Arizona republican., 1917-12-10
COMPULSORY DRAFT
 |S NORMAL METHOD
 IF RAISING ARMIES
rRepubIican A. p. Leased Wirel

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9.--In a brief made public tonight asking the su- preme court to dismiss cases at- tacking the constitutionality of the selective draft law, the government asserts that power conferred upon. congress to declare war carries with it authority to compel military ser- vice either at home or abroad.
 Compulsory draft is declared to have been a normal method of rais- ing armies ever since this govern ment was established, the legality of which has been repeatedly upheld by the courts The situation in Russia is pointed to, without men, tioning the name, as demonstIa- ton that there can with safety be no absolute freedom in civilized so- cieties.
 If the argument against this law upon constitutional grounds be not frivolous" says the brief, then that adjective has lost it's legal signiti cance."
 The cases now before the court in- clude nine appeals from Minnesota, Georgia and Ohio, in which persons were convicted of either failing to register or of attempting to block the operations of the act. Among the cases are those of Emma Gold man and Alexander Berkman, con- victed in New York. Argument on them probably will begin Tuesday.
 Tt is true that the law provides for the restraint of the liberty of the citizen to a certain extent" tue brief sets forth. "Yet to protect most truly the liberties of people who live together in communities. it is plain that some governmental organization and some exercise of governmental powers are necessary. l There IS no absolute freedom in civilized societies.
 Illustrations may be cited with out number to show that in order to protect the liberties of the people as a whole, the individual citizen may incidentally or temporarily be restrained of his liberties. Yet mili- | tary service, cited as an extreme example of restriction of personal | liberty is only temporary incidental | to the security of the citizens as 8 whole, and only so far imposed as | is necessary for the purpose. The | few who are compelled to serve dc so that the many who remain al | home at the present time and the l generations who come in the future may enjoy those blessings of free dom which this government was es- tablished to secure
 The brief characterizes as fun. founded" the contention that com. pulsory military service is contra
 to the spirit of democracy and say. 1nN C.. this country have been infrequent
 "it has been resorted to withou flinching when the emergency arose.
 Replying to the contention tha
 the militia cannot be ordered out b,
 the president or sent abroad for duty
 the government says: Tt has lonj
 been settled under our scheme of con
 stitutional government and the stat
 utes, that the power resides in onl,
 one person to decide when the emerg
 ency arises which justifies the call
 ing out of the militia, that person i the commander-ln-c chief, the president
 It is not even for the governor O
 the state, much less a private militia man to say that the president ha wrongly decided.
 "The president. of course, should b scrupulously careful not to excee
 the bounds of his constitutional auth
 ority. But the matter is solely with
 in his discretion, and from a de
 cision made in exercise thereof, n . appeal lies to the courts. Correc tion for possible abuse is in the powe of impeachment and frequent cleo tions.
 "On the facts in the present case
 moreover, it certainly could not h said that the commander-in-c chief ha
 exercised his discretion unwisely. Evi
 dence to this effect is now not alto
 gether lacking to the public"