Morris tribune., 1917-11-02

] ne erFIpIe PO"er IL RACED IN NaP0-
Icons Hands Forced the Other Ma
tions to Adopt the System-Its Intro
duction Into This Country.
CONSUMPTION originated in France in
1893. At that time the country had
just passed through the long and
bloody war Of the French revolution,
which the mOnarchs of Europe had
der Napoleon, had come forth yictOri-
Gus, but her army was exhausted, and
it was evident that some new system
Of recruiting would ~be necessary, as
volunteer enlistment no longer sut1ced.
1t was then that General Jourdan
brought forth and passed. the law es-
tablishing cOnscription. Since then it
has been the basis Of all French mill
tary legislation and, to a certain ex-
tent, Of that Of all other countries.
1t was through the terrible power Of
cOnScriptiOn that Napoleon was enabled
to carry on the gigantic wars which
characterized his reign and by means
of it, after losing in the SHOWS of Rus
sia the largest army that up till that
time had ever been put into the field,
to reappear a few months later with
| another army almost as large.
Out Of necessity the other nations
were forced to follow Frances exam
pie, and cOnscriptiOn became general.
Under the French regime every citi-
| zen between the ages of twenty and
| twenty-five was liable to service for
| five years. Prussia, however, still fur
| ther developed the powers Of conscrip-
ton by reducing the period of service
| in the ranks and passing her soldiers
as soon as they were sufficiently train
! ed into a reserve force, thus by de-
grees training her whole population
This latter system, which was con-
sidered as one of the most farreaching g
| and important events Of the last cen
| tury, owed it's origin to the conditions
| imposed on Prussia by Napoleon at the
| treaty Of Tilsit whereby Prussia was
restricted to a standing army of $4,000
men. She kept to the letter Of the law
| by maintaining her army at the pre-
scribed number, but her trained citizen
reserve force was limited only by the
population of the country.
The military history Of the United
! States is as remarkable as the rise and
rapid growth of the nation itself. In
1890, as fixed by an act of congress,
the rank and file Of our army amount
ed to 1,210 men, and in 1914 an English
expedition with only $500 men was
able to seize and burn Washington.
Conscription first made its appear
ance here at the time Of the war be-
tween the states. At the beginning OF
the war in 1861 our whole regular force
was but 900 men. At first the north
ern army was increased by volunteer
enlistment, but the unexpected pro
IongatiOn Of the war proved this meth
cd too slow to replenish the waste of
the armies, and in 1868 the govern.
ment resorted to draft.
The first attempt to carry it out me-
with forcible resistance and led to 6
serious riot in the city Of New York
which lasted for several days. All Op
position, however, was put down anC
the draft executed with all possible
forbearance and justice. Exemptions
and substitute purchases were so free
ly given in the north that the draft haC
little effect except as a stimulus tc
the states in bringing to full strength
their quotas Of volunteers by voting
bounties.
In the south, however, conscriptio1
was sweeping from the first, and to
ward the end Of the war it became
omntvorous. Every man between th'
ages Of seventeen and fifty was lie
gally liable to service, the only excuse
being physical incapacity.
The total number of men called un
der arms by the government of thu
United States between April, 1861, anC
April, 1866, amounted to more thar
2,75OOOO, nearly half of this numbe
being raised by conscript1On. If to thi
we add the 100000 men from th'
southern states the total armed force
Of the country at that time amounted
to almost 100000, drawn from pop
, uation of only 32,OOO,O O,OOO.-Philadelpht'
Ledger.