The Pensacola journal., 1917-08-19

Vldlng them with sufficient means OF
support during the absence of the men
at the front.
The nation, having been forced to
resort to the draft in order to create
is under a higher obligation to do
these things for its fighting forces
than if volunteer army only was
created. This great and rich Re
public cannot afford to do less, and it
must do what is proposed in spirit |
of gratitude and not as charity. Every |
soldier and sailor who serves his coun-
try in this war will earn everything |
the proposed war insurance bill pro
vides; to be a beneficiary of the pro-
posed law will be badge of honor.
When we draft the wage-earner, |
we call not only him but the entire
family to the flag; the sacrifice en-
tailed is not divisible. The wife and
children, the mother, the father, are
all involved in the sacritlCe-they dl-
rectly share the burden of defense.
They suffer just as much as the sol
dier, but in a different way, and the
nation must generously discharge as a
proud privilege the duty of maintain
ing them until the soldiers and sail
ors return from the war and resume
the responsibility.
We have drawn the sword to vindl-
cate Americas violated rights, to re-
store peace and justice, and to secure
the progress of civilization. We can
not permit our soldiers, while they
hold the front, to be stabbed in the
back by uncertainty as to what is be-
ing done for their loved ones at home.
Our tomOrrows are in their hands
theirs in ours The national con-
science will not permit Americas sol
diers and their dependents to go un-
provided with everything that a just,
generous and noble people can do to
| compensate them for the sufferings
: and sacrifices they make to serve
their country.
Aside from the care and protection
of their dependents while the soldier
is alive, the proposed war insurance
act provides for definite compensa-
! tion for his dependents in case of
| death, for definite and adequate in
! IDENTITIES in case of total or partial
disability, and for re-education of the
manned and disabled man, so that he
may take up a new occupation and
make himself a useful member of So
! ciety, We must restore their efficiency
and adjust their still available facul-
| ties and functions to suitable trades
and vOCations, which the injuries of
| the battlefield. have not wholly des-
troyed. The heavy depletions in man
! power resulting from this conflict
which is without precedent in history
or imagination, will place new and
greater values upon all forms and de
grees of human energy, and demand
as a first duty of intelligent govern
! ment that every remaining useful
sense and limb of the blind and Grip
| pled&shall be reclaimed under the
benevolent processes of education and
reapplied to economic uses for the
benefit of society. The millions VIC
shall be called upon to spend to sup
L port the dependents of the soldiers
while they are in the fighting for
indemnities and for re-education Of
the crippled, are in the last analysis
investments of the best sort; they are
sums of capital advanced by the ma
tion to promote utility, seff-respect
and economic development. More than
all, they are essentially humanitarian
and IN the highest sense a discharge
by the government of an essential
duty to society.
Military service is now obligatory;
those who imperil themselves have nc
election. The insurance companies do
not and cannot permit this fact tc
affect their calculations. They must
| - IL,
mlums SO, high that they are secured
against loss no matter how severe the
rate of mortality may be. Conse-
quently, the very men who are called
into the service because their physical
condition IS of the best and who as
civilians would for that reason be able
to secure the most favorable insur-
ance rate In peace time, are denied as
soldiers the necessary life insurance
to enable them to protect their fami-
lies and dependents. The tremendous
rates charged by private insurance
companies to protect them against the
eXtra-hazardous risks of war put in
surance entirely beyond the reach Of
the Conscripted soldier.
Military necessity has. therefore
subjected the most fit subjects for in
surance to an insurmountable dis
elimination unless the government it
self supplies insurance at cost anC
upon a peace basis. 1t would, in fact
be dastardIy and undemocratic if the
government should penalize the sol
dier who is forced to render the high
est duty of the citizen by its failure
7 to provide war insurance upon peace
terms and at net cost, first, becaus,
the pay of the enlisted men in the
army and navy is less than the wage;
and salaries generally earned in priv
ate life, which reduces their invest
] ing capacity; and, second, because
government insurance is an essential
war and emergency measure, in.
augurated for the specific benefit Of
our military forces, and cannot anc
should not be conducted for profit.
Such overhead charges as agents
commissions, advertising, promotion
local rentals, etc, are eliminated. The
government must assume the cost o.