The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-10-05


opponents, and however vital triumph
may be to us and to mankind. These
persons are entitled to precisely the
respect We give any other persons
whose conscience makes them do what
is bad. We have had in this country
some conscientious polygamists. We
now have some conscientious DIRECTORS
to taking part in this war.
If these men are sincere they VIII
refuse to interfere (for moral suasion
is not in~terference) with a white-slav-
err who runs off with one OF their
daughters or a black-hander who kid
laps and tortures a little child or a
ruffian who slaps the wife or mother
OF one of them in the face. They are
utterly %insincere unless they decline
to take advantage Of police protection
from burglary or highway robbery. OF
course If such a man is really conscien-
tious he cannot profit or allow his
family to profit in any way by the
safety secured to him end them by 9TH
ers, by soldiers, in time Of war, by
judges and policemen in time Of
peace, for the receiver is as bad as
the thief. ! hold that such an atti-
tude is Infamous; aud it is just as
infamous to refuse to serve the coun-
try in arms during this war. If a mans
conscience bids him to act, then his
conscience is q fit subject for the stu
dent or morbid pathology.
Respect tie conscientious ohjec-
tors opinions. but let him aide by
the full consequence Of his opin;.ns.
Universal suffrage a be justified on
~ If it rests on universal service. We
stand against all privilege not based
on the full performance Of duty; and
there is no more contemplate form OF
privilege than the privilege of eAieting
In SNUG. self-righteous, peaceful safety
because other. drawer, more self-sacri-
ficing men give up safety and &C to
war to preserve the nation. If a man
is too conscientious to fight, then the
rest of us ought to be too conscien-
tiols to let him vote in a democratic
which can permanently exist only
II the average nan is willing in the
last resort to fight for it. and die
for 1t.
For Universal Service.
Il wish to see the principle OF uni
versal obligatory military service es-
tablished in this country precisely be.
cause it is the only democratic rrin-
ciple. We arc in the war and we must
do the best We can with the instru.
mcnts that are at hand. Whether or
] have disapproved Of the methods
adopted. when ono they we're adopted
! have loyalty tried to help them work.
! emphatically protest against the
to make permanent provision
by preparedness in advance against
the occurrence of disaster to this
country, and the failure properly to
our army.
What we need is the permanent
establishment in this country o. the
system Of universal obligatory nili-
tary training for all our young men.
and for making officers out of the hest
among these young men. without
the slightest regard to whether they
or their fathers have money or do not
have money.
Under this as a permanent system,
every young nan SO trained-some-
time between the ages say of IS OF 10
and 81 or 22-will spend one veal with>
the colors in the field. He would not
be allowed to vote until he had per.
this service. nj matter where
he was born. The son OF the railway
president and the son CT the brake.
man, the son Of the banker and the
son of the bricklayer. the son OF the
and the son of the farmer will
all live on the same food. sleep in the
tents. do the same work, 60 on
the same hikes. This would not only
help from the military standpoint. It
would also help to bring about in civil
affairs a realization of what Is meant
by democracy and a chance for real
understanding Of n another by all
citizens. 1t would mean the Grill
into every man Of a sense OF true
devotion to the flag"
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