Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-10
Our &C. Puzzle
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

This is practically last resort, all other
attempts TO make use Of their service
having failed And IN justice to the con
csientious objector IL must be stated that
this il not wholly his fault, but partly
the fault of his fcllow-citizens, who con
scientiously object To having him about.
The War Department is now having
n much trouble with American patriots
aa it is with the &c o s." Just as it.
established a splendid system for trans
fefrlnr conscientious oblectSrs from
training camps to farms, many indignant
farmers farmers with sons IN France
rose up and announced that they would
not take them Were short on labor,
declared West Virginia farmer. but NC
| amt golng 10 have a bunch Cf slackcrs
working for is. Wen take the gaissfirst :"
OF all the problems that have cropped
up IN this war, none has Deen more per
| picking than that Of the conscientious
ohjector None has been more irritating.
/ There Is no precedent for dealing with
| fanaticism IN the army. and one has yet
to be established The ordinary Stacker
| is easily dealt with for The ordinary
| Stacker IS usually = coward and few days
IN the guard house arc enough % render
! lurn submissive and eager to 60 to war
HE sHcKs.
But the conscientious oblector can be
/ kept in The guard house for month, and
! emerge with his conscience unaltered
| II is this Inexorable quantity at the
| fanatic Who welcomes crown Of thorna
| as crown Of laurels. that has made tho
q q after four years Of war, as great
riddle as he was in the beginning
While the number Of conscientious
| objectors is relatively insignificant in
this country, II - much larger than most
people believe Conservative cstimatest
place Il at approximately 200 per train
InF camp Most of them are members
of religious sects such rs The Dunkards
NennonItes and Some Friends. a few arc
socialists and paclfists, and few also
| belong to an unnamed sect which holds
that love. not force should rule the world
The conscientious obiector raises very
little disturbance He Is quiet and serene
he seldom seeks to prosclvte, and he does
not lose has temper But he docs not par
ticlpatc ~ the war The case ~ Tobiah
E illustrates how the &C O = conducted
himself IN The first draft Tobah faith
fully registered on the appointed day,
was put IN the first class, and in due tirnc
was called upon TO report He immediate
Nv sent word that ne could not report, but
that he could be found nj his address
Accordingly a messenger from Tobiah's
local board appeared the next day and
escorted him TO tho draft headquarters
lust worLDN 'r no 1T.
In the hands Of he military. Tohiah
was equally conscientions lie politely.
but FIRMLY declined 10 obey military
orders When H. bccams known about the
camp that ne was . Mennonite. he began
to have difficulties. 4 private IN his
company came up and stamped on his
foot; another stole his boots. and another
made IT. his duty to knock Ioblah hat
Of every few minutes
You Il fight before you get ont Of here
ooue private told INN But the private
little understood the power OF Tobiah's
will To- every specit=s Of Insult that was
inflicted upon hlm Tobiah peraistantly
turned his Other cheek, SO To speak
At last. he vas called before the board
~ inquiry put through a psychological
test. and pronounced Il conscientious
obIector There were l0l others besides
himself and some Of these, scattered
through various companies. had come 10
the court OF inquiry from the qua ri
mouse
Is soon as a man Is definitely labeled
conscientious ohIector, the military au-
thoritles are extremely anxious TO get rid
d him In the first place he Is a constant
source Of disturb ance IN camp where the
men are always irving to demonstrate
the weak points OF his theory. In the
second place. 10 keep him IN camp j. To
support him in idlencss. because he Is
wiling 10 be shot rather than do ANYTHING
~ aId the war But what to do with him.
Ia attacking TINS problem the nited
States had the example Of England
failure before It. England has over 1000
CONSCIENTIOUS objectors and she made
the mistake Of putting fheIn in prison
Recently II has daWned upon her that
thus was an expansive and useless practice
and she Is trying 10 hnd some 8ay oi
getting them out The United States.
under the guidance ii the President. Dur-
sued a more tolerant policy II has gwen
The conscientious obIector the privilege
OF entering certain non-combatant units.
lncludng nearly all branches Of the
Medical Corps; the the Qua1ermaster :
Corps and the army engineer service
They can ~ assigned 70 work in re-
mount depots, veterinary hospitals supply
depnts. nakeR companies. the bathing
service, the laundry service, the salvage
service the cloth-renovating service. the
stoe-repar service and IN transportation
repair shops
Or, IN the army engineer corps, they can
build roads, tortlhCauOns, decks wharNeS.
storenouses and railways According to
the law tla1 is. they can do these things
Aceordiug to their consclences, they can
not
\ large number of conscientious ob-
Jrctora have objected 10 entering the non
combatant service designated for their
special benefit hv the President for twn
reasons hrsf, because most Of the work
was considered 70 be aiding the accurst1
thing n they term the war. and second
because both in the uuArtermast,.r
corps and IN the army engineer corps
tsghtEg IN seli-detensc is often a necessary
duty. drilling Tor such contingency
being part Of the training. There i i
third reason also Tor the &C. O" being {
Kept out of the non-combatant service.
although this reason has not occurred to /
The ~ q. himself FhIs is because the /.
rest Q, the men IN this service are intensely /
interested in the outcome Of the war. /
and would strongly resent his presence
there
In real despair, the War Department
had 10 look about for another means 81
dlsposIng OF the "C O nuisance Then
1T had brilliant inspiration There were
the farnsi immediately an arrangement
was made whereby the conscientious
oblectors reported 20 he Adjutant
General ot the War Department should
be hired out as lsborers on the farms
through the farm help specialists of The
department OF Agriculture. For once