The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-05-24


! ( thc county wherein they may be Il
Instructions as to how they may az
complish their registration by maj
in case such persons as, through sicl
ness or absence, may be unable I
present themselves personally for res
istration shall be sojourning in cite
of over thirty thousand population
they shall apply to the city clerk 0
the city wherein they may be sojourn
| ing rather than TO the clerk Of tn
county. The clerks Of counties and o
cities of over thirty thousand popula
ton in which numerous application
from the sick and from nonresident!
are expected are authorized to estab
lish such sub-agencies and to emplo,
and deputize such clerica! forces al
may be necessary to accommodate
these applications.
A Nation Under Arms
The power against which we are ar
rayed has sought to impose its will
upon the world by force. To this enc
it has increased armament until il
has changed the face of war. In the
sense in which we have been wont to
think of armies there are no armies
in this struggle. There are entire ma
tions armed. Thus the men who re-
main TO till the soil and man the fac
tories are no less part of the army
that is in France than the men be-
meath the battlefags. 1t must be so
with US. 1t is not an army that we
must shape and train for war; it is a
nation. To this end our people must
draw close in one compact front
against a common foe But this can
not be if each man pursues private
purpose. All must pursue one pur-
pose. The nation needs all men; but
it needs each man, not in the field
that will be the most pleasure to him,
but in the endeavor that will best
serve the common good. Thus, though
a sharpshooter pleases to operate a
for the forging of great
guns, and an expert machinist desires
to march with the flag, the nation is
being served only when the sharp
shooter marches and the machinist re-
mains at his levers. The whole nation
must be a team in which each man
shall play the part for which he is
best fitted. To this end, Congress has
provided that the nation shall be or
yanized for war by selection and that
each man shall be classified for service
in the place to which it shall best
serve the general good to call him.
Time for Our Task
The significance of this cannot be
,ver-stated. 1t is a new thing in our
history and landmark in our prog
.ess. 1t is new manner Of accepting
md vitalizing our duty to give our
selves with thoughtful devotion to the
common purpose of US all. 1t is in no
sense conscription of the unwilling;
t is rather, selection from nation
which has volunteered in mass. 1t is
10 more a choosing of those who
hall march with the colors than it is
selection of those who shall serve
N equally necessary and devoted pur-
,ose in the industries that lie behind
he battle line.
The day here named is the time
pom which all shall present them
elves for assignment to their tasks.
is for that reason destined to be re-
rendered as one of the most conspic-
GUS moments in our history. 1t is
othing less than the day upon which
ne manhood Of the country shall step
,rward in one solid rank in defense
f the ideals to which this nation is
1t is important TO those
leals no less than to the pride of
lis generation in manifesting its de-
otion to them, that there be no gaps
the ranks.
It is essential that the day be ap-
reached in thoughtful apprehension
its significance and that we accord
it the honor and the meaning that
deserves. Our industrial need pre- ,
ribes that it be not made technical
,liday, but the stern sacrifice that is ,
fore US, urges that it be carried in ,
our hearts as great day OF pat
otic devotion and obligation when ,
e duty shall lie upon every man,
neither he is himself TO be registered
not TO see TO it that the name Of
cry male person of the designated S