Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-04-17
Universal Service.


lean people to the colors. in q proclama-
tion which for force and effectiveness of
appeal is unsurpassed in American state
papers. The entire nation is expected
to do its part. The country has been
drafted for duty. Only part of the
people will enter the ranks of the army
and the navy, relatively a small part.
The others will do their parts in the
lines of their greatest aptitude and eff
cheney, as farmers, as artisans, as manu-
facturers, as merchants. as physicians,
as clerks, as editors, as housewives.
A selective draft has already been in
stituted thus by the Presidents appeal.
1t remains for Congress to apply the
principle of universal military training
for the preparation of those who will
20 into the ranks and of universal serv
ice in time of war for those who are
qualified and best adapted to discharge
their duty to the country in this man.
ner
The country should be put without
delay upon the basis of universal train
ing. in order that whenever emergencies
may arise it will be possible to raise an
effective army of sufficient size to meet
any enemy. This should have been done
before the present crisis developed. The
crisis makes it not only imperative but
possible to secure the legislation neces-
sary to this end and to the end of max
ing universal service follow universal
training.
If the people are left to determine
their own lines of usefulness in war
there will be confusion and waste. Only
one authority is competent to determine
where the individual citizen is needed
and where he can best render effective
service. That authority is the federal
government. representing all the people,
the whole nation. 1t alone can effective
proper spheres of action, the soldiers
TO the ranks, the industrial workers to
the mills, the agriculturists to the farms
and others to various tasks that are as
important and necessary to the end of
victory as the work of the men in uni
form.
Already the principle of compulsory
universal service has been adopted in
the matter of financing the war Taxes
are now being authorized by Congress
which will apply to all classes of the
people. The money burden is to be dis
tributed as equally as possible over the
nation. Meanwhile, great numbers of
citizens are giving voluntarily to vari-
Gus causes, all to the end of victory in
this struggle. Those who volunteer
their dollars will not be exempted from
taxation. The country could not depend
upon volunteer subscription to the war
needs. II must draft the people fnan-
eially. and il is about to do SO regard
less of the patriotic generosity mani
Tested in responses to appeals to the
various funds.
The consumption or compulsory selec
tive principle wisely applies to those
who proffer their lives and personal
services as well as to those who do
patriotic service by supplying tax
money. In neither case should volun-
teers be relied upon.
England's mistakes in the early part
Of the war should guide this country
now into a course of practical universal
service, inclusive Of all lines of war en-
deavor. The failure Of the volunteer
system in Great Britain at the outset
of the campaign was due to a misap-
prehension of the public spirit and a
failure to appreciate that the war
brought needs at home, in the mills and
on the farms and in the shops and of
fees as well as on the field of battle.
Only through organization of all the
people can the American army be form
ed and maintained effectively for this
present war or any other conflict that
may arise hereafter.