The Washington times., 1917-04-26
Swagar Sherley

No better man could have been
chosen to reply to Champ Clark's
speech against the selective draft
system than Swagar Sherley of Ken
lucky. He not only replied to the
Speaker, but he answered him. And
the Judgment of the House showed
decisive majority in favor of his
contention by the general applause
which he compelled by the cogency
of his reasoning and the exactness
of his knowledge.
In his long course of service in
the House, Swagar Sherley has taken
the right side of the questions be-
fore that body more consistently and
with better reasons for the faith
that is in him than any of his col
leagues. His intellectual honesty has
never been tainted with partisanship
or demagogism. He is a hard, stu
dent and one reason why he is al
ways heard with acceptability is that
he never speaks except on important
questions and never then unless he
has something to say.
But what makes Sherley really a
national figure is the fact that he
thinks along national lines. He is a
Southern man who is never guilty
of an appeal to sectionalism. Though
sent to Congress as the representa-
tive of a district he is never provin-
cial in thought or in expression. His
partisanship always rises into pa
triotism and his speech yesterday
shows that American patriotism to-
day must be concerned with interna-
tional politics and the world move
ments of this teeming time.
1t was the national note which he
struck so clearly in his speech yes
terday. He undertook to define "the
obligation of both the nation and of
the citizen" He said:
A government must, as a pri-
mary factor, consider its own
preservation. 1t must do those
lIlH6S hCCCbSdIy " NhC " dl
in the quickest possible manner,
though It should SO do them as to
place the burden most equitably
upon the citizenship OF the coun-
.ry.
The citizen, on the other hand,
owes as a duty to give in any de-
gree of property, of comfort, aye.
of life. when the nation may ask.
1t is not volitionaI with him. That
is the basic fact that should un-
derlie this debate. The citizen
has not a right to volunteer. He
has not a right to refuse to serve.
He has a duty to serve as and
how and when his nation COM
rnands, and any other citizenship
is a citizenship that lacks the
very essence of what goes to
make the sovereignty OF a nation.
No amount of argument will
ever convince me that a nation
can last that does not have the
right, and when the occasion
arises exercise that right, to COM
pei of every citizen the doing of
those things that may be neces-
sary for the preservation of the
national life.
These are words Of sense and So
briefly. They constitute a standing
reproach to any Congressional slack.
ers and towards who are more afraid
of losing their seats in Congress
than of Germany's winning this war.
Incidentally, a good many members
of the House yesterday must have
envied Swagar Sherley the combina-
ton that is not always found to-
gether, of a big brain and an ade-
quate gift of expression.
The issue of the debate is no
longer doubtful. The selective draft
systen0 will be adopted by both
House and Senate and the United
States of America will have an army
of which it can be proud, prepared
for any emergency and adequate to
every task.