 away from the principles of democracy.
 IN SENATE
 Senator Sherman declared that he would not ''abdicate his power for any chief magistrate, cabinet or war college" He said England, for 1900 years had got along and fought her wars success 1 fully without resort to conscription | The Illinois senator said the metro politan newspapers which were largely responsible for bringing on the war had not succeeded very well in bringing in recruits. On April 9. he said, there were
 more recruits in Muncie. Ind. with S5.lDo people than Tn New York With her 6,00D,-
 GOO
 Chairman Chamberlain of the Senate military committee will present his re- quest to fix a time for voting tomorrow and is hopeful it will be agreed to- He said tonight there was no indication that many more long speeches would be made.
 HUDDLESTON READS LIST Members and spectators in the galleries broke into cheers at the outset of debate in the House when Representative Hud- dleston of Alabama, who opposes con- scription, read list of names of men who. he said. favored it. Among them were Henry P. Davidson, Frank A. Van derlip, Frank A. Munsey. Theodore N. Vail, Cornelius Vanderbilt Elihu Root and J. P. Morgan MT. Huddleston also declared that most of the pleas for war and conscripton came from members of such organizations the Harvard, Yale and Union League clubs, and not from the working people.
 Everybody who is familiar with indus trial oppression and reaction in its most vicious form. he said. will recognize
 the men named. They and their asso- ciates are the men who rule the nation.
 They rule it through their newspapers and their wealth.