Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-04-12
THURSDAY, APRIL u, 1917.
TWO WAYS OF CREATING AN ARMY.

Galveston NewS.)
Senator Nelson of Minnesota, a veteran
of the civil war, contributed this ob~erva-
tion to "A desultory discussion Of the rcla-
tive merits of the voluntary and compul-
sorry system of raising an army:
| venture to say that if the preSi-
lent calls for a volunteer army of
800. 600 men. and says hat il j. going
to Europe 10 fight, there would be no
tronble at all. What the boys dread
above all, i to be stationed in camp
with nothing but drills and guard duty.
What they want i to march and fight,
To meet the enemy.
What Senator Nelson says is largely, if
not entirely true. There can be little
doubt that a call for volunteers will yield
all the men needed promptly, and especial
ly % if the call were accompanied by the
assurance that the men 30 gathered would
be FASTENED TO the battlefieldS. The bill
providing { ra-selectiye draft assumes, in
fact, that what Senator Nelson says j.
true. for it STIMULATES that the president
il not to exercise the power of conSerip-
ton unless and until the number of vol
unteers shall fall short of the needs. Com
pulsion would be resorted to only in the
event the voluntary offers of service should
prove inadequate.
But the very circumstance which Sen
ator Nelson regards a. the virtue of the
voluntary system l. one of it, chief vices.
In the estimation of soldiers and students
of modern military science. For the vol
untary system c~ontemplateS an army of lit
tie training, whereas the compulsory sys-
TEN contemplates one of much training.
The voluntary system finds its iustifica-
tor in a tradition which comes down from
a time when the art of war was infinitely
simpler than it l. now. Ii assumes that
courage armed with a rifle has only To be
organized into regiments and brigades and
divisions TO make an army. The compul-
sorry system assumes that a long and in
tensive training j. necessary for efficiency.
and hat without this training courage only
Increases the human waste and slaughter.
The two systems present another issue.
ntNtNtfs " ~tNittiN KS litiHttt. tibtI
the compulsory system, all the officers
from highest TO lowest are appointed by
the president on recommendation of the
military authorities who make their selec-
lions with a sole regard to the military
competence of the men recommended for
appointment. Under the volunteer system.
the regimental officers are chosen by the
II Al. -l--l..s. a - l..
the men volunteering. What criterion
would govern the governors in making
their appointments, and what criterion
would govern the men in electing the sub
ordinate officers, it j. hardly necessary to
say. They would be chosen. in q large
majority Of instances. not BY any test Of
fitness. but by the test Of political in
fluence and personal popularity. We rails
ed the army for the Spanish American war
hy the volunteer system, il i true. But
the experience we gathered then was hard
" of a kind to recommend another resort
To that method. For on that occasion we
behold such patriotic and ambitious ig-
torrance of military science a. was exhib-
tied by Mr.. BRYAN and Mr.. Roosevelt
epauletted and placed IN high commands.
A system which produces such results j.
condemned by them alone. The opposition
to the selective draft system is largely in
spired by the fact that its adoption would
thwart the ambitions of men who are sen
sible OF their unfitnesS For the commands
10 which they aspire. The issue presented
by the two proposals i whether the armies
we send forth will be adequately trained
and efficiently commanded, or whether
they shall be sent forth little better than
organized mobs, ill-trained and commanded
by men whose chief qualifications are their
personal popularity and political Influence.
II Is the issue whether we shall send forth